The FAA released videos on Tuesday showcasing its latest effort to test drone-detecting technologies, which is now underway in New Jersey. The agency told us the tests are not related to the massive wave of reported drone incursions over the state last year, as well as sensitive military installations in the U.S. and U.K., but the results could help improve situational awareness of unmanned aircraft in the skies. However, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy intimated that these tests are a direct result of the Jersey drone incursions in a video just posted on X.
The tests, which began Monday and are expected to last until April 25, are taking place over the water and near the Cape May Ferry Terminal during the daytime on weekdays only, according to the agency. They are being conducted by the FAA’s Center of Excellence for UAS Research (ASSURE). The Delaware River Bay Authority Police and other local first responders will also participate.
The videos offer a small glimpse into this testing process.
One video shows the detection and tracking systems being tested, along with several drones of different sizes on the ground and in flight.
The other video shows smaller drones being flown.
The FAA “has been testing drone detection technologies at airports over the last few years and is expanding testing to off-airport locations,” the spokesman told The War Zone in response to our question about what sparked this effort. ”These tests will help determine the effectiveness of these technologies and whether they might interfere with FAA or aircraft navigation systems.”
More than 100 drone sightings near airports are reported to the FAA each month, “and we want to send a clear message that operating drones around airplanes, helicopters, and airports is dangerous and illegal,” the agency said in its statement.
The FAA is using several large drones and about 100 smaller, commercial off-the-shelf drones to test the effectiveness of three different detection and tracking systems: Remote ID provides identification and location information from drones in flight that can be received by other parties through a broadcast signal. Acoustic arrays pick up the sound made by drones, detecting their presence and calculating position and which way they are headed. X-Band radars give operators an active, as opposed to passive, detection and tracking capability. This is especially important for drones that are not emitting any radio frequency emissions.
To see how these systems work against drones of varying sizes, speeds and altitudes, the FAA is using uncrewed aerial vehicles in three groups, ranging from those weighing less than 20 pounds, traveling at speeds 100 knots and operating below 1,200 feet, to those weighing less than 1,320 pounds, traveling at speeds less than 250 knots and operating below 18,000 feet.
The commercial off-the-shelf drones include DJI Mavic Pro, Parrot Anafi, Skydio 2+, Skyfront Perimeter and DIY X6 Multirotor models. The larger drones are the NAVMAR Tigershark and the SpektreWorks Cobalt.
Though there were thousands of reported drone sightings over New Jersey and other areas in the northeast late last year, an FAA spokesman told us on Tuesday that the decision to hold these tests in Cape May is coincidental.
It was selected “primarily [because of] proximity to the FAA Technical Center near Atlantic City,” the spokesman explained.
The FAA conducted the first of these off-airport tests in Alaska in January 2023. Additional testing will take place in New Mexico, North Dakota and Mississippi later this year.
The metrics for success and timeline to present analyzed data remain unclear.
Though unrelated, these tests come as the origin and nature of drones seen over sensitive U.S. facilities at home and abroad, as well as those spotted over civilian areas in and around New Jersey, remain a public mystery. The FBI told us last month that its investigation into thousands of reported sightings remains ongoing. However, as we previously explained, TWZ reviewed many videos and images taken by citizens who reported seeing the drones and we have seen no proof of any widespread drone incursions. While the FBI received about 5,000 reports of drone sightings, the vast majority of material in circulation claiming to show drones actually depicted standard aircraft or, in a very limited quantity, common hobbyist drones. Still, these reports led to the FAA issuing Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs) over large parts of the area, mostly over power installations.
Shortly after President Donald Trump returned to the White House, officials there announced that the Jersey drones were approved by the FAA “for research and various other reasons.”
We asked U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM), which is tasked with coordinating counter-drone activities over U.S. military bases, the level of interest it has in the FAA tests. We will update this story with any pertinent information provided.
Regardless of the results of these tests, often confusing legal and regulatory hurdles limit how and when counter-drone systems that can actually effect the targeted craft can be used in the United States. Concerns about risks of collateral damage resulting from the use of anti-drone capabilities are a huge factor. As a result, the U.S. military isn’t currently allowed to field kinetic and directed energy capabilities, such as laser and high-power microwave weapons, surface-to-air interceptors, and gun systems, for defending domestic bases and other critical infrastructure from rapidly growing and evolving drone threats. Instead, the focus is on electronic warfare and cyber warfare, and other ‘soft-kill’ options, at least for the time being. Even these capabilities are in limited use and are only even effective against a relatively narrow set of drone types.
These preclusions even extend to the U.S. border with Mexico, where drug cartels have been steadily increasing their use of weaponized uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), as well as unarmed types for surveillance and smuggling. The issue has been so concerning that the U.S. Army recently deployed ground-based radars along the border to help spot and track drones as part of the continued build-up of U.S. military support there. You can read more about that in our in-depth story here. The Trump administration has made border security one of its major priorities.
As a result of these limitations, Air Force Gen. Gregory M. Guillot, NORTHCOM commander, recently testified before Congress that he is seeking an increase in the authority to shoot down drones over and around military installations.
Guillot told senators that he wants increased ability to take action granted under a federal law known as “130(i).” The subsection of Title 10 of the U.S. Code (10 USC 130i) covers current authorities for the “protection of certain facilities and assets from unmanned aircraft,” including through the use of kinetic and non-kinetic capabilities. It contains a number of specific stipulations and where and when those authorities can actually be employed.
Any change in those authorities, which Congress is considering, would be on top of the Pentagon’s counter-drone strategy released in the last days of the Biden administration.
Some civilian airports, meanwhile, have limited capabilities — some of which are similar to those being tested — to detect and track certain kinds of drones. Just providing passive awareness of when drones are present and where is seen as a key need for some airports. Should the FAA’s tests result in better ways to achieve situational awareness of these objects, and some of these systems are standardized and deployed more widely, it could go a long way toward improving the safety of flight and understanding the drone threat better.
Update: 12:13 PM Eastern –
NORTHCOM responded to our query about its interest in the FAA testing program:
“USNORTHCOM is tracking this event. While we’re not actively coordinating with the FAA on this effort, we will use the resulting data as part of our role as the DoD’s Homeland C-UAS synchronizer in the continental United States.”
Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com