Harassment Of Navy Destroyers By Mysterious Drone Swarms Off California Went On For Weeks

thedrive.com/the-war-zone ^ | ADAM KEHOE AND MARC CECOTTI

[RoosterRedux]

Earlier this year The War Zone exclusively reported about a series of 2019 incidents that involved unidentified drones stalking US Navy vessels over several nights in the waters off of Southern California. Our initial report also covered the Navy’s investigation into the incidents, which appeared to struggle to identify either the aircraft or their operators. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Michael Gilday later clarified that the aircraft were never identified, and that there have been similar incidents across the service branches and allied militaries.

Newly released documents obtained via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) show that the full scope of these drone incursions was greater than it initially appeared, and they persisted well after the Navy’s investigation was launched. Deck logs indicate that drone sightings continued throughout the month of July 2019 and included events where drone countermeasure teams were called into action. One notable event involved at least three ships observing multiple drones. Uncharacteristically for unclassified deck logs, the details on this event are almost entirely redacted.

Among the new documents is the map seen below that details the interactions between a drone (denoted on what appears to be a briefing slide as an unmanned aerial system, or UAS) and a Navy Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, the USS Paul Hamilton.

The map depicts Paul Hamilton making an abrupt right-hand turn while a drone closely follows the ship. The legends and annotations of the map have been redacted under FOIA exemptions that apply to technical data that have military applications. Though the title of the document reads July 17th, the map appears to refer to drone encounters that occurred in the incidents on July 14th and July 15th.

[Deaf Smith]

"cheap shotgun shells and fill the sky with shot"

Drones off station 100 meters will be secure from shotgun range.

They could then range closer once the AI determines effect trajectory.

[Scott from the Left Coast]

“ Did it ever occur to the warriors to just shoot the drones down and examine the parts?”

It’s the US Navy, they were too busy getting their hormone treatments, adjusting their pronouns, and working out their angst over great-grandpa’s racist attitude to think of that.

[rktman]

:-}

[SaxxonWoods]

Dangerous. Sounds like the sender wants to test our ability to respond.

Drones and robots, the soldiers of the future.

[laplata]

“Dangerous. Sounds like the sender wants to test our ability to respond”.

BINGO!

Hopefully the sender is US.

[Gaffer]

Depends on the range, AND the apersize of the antenna on the drone. R^4 spherical diversion plus conversion gain/loss on both antenna ends is a strength killer...

[HombreSecreto]

New movie...DRONEnado!

[kenmcg]

Why don’t they shoot them down and send a message to whoever is behind it?

[Basket_of_Deplorables]

Would not a focused 100kW radar beam fey anything in its path?

At Keesler AFB so many years ago, I watched the radar techs knock all the pigeons off a hanger that way. From about a mile away.

[PIF]

Phalanx!

—
Didn’t work shells to big, gun action set for fast moving targets not slow ones.

Suggested in article comments is mini-cannon using .30 cal rounds instead, as well as some sort of weapon firing shot gun-like round (WWII naval AA gun?).

[PIF]

My vote goes the to the tight lipped USAF jacking the swabbies.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Let those boys and girls get up on deck and work on their shooting skills.

Now why didn't the Navy think of that?

This log entry also has a reference to "SCAT," which likely stands for Small Craft Action Team. Speaking to Business Insider last year, Navy Lt. J. G. Frank Smeeks, an anti-terrorism officer, explained that "SCAT is a team consisting of crew-served weapons machine gun operators that provide 360-degree coverage of the ship, an anti-terrorism tactical watch officer and a gunnery liaison officer. They are called away as a pre-planned response to threats the ship may face like a small boat attack or low, slow flyer." (Note that in naval parlance, "calling away" refers to sending sailors to their posts.)

The following day, a new term is introduced to the logs: “ghostbusters.” A log entry reflects an apparently brief counter UAS exercise lasting about eight minutes.

Though official references are hard to come by, “ghostbuster” is a term sometimes used to refer to lower-end counter UAS devices that look similar to rifles.

A woman test-fires the anti-drone gun known as the DroneDefender.

USS America conducts small craft attack team ("SCAT") drills.

[PIF]

Choices are :
A) shoot the drones down and examine the parts
B) wring their little hands

Answer :
B and take neat pictures to post on their BBs

[ProtectOurFreedom]

...the videos depict extraordinarily complex vehicles capable of “transmedium” travel

I just KNEW those "trans" were causing trouble. Sure didn't take them long to stir the pot.

[McGruff]

Boy if you have a hard time with a bunch of drones how are you going to battle the Chinese or Russians?

[Georgia Girl 2]

That’s a thought but more like desperate trying to strike out because the military is not following Biden or Austin’s orders. The Co-Comms are calling the shots in the field.

[PIF]

Has been reported across other navies and nuclear installations but only reported not described

reported is as if they have a “mind of their own” because they are AI drone swarms, not your backyard toy.

What remains a mystery is where are they launched from - these ships are far out at sea so that leaves either ‘aliens’, submarines or container ships - both of the later would have been spotted on radar. Its like these ‘drones’ just appeared in the airspace by the ships. There’s too much blacked out in the FOIA documents to tell.

I think they are using the word ‘drone’ because its is a familiar concept, but may be misleading as to what they actually are.

[PIF]

It’s the US Navy, they were too busy getting their hormone treatments, adjusting their pronouns, and working out their angst over great-grandpa’s racist attitude to think of that.

—

You forgot the most common form of being ‘too busy’ - pouting and sulking after a dyke fight - behavior which, if you read between the lines, was the cause of the two Aegis destroyer collisions.

[databoss]

Our drones...

[pfflier]

I'm having trouble with freepers that think you can shoot down a tic tac drone with a 20mm projectile at hundreds of yards range.

RF energy or laser yes.