Satellite images show Iran’s drone carriers are nowhere near the US as New Jersey faces a mystery drone problem
Iran’s newest drone carrier, the Shahid Bagheri, in the Persian Gulf off the southern coast of Iran on December 12.
Newly captured satellite imagery shows that Iran’s drone carriers are off its southern coast, thousands of miles away from the eastern United States.
The images back up the Pentagon’s refutation of a New Jersey lawmaker who suggested that one of the Iranian ships was operating nearby and responsible for the rash of reported drone sightings in the congressman’s state lately.
An image captured on Thursday by Maxar Technologies, a commercial satellite-imagery operation, and obtained by B-17 shows three Iranian vessels that were modified to carry drones in the Persian Gulf off the southern coast of Iran.
Three Iranian vessels modified to carry drones were seen in the Persian Gulf off the southern coast of Iran on December 12.
Iran’s drone ships aren’t anywhere near the US. There’s been significant hysteria surrounding developments in New Jersey, with some misidentifying crewed aircraft as drones. That doesn’t, however, mean the US doesn’t have a drone problem.
The military has been increasingly concerned about the threat posed by drones, which lower the barrier to entry for surveillance and attack operations, as has been seen in global conflicts and a range of incidents in the US.
The New Jersey sightings
Since mid-November, dozens of suspected drones have been spotted at night flying over New Jersey, including near several military installations, raising concern among civilians and state officials and drawing comparisons to similar incidents in other areas.
US Northern Command said it was “aware and monitoring the reports of unauthorized drone flights in the vicinity of military installations in New Jersey,” including near the Picatinny Arsenal and Naval Weapons Station Earle.
A drone swarm was also observed near a US Coast Guard vessel off the Jersey coast, and local police in the state have also detailed incidents around critical infrastructure such as water reservoirs and train stations.
The Pentagon has said that the drones being reported don’t appear to be the work of a foreign adversary or entity, but there doesn’t yet appear to be any explanation for the mysterious incidents.
John Kirby, a White House National Security Council spokesperson, said the US had “no evidence” that the reported drone sightings were a national security or public safety threat. He added that the government hadn’t been able to confirm the reported visual sightings and that some suspected drones were crewed aircraft operating lawfully.
Amid the confusion about the drones, which have been described as bigger than hobbyist drones and able to avoid detection, a theory about the reported drones emerged from Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, who, citing “very high sources,” said these drones were linked to an Iranian mothership.
“Iran launched a mothership, probably about a month ago, that contains these drones,” the Republican congressman told Fox News on Wednesday, adding that “it’s off the east coast of the United States of America.” He said that “they’ve launched drones.”
The Pentagon challenged the lawmaker’s assertions, explaining during a press briefing that “there is no Iranian ship off the coast of the United States, and there’s no so-called mothership launching drones towards the United States.”
Iranian drone carriers
Iran has turned several container ships into militarized drone carriers in recent years. Satellite imagery disclosed that the newest of the vessels, the Shahid Bagheri, had left its berth for the first time by the end of November. There was some speculation the ship was off to sea trials.
Open-source intelligence accounts tracked these ships to Iranian coastal waters as recently as Wednesday. The new satellite images B-17 obtained show the vessels were still there as of Thursday, contradicting Van Drew’s claims.
Another Iranian vessel modified to carry drones, the Shahid Mahdavi, in the Persian Gulf off the southern coast of Iran on December 12.
A third modified vessel, the Shahid Roudaki, in the Persian Gulf off the southern coast of Iran on December 12.
He doubled down on Thursday, saying drones could have been launched from hundreds of miles out at sea. The congressman stressed that the drones could be from another adversarial country such as China.
“Here’s the deal,” Van Drews said. “They don’t know what it is. They don’t know what it’s about. They haven’t taken one down to analyze it. They have no idea where it came from.”
“We are not being told the truth,” he said.
The congressman has said the drones should be shot down. There are real challenges, though, to employing some sort of kinetic or electronic-warfare countermeasures in civilian areas. The military has been grappling with this issue.
The military’s drone problem
The reported New Jersey incidents aren’t a new phenomenon. They follow other mysterious drone sightings, some around sensitive military sites in the US and overseas, such as Langley Air Force Base in Virginia and RAF Lakenheath in the UK, which hosts American forces and aircraft.
Gen. Gregory Guillot, the commander of Northcom and North American Aerospace Defense Command, said in October that there had been hundreds of drones reported flying over US military installations in recent years.
Small quadcopter drones above a US military training range.
The general, according to reports on the roundtable discussion, said many might be hobbyists, but he also said the drone threat and the need to counter it were “growing faster” than the military could react to from a policy and procedure standpoint.
The Pentagon recently announced a new counter-drone strategy to address the growing threat posed by uncrewed systems operating over American soil and abroad to US installations and troops. The priority is figuring out better ways to defeat the threat.
“The Department is mitigating the potential negative effects of unmanned systems on US forces, assets, and installations — at home and abroad. A critical portion of our efforts, particularly in the near-term, comes from improving our defenses, with an emphasis on detection as well as active and passive defenses. The Department will ensure our forces and priority installations have protection,” the Pentagon said in a fact sheet.
While US officials have said there’s no clear link between the New Jersey incidents and America’s adversaries right now, the developments still highlight concerns over the national security implications of drone incursions.
Just this week, for instance, federal investigators said a Chinese citizen residing in the US was arrested while preparing to board a China-bound flight after being accused of flying a drone and taking photos of Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
