So It’s The Chinese Who Are Behind The Drones?

Drones continue to be a hot topic. Everyone wants to know why we can’t catch the people behind these sightings coast to coast. But, wait, is that true? Are we really not catching anyone in the act?

In July, a Chinese national graduate student was convicted for taking drone footage of Huntington Ingalls Industries Newport News Shipbuilding. He was sentenced to six months in prison. Fengyun Shi was flying the unmanned aircraft outside the 65th Street and Huntington Avenue Entrance of HII Newport News Shipbuilding when he got it stuck in a tree. The SD card showed footage captured of U.S. Navy vessels or vessels intended for use by the Navy, according to court documents. His arrest came after unidentified drones had been seen over nearby Langley airbase for 17 days straight.

According to his plea agreement, Shi bought the drone on January 3^rd in California and arrived in Norfolk the next day from San Francisco. He flew the drone over BAE Systems Shipyard on January 5th but did not take any photos. On January 6th, Shi’s drone got stuck in a tree near NNS and he asked someone who lived nearby to help him get it down. The resident asked Shi where he was from, and he replied that he was from China. The resident then called the police.

And then there’s this.

A Chinese man was recently arrested for allegedly flying a drone over Vandenberg Space Force Base. Zhou was arrested Monday at San Francisco International Airport as he was attempting to board a flight to China. He is now in federal custody.

'This defendant allegedly flew a drone over a military base and took photos of the base's layout, which is against the law,' said United States Attorney Martin Estrada.

'The security of our nation is of paramount importance and my office will continue to promote the safety of our nation's military personnel and facilities.'

According to an affidavit filed on December 8th with the complaint, the base's drone detection systems were alerted to a drone flying overhead on November 30th.

The drone flew for nearly one hour, traveled to an altitude of almost one mile above ground level, and originated from Ocean Park near the base. Base security personnel then responded to the park, and found Zhou, another unidentified individual, and a drone. When agents accessed the photographs taken by the drone, they found images of Vandenberg Space Force Base.

The person found with Zhou at Ocean Park was a Chinese national who had just come to the United States from China. Vandenberg Space Force Base is a highly secretive facility from which classified launches are made routinely. The base also hosts space launches for civil and commercial space entities, such as NASA and SpaceX.

And, just in case we think the Chinese are only interested in our stuff stateside, earlier this year three Chinese students were arrested in South Korea where they were using a drone to illegally record video of the United States Navy’s Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) while the warship was docked at the South Korean Naval Operations Command (NOC) in the southeastern city of Busan on June 25th.

This was the second time this year that a video was recorded of a U.S. Navy supercarrier. Photos and videos of the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) in port at Yokosuka, Japan, also circulated in early April on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

No one has been arrested for that action, but the Navy believes the video was made using a drone. They also believe it came from a Chinese national.

Yet another Chinese drone was also suspected of recording the Japanese naval ship JS Izumo, a helicopter carrier currently being modified to operate as an aircraft carrier. The video of the Japanese flattop was also recorded at the Yokosuka Base in Kanagawa Prefecture south of Tokyo, and it then circulated on various Chinese social media platforms.

All of this is happening against the backdrop of a well-documented Chinese interest in U.S. military bases here on our soil. Last year the Wall Street Journal wrote a report documenting at least 100 cases in which Chinese nationals, sometimes posing as tourists, accessed U.S. military bases and other sensitive sites. In one such incident, Chinese nationals were found scuba diving off Cape Canaveral, home to the Kennedy Space Center. There have been repeated cases of Chinese nationals scuba diving in restricted waters near the classified intelligence center in Key West.

In 2020 three Chinese drove onto the base in Key West and started taking pictures. They were arrested, tried, and sent to prison.

The Chinese aren’t just in warm climes, however. Multiple Chinese claiming to be tourists pushed past guards and entered Fort Wainright, Alaska, saying they had a reservation at a hotel on the base. The base is home to an army division focused on Arctic warfare.

Officials familiar with the cases involving Chinese incursions have indicated they believe all of these actions are to test security practices at U.S. military bases and other sensitive federal sites.

So, all of this leaves us with the very strong impression that the sudden appearance of drones over sensitive military installations across the country should not really come as a surprise. Nor should we act like we have no idea who might be behind this. We may well already know that it is the Chinese who are flying these drones.