Originally published at: DRONES SWARM LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE
There’s a story out that that grabbed my attention because it was shared with me no less than three times by three people who each had their own “take” on what may be going on. those three - S.C.G., T.S., and B.W. - get our thanks for the lead story this week. And before we…
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For some reason my mind immediately goes to message sending when this and similar incidents occur. Kind of a “look what we can do”.
Well just to throw my hat into the ring, maybe another player, clothed in who knows, the real player remain mostly unknown.
Jays got a great take I feel.
… let me know when we engage. Until there are actual weapons involved incidents such as these should be left alone. Nothing more than (Chinese?) trial balloons (every pun intended).
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I can only imagine the intensity the base commander must have had when demanding authority to defend the domestic base.
What if the best defense is to deploy snipers to take out the drones. The NASA plane approach seems off. Unless other assets were not available it could be an attempt to develop software to manage swarms.
Maybe an adversary is probing domestic targets for two reasons:
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A Warning, it is practically buzzing F22s, it’s like saying go ahead deploy somewhere. See what happens. Like a taunt. And the public does not even seem to know what a humiliation that is. I was floored by the article which is why I posted the article as well just before JPF published. (Otherwise I would have only commented…)
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An adversary is updating war plans and evaluating attack plans against targets. Then they evaluate the response.
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Or, it could have been a classified exercise. Which would be better news. This makes sense because the event was not widely reported and there could have been a request to media to not report so as to avoid copycat scenarios or call attention to the vulnerability.
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Good speculations and implications… I agree with you but I get the feeling that it wasn’t an exercise.
… if not an exercise then why no anti-aircraft response? Langley includes:
480th Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance Wing
The 480 ISR Wing operates and maintains the Air Force Distributed Common Ground System, or DCGS, also known as the “Sentinel” weapon system, conducting imagery, cryptologic, and measurement and signatures intelligence activities.
The Wing is composed of the following units worldwide:
480th ISR Group, Fort Gordon, Ga.
497th ISR Group, Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va.
548th ISR Group, Beale Air Force Base, Calif.
692nd ISR Group, Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii
693rd ISR Group, Ramstein Air Base, Germany
694th ISR Group, Osan Air Base, South Korea
and
363d Intelligence, Surveillance, & Reconnaissance Wing
The 363d ISR Wing is the targeting production, special operations ISR and full-spectrum analytical support to the tactical warfighter. The wing provides operations, planning and execution support to major commands and theater air and space operation centers. It provides geospatial and comprehensive threat analysis products to units employing airpower worldwide.
Yet no response? Come now.
I don’t know, but they might have been ordered to stand down for whatever reason. The whole thing does not make sense.
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A tidbit that fascinated me was indication there were more than one kind of drone spotted. This is likely more complex / nuanced than is obvious. Here’s one scenario. Some actor (even some foolish individual) could be flying a drone or two over the base. It seems relatively low threat, but commander reports it. Federal ‘anti-drone’ agencies (FAA or DHS I assume) sees it as an opportunity to do counter-drone operations. Base commander knows what’s going on but can’t say to avoid disclosing the counter-drone op. Or, could be a state actor, or non-state actor doing intelligence gathering or just harassing, or testing anti-drone tech. If the bad guys are prepping for some event there would seem to be better targets out there. F-22s are fine jets, but there are many more F-35s out there now spread across dozens of bases so disabling a few F-22s doesn’t impact defense so much. This does not seem to be about the F-22 specifically to me. Something else on the base or nearby (CIA HQ)?
But why the high altitude NASA overflights? Could they be sniffing for satellite to drone communications? Obviously we already know when satellites are passing overhead and who owns them. Perhaps some other ‘craft’ up there controlling drones? Were the drones conventional heavier than air, or something more ethereal like the transparent balls reported by USN pilots entering their test area just to the east of the Langley location?
All just speculation, but going down rabbit trails can sometimes help focus thoughts.
Definitely these are “possible possibilities”…
I never have trusted Wiedner - an this is another example of why. Jackie wanting to get the hell out of Dallas, safely of the ground and ensconced by Presidential security with her husband’s body makes complete sense, it does not MAKE her an “accomplice.” She was freaked out beyond reason or measure and so frightened for the lives of herself and her children, she went and married that frog Onassis, because he promised her 24/7 top security for the rest of her life, which is what she wanted. Remember, she was being shot at too in that convertable, with her husbands head in her lap.
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would this possibly be to usher in even more laws and regulations regarding flying of drones? (as if they need any plausible excuse these days)
UK had a “drone incident” back in 2018…