FAA tests drone detection equipment in New Jersey after unexplained drone sightings in the state last year

By Pete Muntean, CNN

Washington (CNN) — The Federal Aviation Administration is testing systems to detect drones in New Jersey, after a series of unexplained drone sightings in the state last year raised alarm.

The testing, over a two-week period in the community of Cape May, includes about 100 off-the-shelf Unmanned Aerial Systems, commonly called drones, ranging in size from smaller than a pound up to large craft weighing nearly 1,320 pounds, the FAA said in a statement.

Equipment being tested by the FAA’s Center of Excellence for UAS Research includes Remote ID, Acoustic Array and X-Band radar.

“These tests will help determine the effectiveness of these technologies and whether they might interfere with FAA or aircraft navigation systems,” the agency said. “The FAA conducted the first of these off-airport tests in Alaska and will conduct additional testing in New Mexico, North Dakota and Mississippi later this year.”

While the FAA did not say why they chose New Jersey for the latest test, the area saw hundreds of reports of unexplained drones in the skies in November and December, prompting pressure on federal and local agencies to investigate.

“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 aircrafts, helicopters, and even stars that were mistakenly reported as drones,” then White House National Security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters in December.

Officials have urged calm and emphasized there is no evidence suggesting the sightings posed a security threat.

In a video provided to CNN in advance of its release Tuesday evening, Transportation Secretray Sean Duffy criticized the New Jersey “drone fiasco under the last administration” and vowed to be transparent about what was going on.

“This administration has taken a completely different approach, radical transparency,” he said. “The FAA is doing this to ensure we can properly detect drones in our airspace and make sure they don’t interfere with airplane navigation systems… This is about protecting our national security and American safety.”

More than 100 drones are sighted near airports each month, the FAA noted in its statement.

Tests conducted by the Secret Service and US Navy on anti-drone systems in Washinton D.C. in March caused collision alerts to go off in several planes approaching to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, according to congressional reports.

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