In late 2024, widespread reports of drones emerged across the United States. From November to December, thousands of witnesses described seeing drones—also known as unmanned aerial vehicles—flying at night. The sightings began in New Jersey and subsequently spread to neighboring states, including New York and Pennsylvania. Reports soon emerged across the Northeast and other parts of the country. While investigators determined the reports mainly consisted of authorized drones and misidentified objects, military officials confirmed a concurrent pattern of unauthorized incursions over sensitive defense installations.
Sightings were reported over military installations, such as Picatinny Arsenal and Naval Weapons Station Earle in New Jersey, as well as civilian infrastructure and residential areas. Prominent reports included drones preventing a medical evacuation, following a Coast Guard vessel, and spraying "gray mist". These specific incidents were found to be commercial aircraft or atmospheric phenomena. Other purported drones were debunked as the constellation Orion or the planet Venus.
Federal investigators examined over 5,000 reports but found no evidence of threats or anomalous activity. A joint statement by the Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) concluded most sightings were authorized drones, misidentified manned aircraft, and other routine objects. Independent experts agreed, with some describing the event as a mass panic, comparable to earlier episodes in American history. Others cited factors such as confirmation bias or social contagion as contributing to the wave of reports. DoD officials stated that unauthorized drones regularly flew over military bases and were usually harmless. Despite this, some analysts and officials suspected certain sightings were of foreign surveillance drones due to their appearance and behavior.
Government responses included briefings with elected officials and flight restrictions over sensitive areas in New York and New Jersey. Some authorities called for enhanced counter-drone powers and interagency coordination. Online attention to drone sightings surged, with misleading viral videos and images on social media fueling public confusion. The sightings prompted new legislative efforts and the extension of existing counter-drone powers into 2025.
In January 2025, the Trump administration stated the aircraft were primarily FAA-authorized drones. Later that year, military officials confirmed hundreds of drone incursions over bases during 2024 and announced a new counter-drone rapid reaction force. New legislation was also introduced in Congress to help manage drones and mitigate threats.
Background
A drone is an aircraft controlled remotely without an onboard pilot. These vehicles serve a broad range of functions for the military, businesses, and recreational enthusiasts. The 2024 sightings occurred against a backdrop of increasing drone prevalence and high-profile incidents involving unmanned aircraft. London Gatwick Airport was forced to cancel flights for several days in December 2018 due to drone reports near its runways. Prior unidentified drone sightings in the US include a rash of reports over Colorado and Nebraska in late 2019 and early 2020. In early 2023, an unmanned spy balloon originating from China flew over parts of the United States, including military sites. Significant drone incursions occurred over Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, in December 2023, prompting a response involving US government aircraft.
Based on 2023 data, the FAA estimated the number of commercial and recreational drones operating in the United States would reach nearly 2.8 million in 2024. In August 2024, sightings over Plant 42, a classified aircraft manufacturing plant of the US Air Force in California, were confirmed by the Air Force and led to new FAA airspace restrictions. The United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) hosted an October 2024 demonstration of counter-drone technologies in Colorado. The trials, dubbed "Falcon Peak", came as a response to the observations over Langley Air Force Base. One of the systems tested had been used in combat in the Russo-Ukrainian war. Unidentified drones were reported over US bases in the United Kingdom in November 2024, followed by sightings over Ramstein Air Base and arms factories in Germany in December 2024.
Reported sightings
Reports of unidentified drones began in New Jersey in mid-November 2024 before expanding across numerous other states. The first sighting occurred at Picatinny Arsenal in Morris County, New Jersey, on November 13. Additional observations were reported in Morris County by November 18 and the neighboring Somerset County shortly after. The sightings, initially concentrating around the Raritan River corridor, soon spread across New Jersey. Reports eventually extended throughout the Northeast, with later sightings emerging across the continental United States.
Witnesses described sightings over residential areas and near sensitive locations, including military installations, emergency communication centers, law enforcement facilities, and Round Valley Reservoir in New Jersey. Drones were also reportedly observed near infrastructure such as highways, railroads, transmission lines, and nuclear power plants in New Jersey and New York. Observers described drones that emitted a loud hum, were as large as cars, or flew without navigation lights. Some described the drones as flying in groups or alongside fixed-wing aircraft. Some experts who reviewed footage categorized the objects as either quadcopters or fixed-wing aircraft.
By late December 2024, reports in northern New Jersey had slowed significantly. This trend was mirrored online, where the social media-driven panic began to subside. Online search interest in the topic had "plummeted to two points out of 100" by January 12, 2025, down from its peak of 100 in mid-December, according to researchers.
Sightings involving armed forces
Military personnel and security officials reported multiple incursions and suspicious aerial activities over defense installations. Numerous drone sightings were reported over Picatinny Arsenal and Naval Weapons Station Earle in New Jersey, with some accounts coming from what military officials described as highly trained security personnel. The first confirmed observation, witnessed by a police or security officer, was reported on November 13, 2024. That day, a contractor at Picatinny Arsenal reported seeing "a light rising straight up from the tree line and toward the arsenal." A month later, multiple drone incursions were again reported, this time over Naval Weapons Station Earle. In response, the Joint Chiefs of Staff issued a statement confirming some sightings. They stated that the DoD did not know who operated the drones but that there was no indication of involvement by adversary nations. The statement said officials could not locate the drone operators or origin points, and noted the DoD lacks authority to pursue drones beyond base perimeters without law enforcement help.
Legislators Chris Smith and Paul Kanitra claimed that multiple drones followed a United States Coast Guard 47-foot Motor Lifeboat. Coast Guard officer Luke Pinneo stated that "multiple low-altitude aircraft were observed in the vicinity" of one of their vessels. White House spokesperson John Kirby said the reported aircraft were commercial flights approaching John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), not drones, based on forensic analysis. Smith challenged this explanation, emphasizing the experience of the officers involved. Later, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) documents revealed that the drone swarms reported by coast guardsmen were actually commercial jets aligning for landing at JFK. The aircraft made S-shaped maneuvers while approaching the airport, creating an illusion of hovering when viewed from certain perspectives.
On December 9, 2024, federal officials arrested a Chinese national for flying a drone over Vandenberg Space Force Base in Southern California. Police apprehended the individual while he attempted to board a flight to China at San Francisco International Airport. The following day, a press release from Hill Air Force Base in Utah acknowledged recent observations of "unidentified drone swarms" over several US military bases, confirming nearby sightings that did not affect operations. Unauthorized drones flew over Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in California with six incursions from December 9 into the following week. Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio experienced airspace closures in mid-December due to incursions by small drones. Shortly after, police in White Settlement, Texas, confirmed an investigation involving the FBI, Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and the Air Force into drone incidents at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth and a nearby National Guard armory.
Sightings by civilians
Civilian reports came from a range of sources, including law enforcement, politicians, and observers near critical infrastructure. Law enforcement reportedly observed drone activity on November 18, 2024, in New Jersey. Near the end of the month, reports of drone activity near Raritan Valley Community College (RVCC) in New Jersey prevented a medical evacuation helicopter from transporting a car crash victim. RVCC security supervisor Brian Serge commented, "We never found out what the actual drones were." The TSA later released documents showing that three aircraft approaching Solberg Airport (N51) near the school had been misidentified as drones. The TSA's analysis concluded that because the aircraft were flying directly towards the observers on the ground, they appeared to hover. In a separate incident on December 12, a drone was described as spraying "gray mist" over Clinton, New Jersey. According to TSA documents released in 2025, investigators identified this with high confidence as a Beechcraft Baron 58 propeller plane experiencing turbulence, which created wingtip vortices that formed condensation clouds. On the same day in Pequannock Township, a drone crashed, which was initially reported as "military-grade". A police investigation determined it was a toy drone, with officials suggesting it was one of multiple copycat incidents in the area.
United States Senator Andy Kim reported observing drones near the Round Valley Reservoir during a December 12 patrol with Clinton Township Police. He later acknowledged that the majority of the suspected drones were probably airplanes. On December 13, former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan posted a video on X showing what he believed to be numerous large drones over his Davidsonville, Maryland, residence. However, several individuals, including journalist Steven Greenstreet, meteorologist Matthew Cappucci, and University of Maryland Observatory director Elizabeth Warner, identified the objects in the video as the constellation Orion. Greenstreet also noted that flight data indicated the presence of three aircraft in the vicinity at the time. Subsequently, a community note was added to Hogan's post, stating that no unusual objects were visible in his video. Late-night comedian Stephen Colbert joked about the misidentification during his monologue.