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Mysterious New Jersey drone sightings prompt call for 'state of emergency'

theguardian.com

21–30 of 943 posts

Re: Mysterious New Jersey drone sightings prompt call for 'state of emergency'

#21
post #3

Why are they not being shot down at the very least?

"Shot down" with what? Surface-to-air missiles? Duck hunters with shotguns? Attack helicopters with miniguns?

Whatever you spray into the sky (to knock a drone out of it) will also fall back to earth, plausibly generating civilian casualties on the ground. (And if you use lasers - high power laser beams have plenty of safety issues, too.)

Re: Mysterious New Jersey drone sightings prompt call for 'state of emergency'

#22
post #4

Bit concerning that no government agencies have figured out what’s going on, but hardly seems like there is a reason for a limited state of emergency given there is no known threat at all. My guess is a US company is gathering data and hasn’t admitted to do so without some type of licensing/etc

There was an article 1-2 days ago saying that one was in the area of a LifeFlight helicopter, preventing the safe operation of that medical transport. There has been a threat articulated. It may not be a true report and the response may not be proportional/appropriate to the threat, but to say there is zero threat is wrong.

Also, reportedly these are the size of SUVs. I don’t believe you need that much of an investment for “gathering data”.

Re: Mysterious New Jersey drone sightings prompt call for 'state of emergency'

#23
post #3

Why are they not being shot down at the very least?

It's always wrong (in every possible way) to be the first one to engage hostilities. To be morally in the clear, you should always wait for the other side to engage first. If we didn't follow this doctrine, we would've already had a nuclear holocaust. Warmongers and civilization don't mix.

We don't know anything about their capabilities as individual drones or as a cluster of drones. For all you know, when you shoot one, the other ten take that as declaration of war.

Re: Mysterious New Jersey drone sightings prompt call for 'state of emergency'

#24
post #13

The photos I've seen posted look very obviously like commercial airliners and helicopters with their navigation lights on. You can even make out the American Airlines livery on the tail! https://www.app.com/story/news/local/new-jersey/2024/12/11/d...

Which picture has the AA livery visible?

Re: Mysterious New Jersey drone sightings prompt call for 'state of emergency'

#27
post #24
post #13

The photos I've seen posted look very obviously like commercial airliners and helicopters with their navigation lights on. You can even make out the American Airlines livery on the tail! https://www.app.com/story/news/local/new-jersey/2024/12/11/d...

Which picture has the AA livery visible?

6 and 7. If you squint and lean on a bit of confirmation bias, photo 9 looks like a commercial airliner with the Alaska Airlines livery.

Re: Mysterious New Jersey drone sightings prompt call for 'state of emergency'

#30
post #17
post #13

The photos I've seen posted look very obviously like commercial airliners and helicopters with their navigation lights on. You can even make out the American Airlines livery on the tail! https://www.app.com/story/news/local/new-jersey/2024/12/11/d...

Same. This is a ridiculous mass hysteria driven by media sensationalism and ignorant members of the public.

Just out of curiosity, I took a look at the map for Spring Lake, NJ. There's an airport ~7 miles inland. There's a national guard center just to the south. Just to the north, there's Sylvan Lake that looks like the profile of a jetliner.

What's this got to do with anything? Nothing, but it's no less of an explanation than what these people have proposed.

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