> I assume we are signaling to some foreign entity our ability to track items as small as birds This strikes me as the most likely scenario. While large (small

> I assume we are signaling to some foreign entity our ability to track items as small as birds This strikes me as the most likely scenario. While large (small plane size) military drones have been around for decades much smaller (bird size) ones have begun to proliferate. These small drones don't have the duration or capabilities of larger ones but they're good enough for a lot of tasks. They're made of composites and small enough they're not going to show up well on civilian primary radar. Even some military primary radars might miss them or at least have limited detection ranges. Someone using such small drones might act a lot more provocatively towards the American military because they think they're not being seen. At least more provocatively than if they only had larger drones or manned aircraft. So leaks showing those drones can be detected and tracked. It's a subtle "we can see you, you're not as clever as you think". The US doesn't want some overzealous PLAN (or whomever) drone pilot doing something stupid requiring a military response.