A year after mysterious drones spent weeks buzzing over a U.S. military installation Pentagon officials still are sure where they came from.
Military officials first spotted the drones last December over Langley Air Force base in Hampton, Virginia, according to the Wall Street Journal. The drones always appeared at the same time and continued to swarm over the base for over two weeks:
According to officials who spotted the bizarre flyers that plagued the base over 17 days, they would often appear around dusk and be seen flying off and returning. Some had small lights that shone like stars over the base.
It was, according to General Mark Kelly — no relation to the astronaut-turned-senator — a sci-fi-esque series of incidents to witness, causing him to give the debacle the nickname “’Close Encounters at Langley.’”
Officials described the drones as 20-foot long crafts capable of traveling at speeds of over 100 mph. The drones also don’t seem to be anything military officials have seen before, so much so that the Pentagon called in both the FBI and the Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Office. Worse yet, federal laws have officials hands tied over how to deal with them; the drones literally can’t be shot down because of the law as Futurism detailed:
Compounding the issue are federal laws that bar the military — and everyone else — from shooting down drones flying over or near military bases unless they are determined to pose a direct threat.
This also doesn’t seem to be the first time that something like this happened. In October 2023, drones were spotted over the Department of Energy’s Nevada National Security Site outside Las Vegas. Then in January, the Journal says, a University of Minnesota student by the name of Fengyun Shi who lived near the base, purchased a drone from Costco and flew it over the shipyards. After it fell out of the sky, the feds discovered that Shi had taken pictures of naval vessel construction at the yards. He was arrested and pleaded guilty and sentenced earlier this month to six-months in prison.
And then earlier this month, more drones were spotted over Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California. And even with these instances, military officials say they are still stumped over where the drones came from and who’s behind them.
