(OPINION) There are some very irate Coast Guardsmen down in Barnegat Light, New Jersey.
Federal officials have shrugged off accounts from U.S. Coast Guard members that their 47-foot-long rescue vessel was trailed by a fleet of 12 to 30 drones while patrolling the Atlantic Ocean earlier this month — and that’s not sitting well with the sailors who witnessed the mystery swarm.
“It’s the implication that’s insulting,” said the Coast Guard member, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “It’s implying we’re making sh-t up, when the ones making up sh-t are down in Washington, D.C.”
The sailor spoke to The Post days after the FAA imposed temporary flight restrictions over parts of New Jersey and New York. He said he was one of the 12 crewmembers on the boat that night.
“We were actually out there to see if we could spot any drones, because of all these sightings,” he explained. “Well, we found some drones. Or more accurately, they found us.”
The drones “appeared out of nowhere” at about 9 p.m., and followed the boat for approximately 15 minutes, he said. When the vessel shifted course, so too did the drones.
“I’m terrible with measurements, but [the swarm] was about 80 to 100 feet above us. They had four propellers. Seven feet across. The flashing lights, like you’ve seen. The festive green, red, and white lights.”
The drone swarm kept pace with the Department of Homeland Security vessel, which was cruising at “around 20 knots, which is just over 20 miles an hour.”
The Guardian said the drones eventually climbed “maybe another 100 feet” and then “banked left, towards the shoreline” and out of sight.
“Commercial airplanes don’t move like that,” he said. “I’ve been out there [on the water] when planes were coming in for landings in New York, and trust me, you can tell the difference. We’re not idiots, we know what drones look and sound like.”
White House spokesman John Kirby recently dismissed the Coast Guard’s account of being followed by the gaggle of unmanned drones.
Kirby told reporters Monday that the drones hovering over the Garden State are a “combination” of personal, professional, and governmental aircraft.
“We assess that the sightings to date include a combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters and even stars that were mistakenly reported as drones,” Kirby said.
