Its been a week since we first posted our first thoughts on the mystery drone situation plaguing the country. In that time, we have received 65 new reports of objects conforming to the general "drone" description, that is flying
very low, large size, and with bright flashing lights (more come in hour by hour). Despite the intense attention being paid to the phenomenon and the massive number of sightings, the situation remains that not a single one of these craft has been identified, nor has anyone witnessed a single takeoff or landing.

This seems to be exactly what the operators (human or otherwise) of these craft want. They want to be seen flying (or don't care if they are), since they display bright multicolored lights that make them impossible to miss in the night sky. On the other hand, they clearly do not want to to be tracked or identified, as their lights are shut off when they are approached or followed, and they perform evasive maneuvers.

BROWSE THE LATEST "DRONE" REPORTS AND VIDEOS

Government spokesmen have stated that these are not military or foreign adversary drones. They have also told us that there is no evidence they are breaking the law. If they are not alien in origin, then one of these statements is clearly false. If they are commercial, then they are breaking the law in two very clear ways. First, under federal regulation 14 CFR Part 89, all large drones are required by law to transmit a Remote ID signal at all times . As long as the drone is in compliance, a unit such as a Dedrone RF-300 can easily identify it. Since no such identification has happened, we must assume that either the drones are not transmitting, and thus are operating illegally, or that no one has tried to pick up a Remote ID, which seems like such a common sense thing to do that it is incomprehensible if it hasn't been tried. The second illegal act is their repeated intrusions into restricted airspace, which has been well documented in both the the US and UK.

The large number of drone reports that have been submitted to NUFORC give us a unique perspective on the phenomenon. Here are some characteristics of these sighting that we feel are particularly worth noting.

They Can Fly in Coordinated Groups

Sightings of large numbers of these craft operating together have been reported repeatedly to NUFORC. Here are just a few examples :

Bethlehem, PA - 12/13-14 and 12/19: Witness reports seeing multiple clusters
of 8-9 drone-like craft with blinking re
d and white lights that appeared sporadically, traveling in various directions. Full Report. A second witness from Bethlehem reported seeing 25 on the 19th: Full Report
San Diego, CA - 12/14: 10-15 spinning circular objects with white and red blinking lights. Full Report
Haltom City, TX - 12/11: A dozen unidentified and unregistered aircraft with white, red, and green blinking lights. Full Report
Amherst, MA - 12/14: 5 Drones flashing red-white/red-white or red-red or white-white. Full Report
They Can Operate Silently

Many witnesses report that despite looking like drones, which are usually easy to hear when they are close by, the craft are silent:

Richmond, VA - 12/16: A large dark chevron hovered over trees 400 feet away with no sound. Full Report
Willard, UT - 12/15: Drone like craft with a bright light on the front and red/green lights on the back flew really close to the ground over witness. No sound despite the object being 80-100 feet away. Full Report
Pensacola Beach, FL - 12/15: A witness sees a highly engineered, steel carbon(?) craft size of half a car with red+green blinking lights 250 feet away form their condo deck. No sound. Full Report
In one very strange case from Hananan, SC on 12/10 a witness described a "drone" that "sounded like a drone would - but almost like it was
coming out of a speaker." Full Report

They Are Being Seen All Over the World

If this is a clandestine US Government operation, they are executing it in other countries as well. Since November, NUFORC has received reports of these "drones" from the following foreign countries: Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Here is a small sample:

Canada - 12./13: Many large drones & then a giant bright spotlight appeared
and hovered. Full Report
Lithuania - 12/12: Plane or drone type never seen before, just like in NJ
USA. Full Report
Germany - 12/16: 3 "drones" with red lights on them as big as an SUV
traveling south east at fast speed and low altitude. Full Report
There is a Corresponding Mass Wave of Orb Sightings

Along with the flood of "drone" reports, NUFORC has been barraged with
recent reports of glowing orbs that maneuver intelligently and often approach to a very close distance. See our Complete List of Orb Reports.

We have also received multiple reports of "drones" sighted along with orbs. Here are three examples:

Lansdale, PA - 12/14: Multiple drones with red/green/flashing lights as well
as bright yellow orb seen above and behind neighbor's house. Full Report Hereford, AZ - 12/19: A witness feeding horses noticed one of the
"drones" at first then two white orbs followed it and disappeared: Full
Report
Prince Fredrick, MD: Witness sees orbs bouncing and changing direction, speed, and shape, along with drones and airplanes. Full Report
Of course, NUFORC continues to receive non drone or orb related UFO reports daily, and you can see the ones we consider to be the best here: HIGHLIGHTED REPORTS

ORIGINAL POST - 12/14

For the past few months, mysterious drone like craft the size of SUV's have been sighted nightly, primarily between sunset and midnight, with the nexus of recent reports coming out of New Jersey. The sightings have been so overwhelming that they have become a media sensation, with organizations like CNN, which normally avoid UAP coverage, featuring the story prominently. The government has stated that they are as mystified as anyone else as to who or what is behind this, and an increasing sense of frustration is being voiced by lawmakers and citizens in the affected areas. The flap is so intense that NUFORC's report volume has doubled from what we usually receive.

One of the more dramatic encounters occurred in London, Ontario, Canada. Beginning at 6:58 PM on December 13, and lasting for a period of a period of 3.5 hours, a witness observed multiple large drone-like objects with white lights that flashed red and green. The event escalated when a giant, bright spotlight silently hovered above the trees in their yard for about 40 minutes. Multiple additional objects, smaller in comparison, seemed to fly around this central light. Full Report/Video

What are we to make of all of this and who is responsible? Theories abound from foreign adversaries to secret government agencies. These ideas have been debated thoroughly, but it's worthwhile to step back and consider the incredibly anomalous characteristics of these objects:

Size: Many of the drones are the size of cars or SUV's, and one witness described seeing one the size of a school bus..
Speed: They can outrun police drones that attempt to follow them.
Stealth: They turn off their lights when approached, exhibiting an ability to be aware of what's going on around them and respond.
No Remote ID: Drones above 250 grams are required to broadcast identification and location data. These apparently do not.
Thermal Anomalies: The Ocean County Sheriff's Office observed the drones emitted no heat, making them impossible to see with IR.
Interference: They have been reported to interfere with car clocks and cell phones.
Quantity: Up to 50 drones have been sighted in coordinated flight patterns, and the number of reports is now in the thousands.
Duration: The drones are able to stay aloft for hours, suggesting a very robust power source on board.
If there is a non-governmental organization behind this, it is an extremely expensive operation indeed, and the drones are exhibiting technical capabilities well beyond what is commonly available. Furthermore, the drones operate over sensitive military areas, from air bases in the UK, to Langley in Virginia, to the Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey. That makes them a national security threat, which along with their failure to broadcast an FAA required Remote ID makes their mode of operation clearly illegal.

There have been attempts to track and interdict them. The government has sophisticated anti-drone capability, including jamming and even the ability to take over control in some instances. A car-sized drone presents a significant radar cross-section (RCS), and radar systems designed to detect aircraft or large objects would likely pick it up. But a month into the current flap, not a single drone has been tracked to its source or captured. Why? Could it be that we are simply incapable of doing it? What kind of object could evade us that way?

There is, of course, a long history of flying objects with flashing multicolored lights that buzz military bases and evade attempted interception. Could it be that these "drones" are actually true UFO's, disguised to
look like terrestrial drones for some unknown reason? A report received yesterday from Radcliffe, KY seems to point to this possibility. A witness spotted drones flying low over their house, followed a few minutes later by a Blackhawk helicopter that came onto the scene and chased three of them. Two minutes after that, something even more anomalous happened. A large triangular UFO appeared and followed the drones and helicopter. The description of the triangular UFO conforms to other triangles that have been observed for over 30 years, from the Belgium wave to the Hudson Valley sightings to the Phoenix Lights (see our gallery page for images). Assuming the triangle was not of human origin, what does that say about the "drones"? Full Report

It is also worthwhile to note that this recent wave is eerily reminiscent of similar events over northeastern Colorado and western Nebraska, that occurred from December 2019 to January 2020. During that period, residents also reported numerous sightings of unidentified drones flying in coordinated formations during evening hours. Witnesses described groups of up to 19 drones with estimated wingspans of about six feet, flying in grid patterns at altitudes between 200 and 500 feet. The sightings were never explained.

While we at NUFORC are keeping an open mind, the theory that these drones are NHI (non human intelligence) craft is something to consider, and at this current stage it can't be ruled out.
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