For years, strange shadows have danced across American skies, with sightings of mysterious drones dating back to at least 2019. A chilling new report reveals that dozens of these unidentified aircraft once lingered over some of the nation’s most critical military sites for an unbroken stretch of 17 days.
From naval warships off California’s coast to the high-tech fortress of Langley Air Force Base in Virginia—home to the elite F-22 Raptor stealth fighters—these intrusions have sparked alarm and intrigue, as detailed in a recent CBS 60 Minutes exposé.
The drone swarms over Langley, captured in iPhone footage, have fueled speculation of espionage. Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS), chair of the Armed Services Committee, shared his unease with anchor Bill Whitaker in a December interview that aired Sunday night. “I am privy to classified briefings at the highest level. I think the Pentagon and the national security advisors are still mystified,” Wicker said, hinting at a troubling possibility: these machines might be probing America’s military might. “Clearly, there is a military intelligence aspect of this,” he added.
Eyewitness accounts paint a vivid picture. Jonathan Butner, vacationing at his family’s cabin along Virginia’s James River in December 2023, recorded nearly 90 minutes of video showing “upwards of 40-plus” drones charting a deliberate course toward Langley. He later handed the footage to the FBI, hoping to shed light on the enigma. “I’m very familiar with all the different types of military craft. We have Blackhawks, we have the F-22s. And these were like nothing I’ve ever seen,” he told CBS.
Butner wasn’t alone in his observations. Retired four-star General Mark Kelly, stationed at Langley during the incursions, confirmed the regularity of the sightings. “The reports were coming in 20-to-30 sightings, same time every evening, 30-to-45 minutes after sunset,” he recounted. The drones varied wildly—some buzzed loudly at low altitudes, others glided silently at higher elevations. Their sizes ranged from tiny quadcopters to hulking crafts the size of “a bass boat or a small car,” Kelly noted.
Over those 17 days, the military scrambled to respond, even relocating some F-22s to a nearby base as a precaution. Then, as abruptly as they appeared, the drones vanished from the night sky. Retired General Glen VanHerck didn’t mince words about the potential danger.
Beyond mere surveillance, he warned, these machines could be weaponized—capable of bombing or disabling the stealth jets. “It certainly could have a foreign nexus, a threat nexus,” he said, dismissing the notion of hobbyists due to the drones’ scale and stamina.
“They could be doing anything, from surveilling critical infrastructure, just to the point of embarrassing us from the fact that they can do this on a day-to-day basis and then we’re not able to do anything about it.”
The investigation zeroed in on Langley, according to General Gregory Guillot, a combat veteran who conducted a 90-day review for NORAD and NORTHCOM. “It is alarming,” Guillot admitted.
“And, I would say that our hair is on fire here in, in NORTHCOM, in a controlled way. And we’re moving out extremely quickly.” Yet, answers remain elusive, with the probe ongoing and NORTHCOM racing to plug the security hole.
The White House, meanwhile, sought to calm nerves this past January, insisting that earlier drone waves over New Jersey were benign—“not the enemy,” in President Trump’s words, likely the work of “hobbyists” or “researchers.” But such assurances have only deepened the skepticism among lawmakers and former brass.
How could such a breach occur over a U.S. Air Force base? VanHerck pointed to a critical flaw: NORAD’s radar systems, designed for higher-flying threats, can’t reliably spot low-altitude drones.
“Certainly they can come and go from any direction,” he said, noting the FBI’s ongoing hunt for clues. Shooting them down wasn’t an option either. “Firing missiles in our homeland is not taken lightly,” he explained, citing the risks to civilians and the challenge of distinguishing friend from foe.
Guillot offered a glimmer of hope, revealing that upgraded radar systems are being rolled out at key locations, with plans to have them operational “inside of a year.” But VanHerck, his predecessor, criticized the sluggish response from Washington.
“It’s been one year since Langley had their drone incursion and we don’t have the policies and laws in place to deal with this? That’s not a sense of urgency,” he stated. The old notion of America as an impregnable stronghold—flanked by oceans and allies—feels outdated, he argued. “It’s time we move beyond that assumption.”
The Fairview Gazette will keep you updated on this ongoing situation.
