Soldiers from the 5th Armored Brigade, 1st Army Division West, developed a training course to counter the threat of commercial unmanned aerial surveillance vehicles at McGregor Range Complex, NM, June 28, 2019. (Sgt. Timothy Gray) / 5th Armored Brigade)

PETERSON SPACE FORCE BASE — The U.S. military has collectively reported hundreds of drone flights over Pentagon facilities on American soil over the past few years, and these are only the ones US Northern Command (NORTHCOM) knows about.

“I have no doubt that there are many more incursions that we are not seeing, either with a system or with our eyeballs,” General Grigore Guillot, the commanderr of NORTHCOM and North AThe US Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said today during a roundtable with a small group of reporters at Peterson Air Force Base, the dual headquarters for both commands.

Sightings of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) over US military bases have raised alarm at the Defense Department, as raids on sensitive facilities such as Langley Air Force Base – where the Air Force maintains F-22s – have left officials mystified, that Wall Street Journal previously reported. According to data shared by NORAD, drone sightings in 2022 were 250, but that number has dropped somewhat in recent years, reaching 202 in 2023 and 163 so far this year.

Guillot said the events will likely gain more attention due to the spread of systems that are able to detect and track UAS with greater “fidelity.” The UAS observations in places that contain highly classified programs they also raised questions about the provenance of the drones, including whether they reflected the operations of an adversary nation, although Guillot said today he had yet to see evidence of any “organized or unorganized foreign links.”

Instead, he said, “the overwhelming majority of them are probably local hobbyists who fly too close to base.”

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And while he said there are certainly more events that have gone undetected, Guillot casaid many observed phenomena could be duplicate sightings, such as multiple service members calling in the same event. Others could be a case of mistaken identity, such as when a service member mistakenly identifies flashing lights on a civilian aircraft from miles away as a closer to UTHAT. Multiple reports could even involve the same drone repeatedly flying back and forth over a base, he said.

Addressing the UAS issue on U.S. soil has baffled officials in part because of regulations that protect civilian air travel — preventing commanders from taking actions such as simply shooting down potential threats or taking other steps to disable them.

“The threat and the need to counter these threats is growing faster than the policies and procedures that (are) in place can keep up,” Guillot said.

One solution the general pointed to is disrupting the position, navigation and timing capabilities of a UAS, otherwise known as GPS jamming or spoofing. But as the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East have shown, GPS interference may present hazards to civilian travelIf I’m painted with too broad a brush. Close coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is needed, Guillot emphasized, to ensure that counter-UAS capabilities are used responsibly.

With established ties to the FAA, Guillot said NORTHCOM can step up play a bigger role in defeating drone incursions. An example would be the development of pre-set approvals to employ UAS based on specific parameters, avoiding the need for a potentially days-long process to get the FAA green light.

NORTHCOM could also help distribute key systems needed to avoid drone flights by introducing new capabilities and “fast track” approval to use them, “hopefully” within hours.

Finally, Guillot told NORTHCOM it could be a the “clearing house” of counter-UAS capabilities that serves as the “master synchronizer” for numerous government agencies.

Other UAS challenges come from properly detecting and tracking certain systems. While Guillot said he is “quite confident” the Pentagon can sufficiently track larger objects, the smaller Group 1 and Group 2 systems may pose a greater challenge because they can blend in with airspace congestion. (The Pentagon classifies drones into five “groups,” with the first group being the smallest and being the fifth the biggest.)

Besides the UAS conundrum, Guillot has plenty of other issues keeping him busy. Towards the end of the discussion, an advisor motioned for him to leave, abruptly ending the round table.

“Sorry, I’m going to have to run for a second,” Guillot said before exiting the room.