How these two brothers became go-to experts on America’s “mystery drone” invasion

“We are talking about over the airport, over taxiways, over runways,” Suffolk County’s chief deputy sheriff, Chris Brockmeyer, told local news. “That’s a serious safety concern. It’s impacted air operations, and we’re not going to stand for it.” On Christmas Day alone, the airport was besieged by 17 drone incidents, according to the Suffolk County sheriff, who has staff that collaborate informally with the Tedescos. Some of these drones, Suffolk County executive Ed Romaine asserted at a press conference, were “as large as a car.” 

The Tedescos couldn’t use their powerful active radar system so close to an airport, so they deployed their handheld millimeter-wave radar, a more sensitive version of the radar guns that police use to catch speeders. Through the cloud cover and the snowfall, the Tedescos said, they were able to track about two or three objects with this device.

But the truly interesting find came from their radio frequency scanners, which detected spikes three times the strength of what they’ve picked up from ordinary hobbyist quadcopters.

I later learned that the two frequencies where those spikes occurred are within a band (1780 to 1850 megahertz) that has been reserved for US government communications. It’s used for military tactical radio relay, precision-guided munitions, drones, and other Defense Department systems, including electronic warfare, software-­defined radio, and tactical targeting networking technology, according to the FCC.

Granted, many portions of this band are devoted to less cloak-and-dagger agencies, like the Department of Agriculture and the Tennessee Valley Authority. But the signals suggested that whatever the Tedescos were tracking above Gabreski Airport, they were likely not from hobbyists. Instead, they might have been from a government project or from something, like an enemy surveillance drone, hoping to pass off its signals as just another heavily siloed “top secret” broadcast.

“For operations security reasons, we do not provide information on frequencies which our Air National Guard units use,” a spokesperson said via email, adding: “We could not comment on use of the electromagnetic spectrum by other government agencies.” The FCC did not respond to requests for comment.

Gerry says he and his brother passed their information on this case, including the observations of unusual radio frequency spikes, along to the FBI. “We’re working closely with the FBI,” John says. Gerry adds, “We gauge it by their interest level in what we’re doing.” 

“When they get more enthusiastic,” he continues, before John finishes his thought: “… we know we’re closer and closer to something.”