At least 17 military bases adjacent to Chinese-owned agricultural land across the US have experienced this drone sightings In recent weeks, The Post has learned.
Mysterious drone sightings have been reported near military bases in Hawaii and installations in Utah, California, Maine and Florida, in addition to other facilities scattered across the country.
The post had earlier identified 19 military bases It is close to agricultural land purchased by Chinese-owned companies – a situation that has worried China analysts, who fear the communist country would use the land to spy on US military operations.
According to local reports, all those facilities except Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota and Joint Base San Antonio-Camp Bullis in Texas had reports of drones attempting to fly over or near their bases.
This comes as residents of New York and New Jersey have reported seeing thousands of unidentified mysterious drones in the night sky.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said Tuesday that he believes some of the unidentified drones are China’s “spy drones.”
“We need to identify who is behind these drones,” he said. “My judgment based on my experience is that those who are at our military sites are adversaries and are probably coming from the People’s Republic of China.”
In Southern California, drone sightings were reported Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton In recent times.
Spokesman Capt. James C. Sartain told The War Zone that between December 9 and 15, “six instances of unmanned aerial systems (UAS)” were observed entering Camp Pendleton’s airspace.
at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, Bob Purtiman, chief spokesman for the 88th Air Base Wing, told The Post that officials were forced to close their airspace for four hours last week due to concerns about “small unmanned aerial systems.”
in virginia, Drones have been sighted at Virginia Beach, which is about 24 miles from the Naval Station in Norfolk.
Meanwhile, in Washington state, mysterious drones were also spotted near the Fort Lewis Army base near Tacoma earlier this week.
Unidentified aircraft have also been reported over New Jersey’s Picatinny Arsenal and the state’s Naval Weapons Station Earl this month — and led to the temporary closure of Stewart International Airport in New York near Poughkeepsie on Sunday.
Sources have previously raised concerns with The Post about Chinese landowners, who are generally associated with or working on behalf of the country’s communist government.
Morgan Lerette, a former contractor for the private military contractor Blackwater, previously told The Post: “The Chinese will or will use this farm to learn more about U.S. military capabilities, movements and technology.
“This will help them better understand how to transition their forces from a defensive strategy to an expeditionary strategy.”
a report in wall street journal September 2023 revealed that Chinese infiltrators attempted to breach military facilities more than 100 times in recent years, including infiltrating a missile range in New Mexico and spotting scuba divers near a government rocket-launch site in Florida Is.
Meanwhile, analysis by the USDA’s Farm Service Agency showed that Chinese investors owned 349,442 acres of US farmland as of December 31, 2022.
Billionaire and Chinese Communist Party member Chen Tianqiao Is the second largest foreign owner of agricultural land in the USHe bought about 200,000 acres of farmland in Oregon in 2015 for about $430 an acre, As per land report,
However, when it first came to light in January, the purchase of acreage by foreign investors did not appear in government records of land ownership. According to Daily Caller,
The Chinese share of foreign-owned agricultural land in the US totals less than one percent, Per NBCBut critics charge that its proximity to important military installations raises concerns.
Meanwhile, the FBI said this week that it has received more than 5,000 reports of drones since November, but fewer than 100 of them required further investigation.
The FBI, FAA, the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security have all tried to downplay concerns, and said in a joint statement on Monday that there is no cause for concern for citizens.
The agencies said, “Our assessment is that sightings to date include a combination of legitimate commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and stars that have been mistakenly reported as drones.” Has been done.”
