Drones that hovered around American destroyers for hours off the coast of California remain unidentified more than a year and a half after the episode, the senior navy officer said.
Admiral Michael Gilday, head of naval operations, spoke about the July 2019 flights on Monday at a Defense Writers Group event in Washington. Gilday said the incident – and other similar sightings – are still being assessed.
Asked whether the Navy had identified drones flying near US warships near the Channel Islands off southern California, Gilday said, “No, we haven’t.”
“I am aware of these sightings and, as has been reported, there have been other sightings of aviators in the air and other ships not just from the United States, but from other nations – and, of course, other elements of the joint US force,” Gilday said.
“These findings have been collected and are still being analyzed,” he said.
The admiral said that there is “a well-established process in place across the joint force to collect this data and send it to a separate repository for analysis”.
Gilday appeared to be referring to a pending report requested by the Senate Intelligence Committee, which asked the Director of National Intelligence, in consultation with the Department of Defense, to provide a report by June 25 on unexplained sightings of advanced aircraft and drones documented by the military. The report should examine whether foreign opponents are behind the unidentified aircraft.
Asked whether the aircraft was “extraterrestrial”, Gilday said he had “no indication of it”.
The flights were first reported by The Drive, based on ship records and e-mails released under a Freedom of Information Request. NBC News obtained the same documents.
Up to six drones flew around the warships at the same time, often in low visibility conditions for several days, with the drones flashing lights and alerting safety precautions on board.
The drones were able to remain in the air for 90 minutes or more, exceeding the capacity of commercially available drones.
According to the ship’s records, the drones were also able to fly at the same speed as a destroyer traveling at 16 knots in low visibility conditions, which is defined as less than 1 nautical mile of visibility.
The episode raised the possibility of a serious security breach.
The drone flights took place near San Clemente Island, which is home to sensitive military installations, including a Navy SEAL training site, a live ship-to-land firing range and an airfield.
The mysterious drone flights led to immediate investigations by Navy and FBI investigators and intelligence officers, including a special agent from the Navy Criminal Investigation Service, the FBI field office in Los Angeles and the director of the Center for Operations Operations. Maritime Intelligence within the 3rd Navy Fleet, according to emails obtained by NBC News.
The emails made it clear that the matter was receiving high-level attention, even the office of the head of naval operations.