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I'm surprised they didn't try to disable them. Considering the range off-shore and the flight time, these certainly aren't consumer grade drones. > This calls

I'm surprised they didn't try to disable them. Considering the range off-shore and the flight time, these certainly aren't consumer grade drones. > This calls into question the “drone” designation. Was there ever even a hard description of these craft beyond lights in the sky?

trdtaylor1 6y ago
agreed for the second sighting after everyone was made aware of them not being anything navy related. Given the waters, the proximity to other testing sites, it's likely the sailors didn't man the guns the first time for the simple reason of perhaps not being in the loop for a test. Second time sounds like they weren't prepared to respond quick enough.
- divbzero 6y ago
  Would you want to reveal what defenses you have against drones that are not doing any damage? It is possible such a swarm was intended precisely to suss out what defenses there may be.
  - King-Aaron 6y ago
    Surely one of the people on the deck with a shotgun could have a go at it without revealing too much secret information
    - lambda_obrien 6y ago
      As a former ordnance officer: lol No one is going be the CO the opens fire on a non combatant drone on the USA coast, as you'd lose your command pretty fast. Edit: I can't post faster, so here's a response to a reply: I didn't peruse the logs myself, so I don't know the situation, but the rules of engagement are pretty strict, and also they may not have even had ordnance onboard for the weapons needed to take out one of these things. Not every ship carries live rounds all the time, and near the USA coast we pretty much never wanted to have loaded guns. Like I said elsewhere, the US Navy isn't a bunch of untrained psychos looking to shoot stuff. Officers and enlisted are trained to put our lives on the line, not get scared and shoot everything that looks weird or threatening. I don't get the bloodlust shown in here!
      - King-Aaron 6y ago
        So serious question from an operational perspective: One of these drones were over the helipad, which I would have assumed would be considered 'controlled airspace'... If they knock down drones that go over airports, why not over a military vessel's airspace? Or is it not considered restricted airspace if not in use? etc
        angry_octet 6y ago
        Conditions off the Californian coast are different to a Straight of Hormuz transit. Every deployment will have command guidance, RoE, threat briefings, maintain a picture of possible threats etc. A ship doing routine training is probably under default 'self defence' rules. And no CO wants to be the one to mistakenly blast some civilians into pink mist.
        ddalex 6y ago
        Experience shows that mistakenly blasting some civilians into pink mist doesn't mean anything if those civilians aren't white US citizens on US soil...
        angry_octet 6y ago
        You can certainly choose to believe this, but it is wrong. What you are referring to is choosing to blow something up based on a systematic approach that follows the laws of armed conflict, with frequent legal oversight, separate after action review, in a system that strongly punishes failure to follow process. This system is fully endorsed by the US Congress, representing the citizenry. So if some civilians get blown up, 9/10 it was a deliberate decision.
        ddalex 6y ago
        I meant that there are no actual repercussions. E.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalese_cable_car_disaster_(1998) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalese_cable_car_disaster_(1... repeated incidents where US killed citizens of other countries with impunity and no repercussions for the perps
  - 762236 6y ago
    I suspect that they can fry electronics by using the radar offensively.
    - toephu2 6y ago
      source?
    - bigiain 6y ago
      I doubt they’ve been tested for that, or are typically configured to do so. I have seen a consumer DJI drone forced into return to home mode with an old satellite TV dish and bits out of a microwave oven. They don’t cope well with 900-ish watts of semi directed 2.4GHz noise. That guy says he eventually got that to work at over 1km range. It never “fried the electronics” though, even at short ranges. (Yes, I have some strange friends and acquaintances...)
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
rodgerd 6y ago
Perhaps US Navy captains are less than eager to go down in history as shooting down a civilian airliner. Learning from history and all.
- jonathankoren 6y ago
  Lolz Captain Rogers got a Legion of Merit award after the Vincennes shot down Iran Air 655. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_C._Rogers_III https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_C._Rogers_III https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655#Post-tour_of_duty_medals https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655#Post-tour_...
- aaronmdjones 6y ago
  Airliners don't fly over the ocean hundreds of miles from shore at less than two thousand feet MSL.
himinlomax 6y ago
They're not off the shelf drones, but it's long been possible to have long range homemade RC planes, even autonomous ones. I remember seeing such videos 10 years ago on Youtube for example, though hobbyists who might be doing that today are not being so public about it since authorities have been cracking down hard on it.

trdtaylor1 6y ago

agreed for the second sighting after everyone was made aware of them not being anything navy related. Given the waters, the proximity to other testing sites, it's likely the sailors didn't man the guns the first time for the simple reason of perhaps not being in the loop for a test. Second time sounds like they weren't prepared to respond quick enough.

divbzero 6y ago
Would you want to reveal what defenses you have against drones that are not doing any damage? It is possible such a swarm was intended precisely to suss out what defenses there may be.
- King-Aaron 6y ago
  Surely one of the people on the deck with a shotgun could have a go at it without revealing too much secret information
  - lambda_obrien 6y ago
    As a former ordnance officer: lol No one is going be the CO the opens fire on a non combatant drone on the USA coast, as you'd lose your command pretty fast. Edit: I can't post faster, so here's a response to a reply: I didn't peruse the logs myself, so I don't know the situation, but the rules of engagement are pretty strict, and also they may not have even had ordnance onboard for the weapons needed to take out one of these things. Not every ship carries live rounds all the time, and near the USA coast we pretty much never wanted to have loaded guns. Like I said elsewhere, the US Navy isn't a bunch of untrained psychos looking to shoot stuff. Officers and enlisted are trained to put our lives on the line, not get scared and shoot everything that looks weird or threatening. I don't get the bloodlust shown in here!
    - King-Aaron 6y ago
      So serious question from an operational perspective: One of these drones were over the helipad, which I would have assumed would be considered 'controlled airspace'... If they knock down drones that go over airports, why not over a military vessel's airspace? Or is it not considered restricted airspace if not in use? etc
      - angry_octet 6y ago
        Conditions off the Californian coast are different to a Straight of Hormuz transit. Every deployment will have command guidance, RoE, threat briefings, maintain a picture of possible threats etc. A ship doing routine training is probably under default 'self defence' rules. And no CO wants to be the one to mistakenly blast some civilians into pink mist.
        ddalex 6y ago
        Experience shows that mistakenly blasting some civilians into pink mist doesn't mean anything if those civilians aren't white US citizens on US soil...
        angry_octet 6y ago
        You can certainly choose to believe this, but it is wrong. What you are referring to is choosing to blow something up based on a systematic approach that follows the laws of armed conflict, with frequent legal oversight, separate after action review, in a system that strongly punishes failure to follow process. This system is fully endorsed by the US Congress, representing the citizenry. So if some civilians get blown up, 9/10 it was a deliberate decision.
        ddalex 6y ago
        I meant that there are no actual repercussions. E.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalese_cable_car_disaster_(1998) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalese_cable_car_disaster_(1... repeated incidents where US killed citizens of other countries with impunity and no repercussions for the perps
- 762236 6y ago
  I suspect that they can fry electronics by using the radar offensively.
  - toephu2 6y ago
    source?
  - bigiain 6y ago
    I doubt they’ve been tested for that, or are typically configured to do so. I have seen a consumer DJI drone forced into return to home mode with an old satellite TV dish and bits out of a microwave oven. They don’t cope well with 900-ish watts of semi directed 2.4GHz noise. That guy says he eventually got that to work at over 1km range. It never “fried the electronics” though, even at short ranges. (Yes, I have some strange friends and acquaintances...)
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

rodgerd 6y ago

Perhaps US Navy captains are less than eager to go down in history as shooting down a civilian airliner. Learning from history and all.

jonathankoren 6y ago
Lolz Captain Rogers got a Legion of Merit award after the Vincennes shot down Iran Air 655. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_C._Rogers_III https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_C._Rogers_III https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655#Post-tour_of_duty_medals https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655#Post-tour_...
aaronmdjones 6y ago
Airliners don't fly over the ocean hundreds of miles from shore at less than two thousand feet MSL.

himinlomax 6y ago

They're not off the shelf drones, but it's long been possible to have long range homemade RC planes, even autonomous ones. I remember seeing such videos 10 years ago on Youtube for example, though hobbyists who might be doing that today are not being so public about it since authorities have been cracking down hard on it.