Fact-check: No, reported drones don’t have directed-energy weapons causing ‘pestilence’

In a winding, conspiratorial video that included mentions of a "Luciferian" faction and the "simulation that we’re living in," one man argued that the drones Americans have reported seeing across the U.S. — including around the U.S. Capitol — are dangerous. 

"What if I told you that those UFOs are not really UFOs that they’re talking about in the mass media?" he asked in a 1-minute, 35-second video shared Dec. 9 on Facebook. "They’re basically drones that has a direct energy weapon that has a space-based laser generating system that can create pestilence." 

He said frequencies from the drones’ directed-energy weapons can cause "neurological misfire," "manipulate your nervous system" and "make you depressed." After mentioning those physical and psychological side effects, he said: "So, it’s not a coincidence that the UnitedHealthcare CEO was just unalived," using a TikTok-inspired euphemistic term for "killed."

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We found no evidence that the reported drones, which officials say pose no threat to public safety and aren’t of foreign origin, have directed-energy weapons that can "create pestilence." 

Directed-energy weapons fire concentrated energy at light speed.

In an emailed Dec. 17 statement, a Pentagon spokesperson said the reported unmanned aircraft system activity had neither physically threatened Defense Department personnel nor negatively affected base operations. If authorities determine the drones are operated by malicious actors or are involved in intelligence gathering, the department will take action to counter them, the statement said.  

Iain Boyd, an aerospace engineering sciences professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder, told PolitiFact that although some directed-energy weapons could cause physiological symptoms, they cannot cause a deadly epidemic. He also said it’s unlikely such a weapon would be outfitted to a drone.  

We contacted the FBI and received no response.

Federal agencies investigating the drone reports said in a joint Dec. 17 statement that the objects are not a threat to public safety — and some "drones" have been misidentified manned aircraft or stars. 

"Having closely examined the technical data and tips from concerned citizens, we assess that the sightings to date include a combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and stars mistakenly reported as drones," read the statement from the FBI, the Federal Aviation Administration, Homeland Security and the Defense Department.

Authorities had 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," it said.

During a Dec. 14 press briefing call, a Homeland Security Department official said that when authorities used geospatial modeling to overlay the drone sightings and manned aircrafts, it showed many of the reported drone sightings were misidentified manned aircraft. 

The Department of Homeland Security official also said the agency sent advanced drone-specific radar and camera equipment to New Jersey — where reports of drones first emerged in November — that can identify and track drones, determine the type of drone and assess whether it has a payload. The equipment had not detected anything abnormal, the official said. 

After drones were reported near U.S. military bases, U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said Dec. 16 that the Federal Aviation Administration reports that more than 8,000 of the country’s more than 1 million registered drones are lawfully flown every day in the U.S. 

"Flying drones is not illegal," he said. Even when some drones fly near or over military bases, most of the time that drone activity is not unusual and does not pose a threat, he said.

"On any given day, an unauthorized car or truck may approach one of the base gates, usually on accident," Ryder said. "Ninety nine percent of the time those cars are turned away without incident." 

Security will respond if a vehicle enters a base illegally, but "unless there’s a clear and present danger, and typically there is not, security forces personnel aren't going to shoot at the vehicle as a first resort," he said. 

"We’ll continue to do everything possible to investigate reports of concerning activity," Ryder said. "But given how many drones are lawfully in our skies every day, we need to be careful to avoid assuming malintent or malicious behavior."

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Directed-energy weapons include high-energy lasers and high-power electromagnetics, such as high-power microwave weapons, the federal Government Accountability Office reported. 

Since 2023, social media users have falsely claimed these weapons were to blame for unrelated incidents such as wildfires in Hawaii and Texas and the bridge collapse in Baltimore. This time is no different. 

The U.S. and other governments are researching using directed-energy weapons for military purposes, but there is no evidence that the reported drones have directed-energy weapons that can cause a fatal epidemic.

Directed-energy weapon systems are large, heavy and need a lot of electrical power, the University of Colorado’s Boyd said. "It would take a large military drone to even think of this being possible." 

Laser systems, which are used in surgery, "can burn through biological tissue," and microwaves could heat up skin. A microwave directed-energy system was considered a "candidate to explain Havana Syndrome," which refers to instances of State Department diplomats in Cuba reporting unexplained headaches, nausea, hearing loss, lightheadedness and cognitive problems in 2016. 

"But, for a flying drone to induce any such effects on people at the distances involved would require very large (directed-energy weapons) systems," Boyd said. And none of these directed-energy weapon systems "cause anything that could be described as ‘pestilence.’"

A Facebook video said recent drones reported flying over parts of the Northeast have directed-energy weapons that have a "space-based laser generating system that can create pestilence."

Federal authorities said many of the mysterious drones reported have been legal commercial drones, hobbyist drones, law enforcement drones, manned aircraft or stars that do not pose a threat to public safety or national security.

An expert said he knew of no evidence that the reported drones had directed-energy weapons — and that even directed-energy weapons that could cause harm couldn’t cause a deadly epidemic. 

We rate this claim False. 

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