Dozens of UAVs have been discovered in many places across the state of New Jersey (USA) in recent weeks, including sensitive military locations in the state, according to BBC.
New Jersey Congressman Jeff Van Drew said on December 11 that he heard from “high-level sources” that the UAVs were related to Iran.
Speaking to Fox News on December 11, Mr. Van Drew said that those UAVs came from an Iranian “mother ship” in the Atlantic Ocean and that they should be “shot down.”
The Pentagon does not believe that the drone that appeared in New Jersey (USA) recently came from a “foreign enemy or entity”.
However, Mr. Van Drew’s above statement was bluntly rejected by Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh at a press conference the same day.
“That is not true. There are no Iranian ships off the US coast and no so-called ‘mother ship’ launching drones towards the US,” Ms. Singh asserted.
Ms. Singh also said that the Pentagon’s initial assessment showed that “this was not a drone from a foreign entity or adversary.”
However, Ms. Dawn Fantasia, another New Jersey congresswoman, did not accept the Pentagon’s assertion.
She said the UAVs involved appeared to avoid detection by traditional methods such as helicopters and radio. Those UAVs have a diameter of 1.8 meters, move with the lights off and “operate in a coordinated manner,” according to Ms. Fantasia.
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Previously, Governor Phil Murphy of New Jersey said on December 9 that there had been reports of dozens of UAV sightings in New Jersey since November 18, including 49 incidents recorded on December 8 alone.
Some of the above UAV flights took place near Picatinny Arsenal, a sensitive military research facility – as well as near US President-elect Donald Trump’s golf course in the town of Bedminster.
Mr. Murphy emphasized that the UAVs seen did not appear to pose a public safety concern.
Up to now, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has not been able to explain the related UAV case. “I don’t have an answer as to who is responsible. But we are actively investigating,” Robert Wheeler Jr., assistant director of the FBI’s Serious Incident Response Team, told lawmakers at a congressional hearing on December 10.
