Expect even more drones over NJ, Delaware and PA this year — thanks to agriculture, the military and hobbyists

The drone panic of late 2024 has died down since the start of the new year, but activity continues to be reported as suspicious across the US.

Theories about the drones, some alleged to be the size of a car, range from foreign spy drones to military testing to extra-terrestrials — the latter partially fueled by the 2020 declassification of US Department of Defense videos of unidentified aerial phenomenon.

Questions remain without concrete answers about sightings throughout the Mid-Atlantic and in places like Louisiana, where drones were seen near a nuclear power plant. Texas has seen a spike in sightings and its spread as far west as California, where drones have been spotted over Camp Pendleton, there are possible explanations as use of drone technology becomes more common.

“Generally speaking, it is legal to fly a drone in most locations if you’re operating under 400 feet,” FAA Public Affairs Specialist Jillian L. Angeline told Technical.ly. “But there are rules — including safety tests, keeping below 400 feet, keeping the drone in sight, avoiding all other aircraft, not causing a hazard to any people or property and avoiding restricted airspace.”

At the height of the panic in December, President Joe Biden called the drone sightings “nothing nefarious,” noting that there are millions of drones, both registered and unregistered, operating in the US.

While some officials have dismissed the idea of car-sized drones, others like New Jersey Sen. Andy Kim went on a first-hand drone hunt in Hunterdon County around the same time, and reported seeing “small clusters of two to four” brightly lit drones in the air.

The most common reasons for the drones? Agriculture, the military and hobbyists.

‘Car-sized’ drones could stem from local farming practices

At least one industry deploys drones much larger than the hobby and video drones most people are used to: Agriculture.

At the BIPOC Farmers Conference in November, drone pilot and founder of the drone pilot startup Droneversity Ashlee Cooper demonstrated agriculture drones, the largest roughly the size of a drum kit. That drone, she said, was not on the large end for a cropduster drone. In fact, industrial drones can be eight feet wide or more, with similar-sized drones having the ability to transport an adult human used for search and rescue.

Drones can also be deployed in a group, as seen with the rise of drone light shows. Beyond just for entertainment, agriculture drones can be programmed together similar to drone clusters Sen. Kim saw over New Jersey.

“You can synchronize [cropdusting drones], so you can have five of them swarm,” Cooper said.

Agriculture is also a use case where drones are used at night, often to monitor crops and track livestock. Other reasons you might see a drone at night include security surveillance, search and rescue and night photography.

Yes, there really are more drones at night than there used to be

Whether the drones spotted in New Jersey and other parts of the country are something nefarious or not, you’re not imagining things if you’ve noticed more — and brighter —  drones in the night sky lately. 

Up until February 2023, recreational drone pilots had to apply for a waiver to fly at night. An update to the FAA rules allowed those pilots to fly their drones at night if they took a night flying course and equipped them with anti-collision lights, which are brighter than the lights you might see on a professional security drone. 

Couple that with psychological phenomena like frequency illusion, also known as the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon, which is where a person begins to see something repeatedly shortly after it’s brought to their attention, and it’s possible that people simply started noticing an increase in drone activity in late 2024. 

Still, there are reasons to find the notable increase in potentially suspicious drone activity around the world.

The US is in the middle of ongoing “irregular warfare” efforts by Russia and China, according to the military, and China-based industrial drone company DJI has raised red flags by dismantling a geofencing feature that prevented its drones from flying over restricted areas.

Meanwhile, US ally Germany recently gave its military authorization to shoot down suspicious drones in its airspace, suspecting they may be part of a Russian operation.

Over on TikTok, creators adopted the code word “Dior bags” in an attempt to avoid alleged censorship, which they said explained why the number of posts about “drones” dropped while sightings continued.

Drones are increasingly becoming a part of everyday life

Of course, there are reasons in addition to the increase in large agriculture drones and recreational pilots, the drones you see are probably not spies or ET. Drones are regularly used in different everyday applications, and the public may not yet be prepared for that. 

Getting the public used to seeing drones is one of Cooper’s missions, with education and transparency, including community discussions to calm fears of the unknown surrounding drone technology.

“From precision agriculture to drone delivery — not yet on the East Coast — to passenger eVTOLs turning hours-long commutes into mere minutes, these innovations are no longer science fiction but tangible solutions that range between the shape of a textbook, SUV, and private plane,” Cooper said.

Other applications include municipal police departments using drones for investigation and search, utility companies using them for checking power lines and insurance companies using them for inspections.

Plus, if there is a sports event, concert or other outdoor event nearby, they’re very likely being filmed by drones, and you may have a view of those drones even if the event is beyond your line of sight. 

While it’s not available nationally, it’s worth remembering that drone delivery is a real thing now. The Manna drone, an Ireland-based delivery drone that expanded into the US in 2023,  is described as “suitcase-sized,” but with its wingspan is the size of a person — big enough to appear car-sized from a distance. 

In fact, some of Manna’s own social media content looks a lot like TikTok “Dior bag” sightings in the western US. 

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A post shared by Manna Drone Delivery (@mannadronedelivery)

All together, it means we are going to have to get used to seeing drones in the sky, most doing mundane things. But we are living in fraught times, and there are times when the drone activity you see may truly be suspicious, which can be reported to the FBI here.

“Suspicious drone activity is often defined by clear violations of established norms, such as operating near restricted airspace, flying without purpose in crowded areas, or erratic flight behavior,” Cooper said. “Reporting concerns to law enforcement is critical, but it’s just as important to avoid vigilante actions like shooting at drones or using lasers, which carry legal consequences.”