Unauthorized drones flew over Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, home of a B-52 bomber wing, multiple times the week of March 9, Air & Space Forces Magazine has confirmed.
And at the start of U.S. operations against Iran on Feb. 28, small drones seen flying over a “strategic U.S. installation” were defeated, the head of U.S. Northern Command told lawmakers.
Barksdale announced March 9 it was implementing a “shelter-in-place” order after a drone incursion, and a 2nd Bomb Wing spokesperson confirmed March 20 that “multiple unauthorized incursions” have happened since. NORTHCOM boss Gen. Gregory M. Guillot, meanwhile, briefly mentioned a small drone incursion in written testimony to Congress on March 17 and 19.
“In the early hours of Operation Epic Fury last month, a deployed [flyaway kit of counter-UAS technologies] successfully detected and defeated sUAS operating over a strategic U.S. installation,” Guillot wrote, referring to a deployable new equipment package meant to rapidly respond to drone incursions over military bases in the U.S.
It is unclear if the incidents were part of a series of incursions or related in any way.
A NORTHCOM spokesperson declined to specify which base Guillot was referring to but did say there were multiple incursions and personnel used the flyaway kit’s “jamming protocol.”
