Drone / UAP Sightings

[PJ-OSU]

Iron Man?!

 

[Bowers3]

That is only one component of what appears to be several mysterious elements to this.

1. How are they able to linger at military bases, airports, and nuclear facilities without being neutralized or the operators apprehended?
2. Why do they seem to only operate at night?
3. Why, if attempting to avoid detection, do they run standard/compliant lights?
4. Who could operate such a fleet of drones (large, long-range, swarm tech)?
5. Why do state and local officials and LE not know what they are, and are frustrated at lack of answers from the federal level?
6. Why is the federal level saying they (a) don't know what they are and (b) they pose no threat to the population?
7. How are they able to achieve relative silence compared to other drones of their size?

I've heard several plausible explanations for the entire thing, including that a federal agency is searching for a current threat (dirty bomb or nuclear bomb). Nothing else seems very plausible (foreign government, aliens, hobbyists, misidentification, etc...).

IMO the legitimately "mysterious" ones, that aren't commercial or private, are in fact military. That would explain them operating at night but using lights and why the feds are saying they don't know what they are and that they pose no threat.

I have also heard that they may be looking for some radioactive material that just went missing in NJ. (U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Operations Center) It was just Germanium that they use in PT scan machines. The military could have taken this opportunity as a training exercise to use their new nuke sniffing drones. There's so many scenarios.

 

[Backin82]

IMO the legitimately "mysterious" ones, that aren't commercial or private, are in fact military. That would explain them operating at night but using lights and why the feds are saying they don't know what they are and that they pose no threat.

I have also heard that they may be looking for some radioactive material that just went missing in NJ. (U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Operations Center) It was just Germanium that they use in PT scan machines. The military could have taken this opportunity as a training exercise to use their new nuke sniffing drones. There's so many scenarios.

I believe the DoD came out and blatantly denied it is military, but that just means it could be Homeland Security, FBI, etc... This guy does a good job discussing it.

 

[Backin82]

Another good one from Rogan.

 

[mugatu]

Not in the case of our neighbors. They were just in their backyard enjoying the evening when they started seeing these things really low, repeatedly coming very close over their house and backyard. They were large, there were many of them, they were silent, they appeared to be going around 50mph, they had flashing lights, and they were moving in erratic patterns. Scared the heck out of their kids. Definitely not some random, single consumer drone or ultralight aircraft. Definitely a swarm of large drones flying very low as a group.

Edit: I hadn't heard about the drone stuff until last night when our neighbors reported it. I'm just reporting what they saw, and wondering if others in Oklahoma have seen them or knows more than I do at this point.

Not trying to dox you in any way, but based on trends of sitings around military bases, do you happen to be near Tinker AFB or another base?

 

[Backin82]

Not trying to dox you in any way, but based on trends of sitings around military bases, do you happen to be near Tinker AFB or another base?

I'm not "close" to Tinker. Probably 20 miles away. I'm not aware of anything of importance near our house. Some new big transmission lines, a lot of oilfield work, and some grow facilities. Nothing extraordinary of which I'm aware.

 

[mugatu]

I'm not "close" to Tinker. Probably 20 miles away. I'm not aware of anything of importance near our house. Some new big transmission lines, a lot of oilfield work, and some grow facilities. Nothing extraordinary of which I'm aware.

Ok. Was just seeing if it was possibly another example. There's been a LOT of these focused at military airfields so thought it might be one of those.

 

[DxCowboy]

The federal government is a clown show with their response to this thus far.

There’s quite clearly a lack of transparency going on here, for whatever reasons.

 

[mugatu]

The federal government is a clown show with their response to this thus far.

There’s quite clearly a lack of transparency going on here, for whatever reasons.

So there are a few options for why the gov hasn't given an explanation.
1. They don't know what is going on.
2. They know and it's something they think telling people about would cause panic.
3. They know and for defense reasons need to not expose to public space.

I'm guessing it's 3 but that could just be bias for me. Could be a develolmental system in testing that they don't want fully exposed yet. Could be it's something foreign that isnt an immediate threat they are tracking and collecting info on and dont want to acknowledge that they know and prevent future collection. This would combine reasons 2 and 3.

If it's 1, that's a bit unnerving but I kind of doubt that's the case.

 

[Backin82]

So there are a few options for why the gov hasn't given an explanation.
1. They don't know what is going on.
2. They know and it's something they think telling people about would cause panic.
3. They know and for defense reasons need to not expose to public space.

I'm guessing it's 3 but that could just be bias for me. Could be a develolmental system in testing that they don't want fully exposed yet. Could be it's something foreign that isnt an immediate threat they are tracking and collecting info on and dont want to acknowledge that they know and prevent future collection. This would combine reasons 2 and 3.

If it's 1, that's a bit unnerving but I kind of doubt that's the case.

I agree. I've seen a bunch of statements from the federal level that are being insultingly dismissive of it, as if shutting down airports or drone swarms of 5 ft diameter drones around nuclear and military facilities is totally fine and not at all alarming, OR that it's simply misidentification from dumb citizens who saw swamp gas and weather balloons. None of those are remotely true in this case. So, it's something else....

The only odd part if it's 3 is that they are using lights, and not really trying to conceal themselves other than operating at night.

 

[mugatu]

I agree. I've seen a bunch of statements from the federal level that are being insultingly dismissive of it, as if shutting down airports or drone swarms of 5 ft diameter drones around nuclear and military facilities is totally fine and not at all alarming, OR that it's simply misidentification from dumb citizens who saw swamp gas and weather balloons. None of those are remotely true in this case. So, it's something else....

The only odd part if it's 3 is that they are using lights, and not really trying to conceal themselves other than operating at night.

The lights would prevent photos from seeing anything but the lights unless they got spotlighted, prevent issues from collision and make any visual tracking they may be doing easier.

My GUESS is it's a startup (i.e.smaller) defense contractor doing development testing of some sort. Nothing that's a program of record yet but friendly enough with DOD to be able to operate as it has but not to the point if being tested completely hidden. Or whatever they are testing is specific to more urban/suburban conditions.

 

[Donnyboy]

So there are a few options for why the gov hasn't given an explanation.
1. They don't know what is going on.
2. They know and it's something they think telling people about would cause panic.
3. They know and for defense reasons need to not expose to public space.

I'm guessing it's 3 but that could just be bias for me. Could be a develolmental system in testing that they don't want fully exposed yet. Could be it's something foreign that isnt an immediate threat they are tracking and collecting info on and dont want to acknowledge that they know and prevent future collection. This would combine reasons 2 and 3.

If it's 1, that's a bit unnerving but I kind of doubt that's the case.

IMO there is no chance they don't know what's going on.

They will use this to pass some form of legislation.

Those are the only things I'm confident in.

 

[DxCowboy]

The lights would prevent photos from seeing anything but the lights unless they got spotlighted, prevent issues from collision and make any visual tracking they may be doing easier.

My GUESS is it's a startup (i.e.smaller) defense contractor doing development testing of some sort. Nothing that's a program of record yet but friendly enough with DOD to be able to operate as it has but not to the point if being tested completely hidden. Or whatever they are testing is specific to more urban/suburban conditions.

Interesting thought.

Reminds me of a guy I met awhile back on a flight. He was an engineer working for some company in Texas that was working on a military contract developing drones for reconnaissance. According to him the they had tremendous range and only required like a gallon of gas and could stay up forever.

 

[mugatu]

Interesting thought.

Reminds me of a guy I met awhile back on a flight. He was an engineer working for some company in Texas that was working on a military contract developing drones for reconnaissance. According to him the they had tremendous range and only required like a gallon of gas and could stay up forever.

Yeah.

I think there are a lot more small companies getting into the defense industry via tactical level unmanned systems since the larger platforms and manned systems have a lot larger development cost, longer timelines and are more dominated by the few huge companies.

Watched a brief by the former lead of a small group in the Pentagon (Unit X) that works specifically to bring Silicon Valley into the defense industry and about the challenges of working their timeliness and budgets. Venture capital focused companies don't want 5-10 year development timelines and nearly year long delays just to get on contract.