WASHINGTON — Following weeks of unexplained drone sightings, the Federal Aviation Administration announced late Wednesday that it is temporarily restricting unmanned aerial systems over 22 parts of New Jersey. 

What You Need To Know

  • The Federal Aviation Administration announced late Wednesday that it is temporarily restricting unmanned aerial systems over 22 parts of New Jersey

  • The temporary restrictions were made at the request of federal security partners, the FAA said in a statement Thursday

  • It cited special security reasons for the restrictions over critical New Jersey infrastructure, including an area just outside the state capital of Trenton

  • The restrictions run through Jan. 17

The temporary restrictions were made at the request of federal security partners, the agency said in a statement Thursday. It cited special security reasons for the restrictions over critical New Jersey infrastructure, including an area just outside the state capital of Trenton. The restrictions run through Jan. 17.

New Jersey residents have reported seeing drones since Nov. 18. Residents in other states, including Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Maryland, have also reported seeing drones in the night skies in recent weeks.

"We continue to assess there is no public safety threat relating to the reported drone sightings," a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told Spectrum News. "In coordination with the FAA and our critical infrastructure partners who requested temporary flight restrictions over their facilities, out of an abundance of caution, the FAA has issued temporary flight restrictions over some critical infrastructure facilities in New Jersey."

The restrictions are only for drones. They do not impact manned aviation, such as airplanes and helicopters, the DHS said.

The FAA said Tuesday that the drone sightings are a combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing helicopters and stars mistakenly reported as drones. 

“We have not identified anything anomalous and do not assess the activity to date to present a national security or public safety risk over the civilian airspace in New Jersey or other states in the northeast,” the FAA said in a joint statement with the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and Defense Department.

More than 1 million drones are lawfully registered in the United States, with thousands of commercial, hobbyist and law enforcement drones operating legally on any given day, the agencies said.

The FBI said it had received 5,000 reports of drone sightings in the last few weeks. 

Spectrum News has requested additional information from the Department of Homeland Security about the FAA's temporary flight restrictions.