A new video from the US Navy depicts the moment a sailor captured footage of six enigmatic drones flying near its most modern battleship in April 2019.
Drones were seen floating near the USS Zumwalt in this event, which included six other ships and occurred between March and July of 2019.
While the Zumwalt was stationed at Camp Pendleton, it occurred in international seas 19 miles off the California coast.
The bizarre experience is described by a sailor in the film, who claims that the aircraft were flying at a height of 300 to 1000 feet and repeatedly flew over and circled the ship.
Although the footage is hazy, it seems to show a drone buzzing over the ship and flying in ‘regular patterns,’ according to the sailor, who also claims that they appear to be unarmed.
One of the drones briefly flew over the ship’s deck, although it made no direct contact with the ship.
In certain cases, less proficient drones are even utilised as “canaries” to disorient security systems or test defences. Drone swarm occurrences have increased in frequency over the last several years.
The Navy’s Ship Nautical Or Otherwise Photographic Interpretation and Exploitation team, or SNOOPIE team, has recorded the drones in order to track sightings.
SNOOPIE is made up of sailors who have received photography training to record odd encounters.
While he is “unable to discern much of the design of the aircraft,” according to Dave Kovar, CEO of URSA Inc., which focuses on drone security concerns, it seems to have “four navigation lights.”
The flying item may be a “multi-rotor, probably quad, unidentifiable aerial vehicle with running lights,” according to Kovar, who spoke to The Drive.
Although the video quality isn’t the finest, according to another expert, “I don’t see anything on the drone that would lead me to believe it couldn’t be bought off the shelf from a current commercial drone manufacturer.”
However, the expert also noted that “the drones were either programmed to fly a specific path or controlled from a distance while probably on altitude hold, which to me isn’t the characteristic of any modern technology” due to the pattern of the flights and the constant height.
The event took place close to the significant Marine installation Camp Pendleton, about 17 miles off the Southern California coast.
Since it was so near to the US mainland, the analyst came to the conclusion that it was probably a planned operation since nobody would have six drones on a boat for fun.
Additionally, they said that the recently created footage is “essentially the only way a forensic evaluation can be conducted to ascertain the origin and capabilities linked with an unidentified drone.”
The USS Zumwalt is the most technologically advanced stealth battleship the US Navy has at its disposal, making the apparent monitoring of it unusual.
Due to its ability to operate closer to hostile area and remain undetected, the ship’s stealth technology makes it more durable than other destroyers.
New papers show that Navy authorities were continuing dealing with these contacts throughout the month of July, contrary to earlier assumptions that these swarms of “tic tac” shaped drones only troubled the Navy for a few days in the middle of the month.
On July 20, the USS Russell fired five rounds at the drones, which were capable of travelling at least 100 nautical miles and reaching speeds of up to 45 mph, considerably beyond those of any commercially available unmanned aircraft.
On July 23, at roughly 10.30 am, the USS Russell sent a “ghostbusters” squad two days later. Around 11 am, the crew declared its mission “accomplished.”
A “ghostbuster,” according to The Drive, is a lower-end anti UAS weapon built like a rifle that jams radio signals between the drone and its operator.
It’s uncertain whether the USS Russell already had “ghostbusters” on board or if they were added with the intention of thwarting the rise in drone activity.
The Drive noted that there were other interactions of concern than the drones connected to the Hong Kong ship.
The USS Harpers Ferry, an amphibious dock landing ship, reported as many as eight unidentified drones flying directly above it in March 2019 in the same international seas off southern California, “performing collecting activities.”
The origin of the drones was unknown.
The USS Paul Hamilton once again spotted drones above on July 21, 2019, however this time it was thought that “local fishermen using personal quadcopters” were responsible.
Later that week, on July 25, the USS Gabrielle Giffords saw four drones flying over and asked the neighbouring USS Pinckney for assistance. At the time, there were three tiny boats nearby.
On July 30, 2019, the USS Russell saw two clusters of lights over the course of roughly three hours, each of which had five drones.
It was unable to get in touch with the adjacent pleasure boat.
The USS Paul Hamilton also noted many drones that day, some of which were barely 200 yards away.
Although the drone swarm operator hasn’t been definitively identified, a prior report suggested that the drones may have come from a Hong Kong cargo ship in the area’s waterways.
Representatives of the Navy and Department of Defense mentioned drone swarms at a congressional hearing on UFOs earlier this year, but they did not go into more detail.
The Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division held an event last month named “Swarm 22” despite the absence of clear evidence.
Over 150 people attended the event, which was intended as a “large scale experimental event” to study “electromagnetic warfare (EW) utilised on tiny multi-domain unmanned systems” (UxS).