October 21, 2024

Pentagon Lacks Counter-Drone Procedure Leading to Incursions Like at Langley, Experts Say

Source: Fox News

Journalist: Morgan Phillips

New reporting about over a dozen unidentified drones that were allowed to fly over Langley Air Force Base has prompted fresh calls for change to a threat that experts say will only become more prevalent.

For more than two weeks in December 2023, the mystery drones traipsed into restricted airspace over the installation, home to key national security facilities and the F-22 Raptor stealth fighters.

Experts say the incident is likely one of many that U.S. authorities are underprepared to tackle in an evolving threat environment.

Lack of a standard protocol for such incursions left Langley officials unsure of what to do – other than allow the 20-foot-long drones to hover near their classified facilities.

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U.S. Air Force’s Plant 42 in California, home to highly classified aerospace development, has also seen a slew of unidentified drone incursions in 2024, prompting flight restrictions around the facility.

"There are a lot of regulations on terms of what the DoD is allowed to do in the U.S. homeland that make this a really difficult problem," said Stacie Pettyjohn, director of the defense program at the Center for a New American Security.

Read the full article and more on Fox News.

Author

  • Stacie Pettyjohn

    Senior Fellow and Director, Defense Program

    Stacie Pettyjohn is a Senior Fellow and Director of the Defense Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). Her areas of expertise include defense strategy, post...