Flying drone invasion unfold to a number of states as New Jersey residents sound alarm: Live updates

Over the last several weeks, New Jersey residents have reported seeing numerous, ‘car-sized’ drones hovering throughout the state, sometimes appearing in groups and often remaining in the same place for hours at a time.

Now the sightings have spread to two more states: Pennsylvania and New York.

On Thursday evening, Pennsylvania residents took to social media to share reports of lights in the sky from the Easton area to the Slate Belt and beyond.

Multiple sightings were also reported in the Poconos. The Monroe County Office of Emergency Management said it was aware of reports throughout the county in a Facebook post.

That same night, emergency officials in Orange County, New York, stated that they were ‘aware of several reported incidents of drone sightings throughout Orange County this evening,’ in a Facebook post.

Residents of Texas and Oklahoma have also reported potential drone sightings, but at this time, there is no evidence to suggest they are linked to the sightings in northeastern states.

Retired police lieutenant and intelligence analyst Tim McMillan told DailyMail.com that the descriptions of the drones in New Jersey ‘sound exactly like Russian Orlan-10 drones’ — secretive craft that fly in packs of three to five.

What’s more, he said the recent sightings greatly resemble troubling drone flights above industrial parks surrounding Germany’s Brunsbüttel harbor from this past August.

Lt McMillan and other experts have noted that the New Jersey sightings circled around Picatinny Arsenal, home of the US Army’s CCDC Armaments Center, which is responsible for manufacturing and supplying Ukraine with artillery ammunition.

These experts suggest Russia could be carrying out an intelligence-gathering mission known as ‘ferreting’, meant to intentionally trigger and test their foreign rival’s airspace defense procedures and response time.

Or Russia could simply be spying on allies of Ukraine who are aiding the fight against Russia’s occupation of its southeastern regions, including Donetsk and Mariupol.

A Chinese man has been arrested for allegedly flying a drone over Vandenberg Space Force Base, as the FBI investigates mysterious drones in New Jersey.

Yinpiao Zhou, 39, a Chinese National now living in Brentwood, California, was charged with failure to register an aircraft not providing transportation and violation of national defense airspace.

Zhou was arrested Monday at San Francisco International Airport prior to boarding a China-bound flight and made his initial appearance Tuesday in United States District Court in San Francisco.

‘This defendant allegedly flew a drone over a military base and took photos of the base’s layout, which is against the law,’ said United States Attorney Martin Estrada.

At this time, there is no evidence to suggest that Zhou is connected to the drone activity in New Jersey and other northeastern states.

But his arrest adds to growing concerns over the ability of foreign entities to infiltrate US airspace and conduct surveillance.

During a Tuesday coongressional hearing, Robert Wheeler, assistant FBI director, said that more than 3,000 sightings had been provided to the agency’s tip line set up last week.

When asked if these drones posed a threat to public safety, he said: ‘There is nothing known that would lead me to say that, but we just don’t know and that’s the concerning part.’

The Department of Homeland Security issued a statement Thursday, saying that many of the reports are legally operated manned aircraft.

The Biden administration and the Pentagon have also pushed back against claims by Republican lawmakers that the drones are being operated by any one of America’s foreign adversaries — including claims that the flights originate from an Iranian ‘mothership’ offshore.

Republican Rep Jeff Van Drew said Wednesday that Iran launched the vessel ‘probably about a month ago’ after making a deal with China ‘to purchase drones, a mothership and other technologies.’

Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Sing said in a briefing: ‘At this time we have no evidence that these activities are coming from a foreign entity or the work of an adversary.’