MYSTERY WIRE — The Chief of United States Naval Operations said that what was described as swarms of unidentified drones around Navy ships in July 2019 remain unidentified.
The statement was reported by The Drive Monday afternoon. According to the report, Admiral Michael Gilday was asked about the incidents in a roundtable with reporters.
Jeff Schogol of Task & Purpose Gilday if the Navy had positively identified any of the aircraft involved. “No, we have not,” Gilday told Schogol. “I am aware of those sightings and as it’s been reported there have been other sightings by aviators in the air and by other ships not only of the United States, but other nations – and of course other elements within the U.S. joint force.
“Those findings have been collected and they still are being analyzed,” Gilday added. “I don’t have anything new to report, Jeff, on what those findings have revealed thus far. But I will tell you we do have a well-established process in place across the joint force to collect that data and to get it to a separate repository for analysis.”
The destroyers involved were the USS Kidd, USS Rafael Peralta, USS Russell, USS John Finn, and the USS Paul Hamilton. All of the reported incidents took place relatively close to San Clemente Island, which the Navy uses for life-fire testing, SEAL training, and an airfield.
According to the emails, details of the incidents made it up the chain of command all the way to the office of the chief of naval operations. It also includes mentions of Navy intelligence officers, the FBI, a special agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and the director of the Maritime Intelligence Operations Center within the Navy’s 3rd Fleet.
The Drive found the Navy reported some drones were flying near the shifts for around 90 minutes, which is much longer than any publicly available drone on the market.
