Under Drone Siege: America’s Struggle to Lead in Drone Warfare Amid Airbase Disruptions and Health Anomalies

In two recent press releases, the U.S. Department of Defense addressed the technologies of future battlefields after its strategic assets were targeted.

Since 2014, US forces and military bases have encountered swarms of anomalous drones, and their personnel have suffered devastating injuries from an unknown source.

AHI

Despite extensive investigation, the source of these injuries—similar to those caused by directed energy weapons and proximity to advanced platforms—was never officially uncovered.

On July 11, Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell stated:

Under the HAVANA Act, DoD employees and their covered dependents who suffered qualifying brain injuries on or after January 1, 2016, in connection with certain Anomalous Health Incidents (AHI), are eligible for a one-time payment.

In a FaQ, the Defense Civilian Personnel Advisory Service (DCPAS) explains:

The Helping American Victims Afflicted by Neurological Attacks Act of 2021 (HAVANA Act of 2021), Public Law 117-46, was passed to compensate current and former Federal civilian employees and their dependents, regardless of geographic location, if they suffered a qualifying injury to the brain on or after January 1, 2016 in connection with certain hostile acts, including war, terrorist activity, or other incidents designated by the Secretary of State or other agency heads including the Secretary of Defense.

The HAVANA Act places no geographic restrictions on the country where a qualifying injury to the brain occurred. Covered current or former employees and dependents of current or former employees may request payment regardless of where you experienced an AHI.

The Department of Defense’s Direct Final Rule implementing the HAVANA Act of 2021 defines a qualifying injury to the brain as: An injury to the brain that occurred in connection with war, insurgency, hostile act, terrorist activity, or other incidents designated under 22 U.S.C 2680b, and that was not the result of the willful misconduct of the covered employee or covered dependent.

The individual must have:

1. An acute injury to the brain such as, but not limited to, a concussion, penetrating injury, or as the consequence of an event that leads to permanent alterations in brain function as demonstrated by confirming correlative findings on imaging studies (to include computed tomography scan (CT), or magnetic resonance imaging scan (MRI)), or electroencephalogram (EEG); or

2. A medical diagnosis of a traumatic brain injury (TBI) that required active medical treatment for 12 months or more; or

3. Acute onset of new persistent, disabling neurologic symptoms as demonstrated by confirming correlative findings on imaging studies (to include CT, MRI), EEG, physical exam, or other appropriate testing, and that required active medical treatment for 12 months or more.

Individuals with a qualifying injury to the brain many times also report experiencing an Anomalous Heath Incident (AHI). An AHI can best be described as a series of sudden and disturbing sensory events that could include but are not limited to loud sounds, pressure, or heat. They can happen at the same time or separately, preceding a new onset of symptoms.

One might be surprised by the Pentagon's clear stance on anomalous health incidents, which have been discredited by many media and official reports.

Based on the results of these three lines of inquiry, most IC agencies have concluded that it is “very unlikely” a foreign adversary is responsible for the reported AHIs.

ODNI, Updated Assessment of Anomalous Health Incidents

Despite several extensive reports by the U.S. intelligence service that disprove the foreign origin of AHIs (leaving open the possibility of internal operations), lawmakers have thoroughly investigated complaints from military personnel and found them worthy of attention :

Although this issue has recently gained significant media attention, the issues surrounding Anomalous Health Incidents, or Havana Syndrome are not new. Dating back to 2014, a number of us diplomatic, military, and intelligence officials and their families have reported major medical symptoms that have affected their auditory and sensory motor skills. These issues became public in late 2016 after a group of Canadian diplomats and U.S. Government employees and their families assigned to the U.S. embassy in Havana, Cuba, began experiencing similar symptoms. After the reported incidents in Havana, Government officials and their families began reporting similar symptoms in the People's Republic of China, Vietnam, Germany, Austria, Serbia, Australia, Taiwan, Colombia, as well as here in the United States. Multiple agencies within the intelligence community have conducted assessments in an attempt to identify the factors that cause AHI's, or who, if anyone, is responsible for these incidents. Unfortunately, none of these studies could conclusively identify the causes of these incidents.

Obviously, as my colleagues on both sides of the aisle have said, the health, the well-being of all of the service members and Government officials, it is very concerning. What we have heard today is very concerning.

U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement, and Intelligence, Chairman Pfluger

Bearing in mind that the official report deemed foreign intelligence operations as a source of AHI to be “very unlikely”, an interesting exchange occurred during the hearing between Rep. Crane and Mr. Grozev, Lead Investigative Journalist for The Insider and Der Spiegel :

Rep. Crane : Mr. Grozev, who said that in your investigation, you were able to conclude that one of these units who was operating on our soil was found near individuals that contracted these illnesses. How were you able to confirm this unit's proximity to individuals who experienced these injuries?

Mr. Grozev : We have used, over the years, an amalgamation of data sources from the Russian market of data, which is a unique phenomenon. We have obtained border crossing data. We have obtained ticketing data, hotel reservation data, and telephone communication data for essentially 60 members of this unit that we have identified over the years.

Rep. Crane : Have any of them been apprehended, Mr. Grozev?

Mr. Grozev : Several of them have been indicted. Four of them are. Six of them are indicted in Bulgaria over, including the person that we just referred to, the engineer who discovered the acoustic weapon or delivered it. They are indicted, but they are obviously there, hidden, well-hidden in Russia, and cannot be apprehended.

While it may seem like an obvious lie for the IC to claim that AHI are "very unlikely" to be the result of foreign operations, one must consider that, without direct approval from the executive branch, the IC cannot publicly name the responsible party, as doing so would interfere with state affairs. Such cases fall under the sole authority of the executive branch and may explain the secrecy surrounding these events.

Drones

That same week, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth published a memorandum calling on drone manufacturers to take action.

When l became the Secretary of Defense, I committed to rebuild our military to match threats to capabilities. Drones are the biggest battlefield innovation in a generation, accounting for most of this year's casualties in Ukraine. Our adversaries collectively produce millions of cheap drones each year. While global military drone production skyrocketed over the last three years, the previous administration deployed red tape. U.S. units are not outfitted with the lethal small drones the modern battlefield requires.

On June 6th President Trump issued Executive Order 14307 to support the American drone industry and arm our warfighters. The Department of Defense is going above and beyond this order. I am rescinding restrictive policies that hindered production and limited access to these vital technologies, unleashing the combined potential ofAmerican manufacturing and warfighter ingenuity. I am delegating authorities to procure and operate drones from the bureaucracy to our warfighters.

Our mission is threefold. First, we will bolster the nascent U.S. drone manufacturing base by approving hundreds of American products for purchase by our military. Leveraging private capital flows that support this industry, our overt preference is to Buy American. Second, we will power a technological leapfrog, arming our combat units with a variety of low-cost drones made by America's world-leading engineers and AI experts. Drone dominance is a process race as much as a technological race. Modern battlefield innovation demands a new procurement strategy that fuses manufacturers with our frontline troops. Finally, we'll train as we expect to fight. To simulate the modem battlefield, senior officers must overcome the bureaucracy's instinctive risk-aversion on everything from budgeting to weaponizing and training. Next year I expect to see this capability integrated into all relevant combat training, including force-on-force drone wars.

Emergent technologies require new funding lines. To address the urgent need for drones, investment methods outlined in Executive Order 14307 are being investigated. The directives detailed in the attached memorandum support our industrial base, reform acquisition, and field new technology for the warfighter. Lethality will not be hindered by self-imposed restrictions, especially when it comes to harnessing technologies we invented but were slow to pursue. Drone technology is advancing so rapidly, our major risk is risk-avoidance. The Department's bureaucratic gloves are coming off.

The memorandum's unusually straightforward tone can probably be explained by lawmakers' recent pressure regarding the US Defense Department's failures regarding drone incursions. Recently, Sen. Gillibrand questioned Sec Def Hegseth :

I'm concerned about our posture with regard to UAS and a defensive posture with regard to UAS attacks. I am very concerned about what happened over many of our military sites. Drone configurations hovering for weeks without response. No authorities to be able to track where those drones came from by the DOD to assess are they Iranian, are they Chinese, are they Russian, are they on spy missions, what is their purpose. Inadequate authorities, inadequate defenses, inadequate technology. The Langley incursion is incomprehensible.

Hegseth replied:

You have my assurances that the highest levels we are putting our best people in charge of ensuring we have counter UAS systems that can match the threats of the future.

Gillibrand’s concerns rose from an event that forced on of the most secured air force base in the united states to evacuate its most advanced fighters in December 2023. Speaking to The Warzone, a Langley AFB spokeperson stated:

The installation first observed UAS [uncrewed aerial systems] activities the evening of December 6 [2023] and experienced multiple incursions throughout the month of December. The number of UASs fluctuated and they ranged in size/configuration

Air Force Gen. Mark Kelly stated in the New york Times that the drones were:

roughly 20 feet long and flying at more than 100 miles an hour, at an altitude of roughly 3,000 to 4,000 feet. Other drones followed, one by one, sounding in the distance like a parade of lawn mowers.

Both retired U.S. Air Force general Glen VanHerck and his successor as Joint Commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command Gen. Gregory Guillot gave worrying statements on the situation when talking to CBS News 60 minutes:

They could be doing anything, from surveilling critical infrastructure, just to the point of embarrassing us from the fact that they can do this on a day-to-day basis and then we're not able to do anything about it.

I think it's because there's a perception that this is fortress America: two oceans on the east and west, with friendly nations north and south, and nobody's gonna attack our homeland,

It's time we move beyond that assumption.

Retired Gen. VanHerck

I think the threat got ahead of our ability to detect and track the threat. I think all eyes were, rightfully, overseas, where UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) were being used on one-way attack to attack U.S. and coalition service members.

Gen. Guillot

It seems the resounding warnings issued by the generals were not heeded by the administration. New FOIA documents obtained by The Black Vault suggest that Wright-Patterson Air Force Base was targeted by similar technologies in December 2024.

Patrols on site witnessed advanced platforms hovering above the base at low altitudes. Videos were captured during the event. The situation was so severe that the airspace had to be closed.

Recent events, such as the drone wave in New Jersey, demonstrate that the security of U.S. airspace is at risk despite the country having the largest military force in the world.

One can only wonder who is orchestrating these displays of force and how much longer the executive branch can remain silent about their origin, as witness reports are spiking.

Is the U.S. military ready for the next war?