In a revelation that has both clarified and complicated last year’s spate of mysterious sightings in the skies over New Jersey, a private defense contractor has claimed responsibility for the so-called “drone” and “UFO” incidents that sparked widespread speculation and alarm. The admission, made during a high-powered Army conference at Fort Rucker in August 2025, comes after months of public confusion, government statements, and a flurry of conspiracy theories that ranged from the plausible to the downright bizarre.
According to The New York Post and corroborated by sources speaking to multiple outlets including the Express US and Daily Star, the unnamed contractor demonstrated a unique manned aerial craft at the Army’s UAS and Launched Effects Summit. This craft, which reportedly measures about 20 feet across and boasts four wings, impressed conference attendees with its unconventional appearance and unorthodox flight patterns. The demonstration, which lasted roughly 30 minutes on August 12 in the controlled airspace of Fort Rucker, left even seasoned military veterans and drone experts momentarily baffled.
“You remember that big UFO scare in New Jersey last year? Well, that was us,” an employee of the contractor confided to a small group after the demonstration, according to an attendee who spoke to The Post. The company, the employee explained, had been airborne over the Garden State in November 2024 to “test out their capabilities.” Because the flights were conducted under a private government contract, the contractor asserted they were not required to disclose their activities to the public.
The mystery began on November 13, 2024, when hundreds of enigmatic orbs and flying objects were spotted over Picatinny Arsenal, an Army base in Morris County, New Jersey. Over the following weeks, sightings continued across the state and even spilled into neighboring regions. Videos and eyewitness accounts described objects that seemed to defy expectations, moving quietly just above the tree line, sometimes vanishing from sight in ways that seemed almost otherworldly.
“It feels like it’s a UFO because it defies what you’re expecting to see,” one military veteran and drone expert told The Post about the Fort Rucker demonstration. “When it turned you almost completely lose sight of it. Which is why I think people were seeing this up in the sky and why there were reports of people seeing it and saying it disappeared.” The demonstration’s uncanny qualities, coupled with the secrecy surrounding the contractor’s operations, helped fuel the sense of mystery that gripped New Jersey and much of the country late last year.
As the sightings multiplied, so too did the theories. Some online commentators speculated that the objects were searching for “nuclear warheads,” while others suggested they might be the property of hostile foreign nations like Russia, China, Iran, or North Korea. The drone sightings even ignited online conspiracy theories linking them to “Project Blue Beam,” a wild hypothesis that NASA is plotting to establish a new world order through a technologically simulated “Second Coming.” According to Express US, such theories gained traction precisely because authorities could not immediately identify the flying objects, despite their repeated assurances to the public.
Republican lawmakers, meanwhile, openly speculated that the drones could have been launched “by violent dictatorships, perhaps maybe Russia, or China, or Iran, or North Korea.” The FBI, White House, and Pentagon, however, consistently maintained that none of the activity posed a credible threat to national security. “Authorities have tried to ease public concerns by insisting they present no national security risk,” Daily Star reported, “but the failure to identify these objects has sparked outlandish conspiracy theories.”
In January 2025, the Federal Aviation Administration, then under President Trump, weighed in with its own findings. The FAA announced that many of the reports of mysterious drones were actually sightings of hobbyists, recreational pilots, and private individuals operating within legal boundaries. This did little to quell the more imaginative rumors, but it did offer a partial explanation for the sheer number of objects reported in the skies.
The Army, for its part, declined to comment on the events, citing the then-ongoing federal government shutdown. Fort Rucker, headquarters for the Army’s Aviation Branch, could not be reached for comment, and the identity of the private contractor remains undisclosed pending further investigation. All conference attendees at the August 2025 summit were thoroughly vetted and approved by Fort Rucker leadership, which enforced strict rules including the exclusion of any drone or craft containing Chinese-manufactured parts. “It would definitely have to be cleared,” a source at the event explained, “Somebody was 100% in charge of coordinating that.”
While the contractor’s admission clears up at least part of the mystery surrounding the New Jersey sightings, it also raises new questions about the oversight and transparency of private government contracts—especially those that involve experimental aircraft operating in civilian airspace. The fact that the company was not required to disclose its activities to the public, due to the confidential nature of its government agreement, highlights a gap between national security operations and public right-to-know. For many residents of New Jersey and beyond, the revelation may bring relief, but it also underscores the extent to which secrecy and speculation can combine to create a perfect storm of confusion.
As the dust settles, officials continue to urge calm and emphasize that, despite the initial shock and the proliferation of conspiracy theories, there is no evidence that last year’s sightings posed any threat to public safety or national security. The episode serves as a reminder of how quickly the unknown can spiral into the extraordinary—and how, sometimes, the truth is hiding in plain sight, just above the treetops.
