Zap it and put it in a bag: Inside the military's response to drones flying over bases

WASHINGTON — Drone sightings like the more than 5,000 reported in recent weeks that have captivated and freaked out East Coast residents, have been commonplace at sensitive U.S. military sites across the country, according to defense officials.

There have been hundreds, perhaps thousands, of drone incursions at remote military installations, drawing little public attention. But they have disrupted sensitive operations, according to the Pentagon officials who spoke to USA TODAY on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations.

A critical concern: Foreign adversaries have identified a “seam” in the U.S. response to drone surveillance. U.S. military forces have the authority to take down drones, blasting them from the sky or severing their navigational links by radio jamming, if the aircraft penetrate airspace over a base and pose a threat.

Yet once outside that airspace, the drone becomes the responsibility of local law enforcement. In the vast, sparsely populated areas that are home to many military installations, the response is often too little, and way too late, according to a Defense official who has dealt with incursions.

Another senior official said the Pentagon had been too passive in the face of the growing threat. This official offered a solution to an unidentified drone: Zap it, put in a bag and exploit it for clues about its origin and intent.

The Air Force, in fact, has done so. Drones have "been taken down" by Air Force personnel in recent years, said Ann Stefanek, an Air Force spokeswoman. She declined to provide further details, citing operational security concerns.

Yet legal concerns and worries about debris causing damage or death on the ground have hamstrung the response.

The military has a "robust air defense system in place to defend against the potential of hijacked airlines," but the same can't be said for drones, said David Deptula, the dean of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies and a retired three-star Air Force general.

"Just as no one thought about airliners causing harm before 9/11, we need to recognize the negative potential and the lethal potential of drones that we're seeing around the world in their use for military and hostile purposes," he said.

In a joint statement Monday, the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security, the FBI and the Federal Aviation Administration urged Congress to enact legislation "that would extend and expand existing counter-drone authorities to identify and mitigate any threat that may emerge."

The statement also downplayed the current drone hysteria, noting that most of the reports have turned out to be lawful commercial, hobbyist and law enforcement drones, crewed aircraft and helicopters. Even stars have been mistakenly reported as drones.

But lawmakers are also paying attention – members of the House Intelligence Committee received a closed-door briefing on the issue on Tuesday.

Drone hysteria? Why the issue matters to the military and lawmakers

Spy drones could collect sensitive information on U.S. military activities that could tip off adversaries to future deployments, one military official said. For example, aerial surveillance could show the movement of ammunition from arsenals to port as the Pentagon prepared for war. A drone could also provide real-time video of the rapid response of Special Forces soldiers out of Fort Liberty.

In recent years, drones swarmed the site of a planned military exercise, forcing U.S. Northern Command, responsible for protecting the homeland from attack, to delay the exercise, the official said.

A hostile drone flying within around 200 feet of a military base could have a much higher-resolution look at military assets than satellites or other airborne technologies, Deptula said. F-22 fighters, the most sophisticated warplanes in the Air Force fleet, may have been the target of mysterious waves of drones that soared over Langley Air Force Base in Virginia last year, Deptula said.

"If you get up real close to those aircraft, you can detect and observe shapes and construction techniques that you might not be able to detect from an overhead satellite," he said.

Other sensitive points that hostile drones could surveil include America's electric grid and telecommunication sites. An adversary could try to find "the linchpins and nodes upon how the power distribution system is aligned and distributed," he said.

More: No. 1 threat: Drone attacks prompt urgent $500 million request from Pentagon

Where are the drone sightings happening?

The joint statement issued Monday acknowledged drones had penetrated restricted airspace over military installations in New Jersey and "elsewhere." In New Jersey, some were spotted over the Picatinny Arsenal, an active weapons research and development facility owned by the Army that sprawls across nearly 6,000 acres.

Other sites of drone incursions include White Sands Missile Range, according to the military official, the Army's only land range for testing long-distance missiles, explosives and artillery. The tract, 100 miles long and 40 miles wide, straddles New Mexico and Texas. Its airspace is controlled by the Pentagon, one of only two sites in the country where the FAA does not have jurisdiction. The White House is the other one.

Drones have surveilled Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, the official said. And remotely operated vessels have also been suspected of surveilling U.S. Navy facilities.

What can be done about the drones?

If a drone was deemed a threat, officials have several “active and passive” measures they could take to respond, like using the military’s own drones to take it down, redirecting it, or interfering with its navigational signal, Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, told reporters.

Ryder said at a Tuesday news conference that Picatinny Arsenal and Naval Weapons Station Earle, another New Jersey base where drones were spotted, have received extra drone detection and defense equipment, including Dronebusters, a handheld instrument that jams drone signals.

Some of those methods are covered in a new strategy to “counter” drones that was signed by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin earlier this month.

Although the full plan is classified, it aims to improve the military’s ability to detect and track drones and delegate responsibility for taking out a threat, according to the Pentagon.

The military doesn't have the same authority to track and take down drones over bases within U.S. borders as it does overseas or in combat zones.

"We don't collect intelligence on American citizens," Ryder said.

Drones have already taken lives at U.S. military bases abroad. In January, a drone attacked Tower 22, a U.S. base in Jordan, killing three American soldiers and wounding more than 40. A one-way drone, which is programmed with a target and doesn't need direction in midair, was used in the attack.

The current drone mania also echoes the Chinese spy balloon incident that riveted the country in 2023.

The Pentagon monitored the balloon, bristling with spyware, as it passed over sensitive military sites on its transit across the U.S. An F-22 shot the balloon down off the South Carolina shore days after it first crossed into Alaska.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hundreds of drones swarm military bases. Is the Pentagon worried?