Hello John and Doves,
There was a drone
sighting last Saturday within the restricted air space of
D.C./Andrews Air Force Base and 'too close' to one of
President Trump's backup planes - a helicopter and two
jets were scrambled but, ultimately, made no contact.
The drone was up around 6,000 feet.
The question is:
was it FAA 'authorized'?
And the most popular
drone producer in the U.S. - DJI, a Chinese company, of
course - dropped programming for geofencing in their
drones. Interesting timing. They were about to
be banned as a national security risk, but miraculously,
were given one year to prove they are not a threat to the
U.S. How can they possibly do that??
The Drone
Sighting:
Last Saturday, "Two U.S.
Air National Guard F-16C Vipers and one U.S. Coast Guard
MH-65 helicopter were scrambled to intercept a possible
drone near one of President Donald Trump's backup planes,
according to flight tracking data and Air Traffic Control
audio."
"The SAM47 USAF Boeing
C-32A/757 was reportedly supposed to land at Joint Base
Andrews Air Force Base in Washington D.C., when a "potential
drone" sighting delayed it." It was picked up on
radar.
The drone was seen "over
Freeway Airport located about 10 miles north of Andrews Air
Force Base in Maryland." Flying between 5,000 and
6,000 feet.
The 'scrambled' aircraft
did not intercept the "target of interest"."
"The airspace around the
Washington DC area is one of the most restricted in the
United States....You can get slapped with fines and even
face jail time or worse if you are flying within 15
miles of the general Washington DC area."
Drone
No Fly Zone Map In The US [2025]
"Andrews Air
Force Base is around twelve miles from the United States
capitol via air, which is fewer than ninety
seconds for a fighter jet."
Andrews
Air Force Base (USAF)
Looks like drones are
hard to intercept with fighter jets. Especially the small,
slow drones. The helicopters are better with the low
and slow targets.
Even though the capital
region is "the nation's most heavily protected. It is
extremely well monitored with counter-drone and specialized
optical systems, as well as enhanced radar" and Stinger
missiles. This drone got away.
The D.C. area is the
most "heavily protected" yet drones seem to come and go as
will.
DJI Chinese
Drone Manufacturer:
And on January 13, 2025,
DJI, a Chinese drone manufacturer (of the most commonly used
drones on the U.S. market), "changed its firmware
this month to remove its built-in geofencing feature,
which blocked flight in restricted areas.
"If you were flying a DJI drone...and you came to an
airport...the manufacturer had put a kind of invisible
barrier around the border at airports...Your drone will stop
flying. Now it's up to the individual user or each
pilot to be in control," Austin explained. (Will Austin is a
national drone expert.)
This article is dated
December 18, 2024 - Now this is interesting because the U.S.
Senate passed a National Defense Authorization Act that has
"major consequences for the world's largest drone company" -
China's DJI. DJI and Autel Robotics products will be
automatically banned in one year.
"If DJI cannot convince
"an appropriate national security agency" to publicly
declare that its products do not "pose an unacceptable risk
to the national security of the United States," the act
instructs the FCC to add DJI's gear to its "covered list"
under the Secure and Trusts Communication Networks
Act. Not only does that list keep that gear from
running on US networks, it bars the FCC from authorizing
their internal radios for use in the US, effectively
blocking all imports."
DJI
escapes US drone ban — but may get banned automatically
unless Trump steps in | The Verge
"Every DJI product with
a radio or camera would technically be banned." But
there is a one-year countdown...
Interesting timing that
DJI removed its geofencing feature..."DJI dominates the U.S.
consumer drone market and sells in more than 100 countries
and as noted in my Doves letter Part 3 on drones today -
Indian military drones were being taken over/controlled by
the Chinese! Could that happen here? DJI drones
are the most popular drones in the U.S. and now they won't
shut down if they fly into restricted areas, "including
national security locations around Washington, D.C. and over
active wildfires and other disasters in temporarily
restricted areas. DJI's most recent update turns that
hard geofence feature off, substituting it with a in-app
alert that irresponsible pilots can, presumably, simply
ignore."
The article notes that
the FCC drone Remote ID went into effect early 2024.
So DJI thinks there is no reason to have geofence on the
drones any more. Or is there another reason for doing
this now?
And as we've noted,
Remote ID is pretty worthless with the mystery drones.
Not a single one has been identified. FAA should have
been all over these from the get-go. And our
anti-drone high tech equipment doesn't work against the
mystery drones.
What if China took over
all of the DJI drones in the U.S. (like they did the Indian
military drones) and started flying them into planes,
transformers, electric wires, vehicles on the freeway,
windows, crowds of people, etc.? These drones don't
drop to the ground now when they enter restricted air
space. They can fly where ever they want.
Will this be convenient for a Chinese invasion?
"As of 2024, the Federal
Aviation Administration in the United States registered
855,860 drones......DJI continues to dominate the drone
manufacturing industry, holding 79% of the market share in
2023, with 54% of the global market share and 80% in the US
market by 2024." By 2023, the U.S. was predicted to
have 1.5 million recreational drones. In 2024, the
military drone market is anticipated to reach USD 11.47
billion."
Drones
Statistics By Revenue, Usage and Manufacturers [2025*]
DJI (CCP) definitely has
a lot of drones in the U.S.
No doubt - There will be
more to come about these mystery drone sightings.
Pray for the peace of
Jerusalem!
Maranatha!
Chance