US deploys drone detection system in New York amid mystery sightings

Governor Kathy Hochul on Sunday said that US officials are sending a drone detection system to New York after questions over mysterious objects in the skies over the east coast and beyond grew in recent days.

According to a BBC report, Hochul had requested the federal assistance after drone sightings forced runways at Stewart International Airport in the state to shut for an hour last week.

“In response to my calls for additional resources, our federal partners are sending a drone detection system to New York,” BBC quoted Hochul as writing in a post on X on Sunday.

She emphasised that state governments require more authority to handle small, unmanned aircraft, which have been reported in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.

Further west, in Ohio, drone sightings also prompted the closure of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base for about an hour on Friday night, according to the BBC report, citing local media.

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“Congress must pass a law that will give us the power to deal directly with the drones,” Hochul said in the post, after last week promising to “do whatever it takes to ensure New Yorkers remain safe”

Senator Chuck Schumer expressed his hope on Sunday to pass legislation granting local law enforcement more authority to investigate unidentified flying objects, stating, “I’m pushing for answers amid these drone sightings.”

According to the BBC report, he also called for a drone detection system, similar to the one heading to New York, to be deployed in New Jersey, where most of the aerial encounters have been reported.

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Despite calls for increased support, Hochul and other officials have reassured the public that the suspected drones do not pose a national security threat.

On Sunday, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas confirmed that the sightings involved both drones and manned aircraft that were often mistaken for drones.

He assured ABC News that there was “no foreign involvement” in the incidents.

The Pentagon dismissed claims by a New Jersey representative suggesting the drones could be originating from an Iranian “mothership” off the east coast, while an FBI official suggested there may have been “a slight overreaction” to the reports.

Mayorkas said that the increase in drone sightings could be due to recent changes in federal regulations allowing drones to operate at night.

He also stated that the federal government was working in “close coordination” with state and local authorities on the issue, emphasising that it was “critical” to provide them with the tools to counter drone activity under federal supervision.

With just over a month remaining until Donald Trump’s inauguration, his pick for national security adviser, Republican Representative Mike Waltz, criticised the Biden administration’s response to the sightings.

“I think Americans are finding it hard to believe we can’t figure out where these are coming from,” he told the BBC’s US news partner CBS.

“We need to get to the bottom of it,” he said, accusing government agencies of “pointing at each other” rather than offering answers.

Kim, a Democrat, also called on federal authorities to do more to assuage Americans’ concerns.

“People have a lot anxiety right now about the economy, health, security etc,” he wrote on X.

“And too often we find that those charged with working on these issues don’t engage the public with the respect and depth needed.”

New Jersey Senator Andy Kim said he went out with local residents over the weekend to observe the night sky, and that he believed - based on conversations with civilian pilots and flight tracking data - that most of the aircraft he saw “were almost certainly planes”.

With inputs from agencies