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Drone Swarm in Virginia Shows Concerning Gaps and Seams in Homeland Security
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com ^ | 10/17/2024 | JOHN MILLS

Posted on 10/17/2024 7:58:29 PM PDT by bitt

In December 2023, for 17 continuous days, a fleet of drones appeared at night over Langley Air Force Base (AFB), Virginia and other facilities in the greater Virginia Beach area. This was reported at the time, but the story was fleeting.

Two other events occurred in the area that are relevant to the story.

In February 2023, a pair of F-22s from Langley shot down the Chinese spy balloon as it exited the United States over South Carolina into the Atlantic Ocean.

In January 2024, a Chinese graduate student at the University of Minnesota, was arrested for flying a drone over close by Newport News Shipbuilding – the only builder of U.S. aircraft carriers and one of two submarine production yards.

The December 2023 drone mystery re-surfaced in the last few days in a detailed Wall Street Journal Article. When a national security story re-appears it likely means that the Inter-Agency team assembled to study the situation has begun to release findings and done select press briefings.

An example of this was in May 2023 when the Chinese cyber assault on critical infrastructure in Guam was first announced by Microsoft.

The story went away but later, in January 2024, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Wray, Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (DHS-CISA) Director Easterly, and National Security Agency (NSA)/Cyber Command Director General warned, “Chinese hackers are aiming to ‘wreak havoc’ on U.S. critical infrastructure” with Volt Typhoon.

(Excerpt) Read more at thegatewaypundit.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2023; 202301; 202305; 202312; 202401; aviation; china; chineseinfiltration; chinesespyballoon; cisa; cybersecurity; dhs; drone; dronedetection; drones; droneswarm; guam; hacking; isolatedincidents; langley; langleyafb; milbaseplots; milbases; minnesota; newportnews; oodaloop; prc; russia; scouting; scouts; security; shipbuilding; spies; spying; submarines; subyard; surveillance; technology; uavs; uofk; uofm; virginia; virginiabeach; volttyphoon
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1 posted on 10/17/2024 7:58:29 PM PDT by bitt
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To: null and void; aragorn; EnigmaticAnomaly; kalee; Kale; AZ .44 MAG; Baynative; bgill; bitt; ...

P


2 posted on 10/17/2024 7:58:42 PM PDT by bitt (<img src=' 'width=30%>)
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To: bitt

I have, yet another, dumb question.

Wouldn’t an aircraft with downward looking RADAR see these things, see where they come from, and see where they go?


3 posted on 10/17/2024 8:02:07 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire, or both.)
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To: bitt

“In December 2023, for 17 continuous days, a fleet of drones appeared at night over Langley Air Force Base (AFB), Virginia and other facilities in the greater Virginia Beach area.”

WOW... the government would never scam us. I guess we better make drones illegal and further lockdown America. A police state is a safe state.


4 posted on 10/17/2024 8:04:06 PM PDT by DesertRhino (2016 Star Wars, 2020 The Empire Strikes Back, 2024... RETURN OF THE JEDI. )
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To: BenLurkin

Careful, your critical thinking skills are showing. I hope you are not suggesting that since the DC area is one of the most closely watched by sensors and radar in America, and therefore they might be lying to us again.


5 posted on 10/17/2024 8:06:18 PM PDT by DesertRhino (2016 Star Wars, 2020 The Empire Strikes Back, 2024... RETURN OF THE JEDI. )
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To: BenLurkin
I'd be VERY surprised if we don't have satellite surveillance that is watching them nonstop.

It's a technical challenge to discriminate a small object against the reflection coming back from the earth. But you can use Doppler radar to detect small MOVING objects against the background echo from the earth. So, yes, I would imagine surveillance aircraft could track those moving drones. More here...

Look-down/shoot-down Radar

6 posted on 10/17/2024 8:11:54 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom (It should be illegal to be here illegally. It should be a crime to be committing crimes in the USA.)
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To: BenLurkin
***I have, yet another, dumb question. Wouldn’t an aircraft with downward looking RADAR see these things, see where they come from, and see where they go?***

Perhaps no one who should have cared was paying any attention. Certainly that infamous 'weather balloon' was seen but until civilians saw it and raised a flock of questions, nothing was even said. It was a serious oversight because I have seen a picture of that same Chinese air frame with four hypersonic missiles suspended underneath - a FIRST STRIKE weapon!

7 posted on 10/17/2024 8:14:01 PM PDT by Bob Ireland (The Democrap Party is the enemy of freedom.They use all the seductions and deceits of the Bolshevics)
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To: bitt

“Gaps and seams” must be a nice way to refer to their politicization and incompetence.


8 posted on 10/17/2024 8:14:52 PM PDT by SpaceBar
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To: bitt

And we have no clue? Gimme a break.


9 posted on 10/17/2024 8:17:31 PM PDT by bigbob
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To: bitt

I don’t have a WSJ account, but my husband does, so he showed me the related article a day or two ago. It is very disturbing. Yet, our government seems to be perplexed as to who could be behind this, and why. They don’t seem to care about national security much at all. It’s WAAYYY more important to keep Donald Trump from being re-elected.


10 posted on 10/17/2024 8:21:44 PM PDT by FamiliarFace (I got my own way of livin' But everything gets done With a southern accent Where I come from. TPetty)
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To: bitt

Flying too low for radar?


11 posted on 10/17/2024 8:24:57 PM PDT by heartwood (If you're looking for the /sarc tag, you just passed it..)
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To: bitt

Sounds like a CIA election physops. OOOOhhhhh bad man Trump and the russians.


12 posted on 10/17/2024 8:48:24 PM PDT by kvanbrunt2
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To: bitt

Those aliens are smart! Disguising their planetary surveillance craft as domestic military drones.


13 posted on 10/17/2024 8:56:22 PM PDT by citizen (Political incrementalism is like compound interest for liberals - every little bit adds up.)
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To: bitt
History repeats itself, again.

14 posted on 10/17/2024 10:14:12 PM PDT by Waverunner
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To: BenLurkin

It would first have to be a very sensitive radar to see the small radar cross section of a drone. Many of them are in the -15 to -20 dBsm range for X and Ka Bands (8-12.4 and 26.5-40 GHz). A 0 dbsm RCS is the equivalent reflection of a 1 meter square plate. You could also look for prop modulations and/or doppler but they’re still mostly made of plastic.

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9032332


15 posted on 10/17/2024 10:26:37 PM PDT by Gaffer
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To: Gaffer

Interesting


16 posted on 10/17/2024 10:50:50 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire, or both.)
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To: bitt; Openurmind; Churchjack; eastforker; Levy78; maddog55; Jonty30; GingisK; Mark17; ...

Ping


17 posted on 10/18/2024 2:55:00 AM PDT by RoosterRedux (Thinking objectively is difficult. And painful. That’s why many people just cling to their biases.)
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To: bitt

I bet security would be tighter if we didn’t have a Chicom meat puppet as “CinC.”


18 posted on 10/18/2024 2:58:09 AM PDT by Flag_This (They're lying.)
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To: BenLurkin
One of these was overhead at Langley during the swarm:
NASA’s WB-57Fs are specialized research aircraft that can be configured to carry a wide array of imaging and other sensors and equipment in their noses and other modular payload bays

19 posted on 10/18/2024 3:05:50 AM PDT by RoosterRedux (Thinking objectively is difficult. And painful. That’s why many people just cling to their biases.)
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To: Gaffer

These “drones” were the size of a car.


20 posted on 10/18/2024 3:07:52 AM PDT by RoosterRedux (Thinking objectively is difficult. And painful. That’s why many people just cling to their biases.)
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