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By Flynn Nicholls
US News Reporter
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As the appearance of mysterious drones in New Jersey continues to confound law enforcement, Newsweek asked experts in unmanned aircraft about what possible technology or culprit could be responsible.
Sightings Near Military Installations
Despite the FBI receiving over 3,000 reports from the public, Robert Wheeler, a spokesperson for the bureau, told Congress on Tuesday "we don't know" who is behind them, even though multiple drones have been sighted flying near sensitive military sites.
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The FBI acknowledged that the drones, which have been reported since November, could be any number of threats, ranging from sophisticated state actors to criminals or simply a public nuisance.
Newsweek has contacted the FBI via email for an update regarding its investigation.
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Expert Opinion on Possibilities
Newsweek spoke with Vijay Kumar, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, about what could be occurring. His research and laboratory works on creating autonomous ground and aerial robots, and on robot swarms.
He seemed skeptical that the drones are being sent by a foreign state actor, and suggested the evidence points toward it being a U.S. government operation.
"Firstly, it's not a coincidence, I think, that all these sightings have been near military basis. I'll just leave it at that," Kumar said.
The drones sighted have reportedly varied in size; some small, and some the size of cars. Kumar said the smaller drones would not have the power capacity to travel long distances, leading him to say the idea they were launched by a foreign state actor from international waters "difficult to fathom."
He also pointed out the larger drones have reportedly displayed the lights which aircraft are required to have in U.S. airspace.
"If I was an adversary, I would take great trouble to conceal what I was doing," he said. "So that leads me to believe that it's not a military power that's trying to attack the U.S."
Kumar said that just because the FBI said it does not know who is behind the drones, it does not mean the U.S. government as a whole is not involved, especially given that the drones have been sighted near airports and military bases, which are equipped with sophisticated radar.
"There's a lot of firewalling between agencies, so the fact that FBI says they don't know what's happening, that's very likely too, but I find it really hard to believe, as somebody who's lived in this country for 40 years, that the U.S. government doesn't know exactly what is going on."
Newsweek also spoke to Missy Cummins, the director of the Mason Autonomy and Robotics Center at George Mason University. She researches human-drone interactions, as well as drone ethics and public policy. She is a former U.S. Navy fighter pilot.
Cummings was skeptical that the drones were as large as had been reported, and predicted they may not even be drones. If they are, she said they are likely being operated at short range.
She said they could be small, manned aircraft or small- and medium-sized drones which are commercially available.
"It is highly unlikely these are large drones as you describe, and if they are drones, they likely would be controlled by line-of-sight, so possibly from the water but probably not miles out to sea," Cummings said.
She said the drone sightings could be tied to contraband and criminal activity.
"I personally conducted research on the use of drones to do illicit contraband drops into prisons which were always conducted at night, and occasionally included multiple drones," she said. "So, it is also very possible that all this activity is tied to drugs or some other contraband."
Correction 12/12/24, 2:49 p.m. ET: The spelling of Vijay Kumar's name has been corrected.
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