US senate majority leader calls for federal deployment of drone detection technology after drone sightings shut down New York runways
The US senate majority leader has called for recently declassified drone detection technology to be deployed to the northeastern part of the country after drone sightings temporarily shut down a New York airport.
Runways at Stewart International Airport were shut down for an hour on Friday after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reported multiple drone sightings in the area, following dozens of sightings of unidentified drones in the region over the past few weeks.
Senator Chuck Schumer made a request to the Department of Homeland Security on Sunday for a drone detection system from Robin Radar Systems to be deployed to New York and New Jersey.
The “360-degree” technology can be attached to a drone or aeroplane and can read an object’s electronic registration and follow it back to its landing place.
New technology
Schumer said the federal agency must deploy the system as state and local authorities do not have the authority to track drones.
“Multiple drones flying together can confuse a traditional radar system and that’s why, again, this new technology can really get us the answers that we need,” Schumer told reporters.
He said that in spite of the large number of sightings “we have more questions than answers”.
“‘We don’t know’ is not a good enough answer,” he said.
The same day, New York governor Kathy Hochul said federal officials were sending a drone detection system to the state to “support state and federal law enforcement”.
Hochul said the system was not enough, and urged the passage of the Counter-UAS Authority Security, Safety, and Reauthorization Act, which she said would strengthen the FAA’s oversight of drones while giving state and local law enforcement the ability to take direct action on drones.
“I am grateful for the support, but we need more,” Hochul wrote on X.
“Congress must pass a law that will give us the power to deal directly with the drones.”
Federal investigation
The FBI said it has opened an investigation and deployed drone observation teams throughout New Jersey, a senior National Security Council official said.
Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told ABC News on Sunday that there was “no question that people are seeing drones” and that the federal government was aiding state police in addressing drone sightings.
He noted that when drones flew over restricted airspace the government acts “very, very swiftly”, and made reference to a Chinese national who was arrested after allegedly flying a drone over an Air Force base in California last week.
The UK government dramatically increased the no-fly zone around airports in 2019 after Gatwick Airport was disrupted for 36 hours in December 2018 by drones flying over the runway, delaying travel for 100,000 people in the busy pre-Christmas season.
