The Night A Mysterious Drone Swarm Descended On Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant

The Night A Mysterious Drone Swarm Descended On Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant
thedrive.com ^ | July 29, 2020 | Tyler Rogoway and Joseph Trevithick

Posted on 07/30/2020 3:44:43 PM PDT by ransomnote

While the news has been filled with claims that strange unidentified craft with unexplainable capabilities are appearing over highly sensitive U.S. installations and assets as of late, a much less glamorous, more numerous, and arguably far more pressing threat has continued to metastasize in alarming ways—that posed by lower-end and even off-the-shelf drones. Less than a year ago and just days after the stunning drone attacks on Saudi Arabia's most critical energy production infrastructure deep in the heart of that highly defended country, a bizarre and largely undisclosed incident involving a swarm of drones occurred on successive September evenings in 2019. The location? America's most powerful nuclear plant, the Palo Verde Nuclear Generation Station situated roughly two dozen miles west of Phoenix, near Tonopah, Arizona.

In a trove of documents and internal correspondences related to the event, officials from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) described the incident as a "drone-a-palooza" and said that it highlighted concerns about the potential for a future "adversarial attack" involving small unmanned aircraft and the need for defenses against them. Even so, the helplessness and even cavalier attitude toward the drone incident as it was unfolding by those that are tasked with securing one of America's largest and most sensitive nuclear facilities serves as an alarming and glaring example of how neglected and misunderstood this issue is.

What you are about to read is an unprecedented look inside a type of event that is less isolated in nature than many would care to believe.

A Rapidly Accelerating Threat

Troubling incidents of protracted activity by swarms of drones, including a series of very strange incidents in Colorado and neighboring states last year that the mainstream media was quick to blow off without any real evidence to prompt such a dismissal, are occurring over and near some of America's most critical infrastructure. These events are occurring as lower-end and lower-performance unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) have become weaponized to increasingly remarkable degree in recent years. Even those built-in sheds in the middle of warzones have been employed with not only deadly, but also a highly disruptive effects. As we mentioned a moment ago, drones have even inflicted major damage to one of the world's richest and most heavily defended country's cash cow—oil production. They have also been used in an attempt to assassinate a country's ruler. And yes, the potential for them to be used for similar purposes exists right here in the United States, as well.