A key U.S. Air Force base in Ohio that was temporarily closed over the weekend due to drone reports said Tuesday that it has received “additional” reports of “drone incursions” this week.
Lawmakers in recent days in New Jersey have raised the alarm about a spate of drone sightings in the state, with some calling on the U.S. government to offer a stronger response to the phenomena. Federal officials have said that the drones pose no threat and that many sightings were of “lawful” aircraft or celestial bodies like planets or stars, although officials have provided little to no evidence to back up those claims.
In an emailed statement, a spokesman for the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base told The Epoch Times on Tuesday evening that “small unmanned aerial systems were spotted in the vicinity of and over” Wright-Patterson Air Force Base’s “Area A and Area B” during the evening and early morning hours on Dec. 16 and Dec. 17.
“Installation leaders have determined that none of the incursions impacted base residents, facilities, or assets,” the statement said. “The Wright-Patterson AFB airspace was not affected by the incursions.”
The number of drone “systems” has varied, the spokesperson added, ranging from different sizes and with different configurations. The spokesperson did not provide any other details about the recent drone sightings or whether the base was closed again.
“Our units continue to monitor the airspace and are working with local law enforcement authorities and mission partners to ensure the safety of base personnel, facilities, and assets,” the statement said.
People who see anything suspicious or unusual are asked to report what they see to local law enforcement officials or to the base’s security.
Over the weekend, Wright-Patterson was shut down for a period of time, a spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an earlier statement. In that incident, “small unmanned aerial systems were spotted in the vicinity of and over” the base between Dec. 13 and Dec. 14, prompting the shutdown, a spokesperson said.
The drones did not affect the base residents, assets, or facilities, while officials at the base are working with local law enforcement to secure the Air Force installation, which houses the 88th Air Base Wing.
However, most of the drone reports that have triggered alarm have been centered around New Jersey, local officials have said. In one reported instance, Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) said last week that U.S. officials had informed him that drones were following a U.S. Coast Guard unit in recent days, while he suggested that federal officials’' claims that the drones are not a threat are not credible.
Kirby told reporters that U.S. officials have “done the detection, then the analysis.”
“We’ve corroborated the sightings,” he said.
“And in every case that we have examined to date, we have seen nothing, nothing that indicates a public safety risk.”
To back up Kirby’s statements, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy told reporters in Trenton, the state capital, that drone-detection systems have found “little to no evidence” of anything threatening. The governor declined to go into detail about the detection equipment but said it was powerful enough to disable the drones.
Amid calls to shoot down the drones, the Homeland Security Secretary said in an interview Sunday that federal agencies lack the authority to take action against unmanned aerial systems. He also said the drones have not been linked to a foreign government or shown any bad intent.
