Sightings of an unmanned aerial system over Barksdale Air Force Base (BAFB) early on Monday morning resulted in a shelter-in-place order, prompting officials to temporarily raise the threat level at the facility.
For a short period, the base’s Force Protection Condition level was temporarily raised to FPCON Charlie, indicating an incident potentially indicative of a form of terrorist activity targeting U.S. personnel or facilities.
Text message alerts were sent out regarding the incident shortly before statements were shared on social media, directing base personnel at BAFB to take shelter.
Postings on social media shortly thereafter indicated that the threat level had been lowered again, although no additional information on what had prompted the declaration was provided at that time.
Following Monday morning’s developments, The Debrief reached out to Barksdale Air Force Base public affairs for comment on the situation.
“Earlier this morning, Barksdale Air Force Base received a report of an unmanned aerial system operating over the installation,” said Capt. Hunter Rininger, Chief of Public Affairs at BAFB, in a statement provided to The Debrief.
Rininger said Monday’s incident is still under investigation, with assistance from local authorities. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had also reportedly been notified and is working in coordination with Air Force officials as that investigation continues.
Mystery Drone Sightings Over the U.S.
Over the last several years, a growing number of incidents involving drone sightings over sensitive facilities have occurred, both in the United States and in other countries.
Beginning in November 2024, a rash of sightings of unmanned aerial vehicles over U.S. military facilities in the United Kingdom preceded several weeks of alleged “mystery drone” activity over the northeastern United States. Subsequent similar events were reported throughout parts of Europe, continuing well into 2025.
At the height of the 2024 sightings wave, the majority of which were reported in airspace above New Jersey, military officials at New Jersey’s Picatinny Arsenal, with whom The Debrief spoke, said the source of the aircraft remained unknown, though confirming the sightings were unrelated to any official military activities.
In December 2024, a joint investigation by U.S. authorities concluded that the majority of sightings of drones over New Jersey and surrounding states at that time had been lawful operations of “commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and stars mistakenly reported as drones.”
“We have not identified anything anomalous,” read a portion of the joint statement prepared by Pentagon officials, in cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The statement added that U.S. agencies did not assess the sightings “to present a national security or public safety risk over the civilian airspace in New Jersey or other states in the northeast.”
A “Limited Number” of Actual Drones
Although the 2024 joint assessment concluded that most alleged drone sightings reported at the time had mundane explanations, Pentagon officials did concede that there had been at least a small number of sightings of what appeared to be actual unmanned aerial vehicles, and that it was an ongoing problem.
“[T]here have been a limited number of visual sightings of drones over military facilities in New Jersey and elsewhere, including within restricted air space,” the joint statement read. “Such sightings near or over DoD installations are not new.”
“DoD takes unauthorized access over its airspace seriously and coordinates closely with federal, state, and local law enforcement authorities, as appropriate,” the statement added. “Local commanders are actively engaged to ensure there are appropriate detection and mitigation measures in place.”
Echoing the Pentagon’s statements from late 2024, Capt. Rininger told The Debrief on Monday that state and federal laws prohibit the flight of drones over high security facilities, and that “any unauthorized drone activity over a military installation is a criminal offense that can result in significant fines and imprisonment.”
“We retain the right to protect our installation and will continue monitoring our airspace to address any threats to our mission or personnel,” the statement concluded.
Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. A longtime reporter on science, defense, and technology with a focus on space and astronomy, he can be reached at micah@thedebrief.org. Follow him on X @MicahHanks, and at micahhanks.com.