Mystery NJ drones, lack of answers spark fury among residents as authorities just shrug shoulders: Scratching their heads

WHARTON, New Jersey — The state government and the feds have one response to New Jersey residents who are getting increasingly concerned about sightings of mysterious car-size drones over the skies of the Garden State: Fuggedaboudit!And that’s not cutting it anymore.Frustration boiled over on Wednesday after both the Pentagon and officials in Trenton gave non-answers to worried questions about the strange objects that have been filmed dozens of times around the state in recent weeks.The sightings led one US lawmaker to suggest the drones could be spy aircraft from Iran and that the military should shoot them down immediately.Others have suggested China is behind the close encounters off the Turnpike.“There were a lot of angry legislators and soon to be angry mayors,” state Sen.

Doug Steinhardt (R) told The Post after a briefing for lawmakers with state police and US Department of Homeland Security.“And a lot of American citizens scratching their heads trying to figure out what are they doing.”Authorities — from Gov.Phil Murphy to the FBI — continue to insist that there is no danger from the drones, but also claim they have no idea what the drones are.Officials admitted the aircraft exhibit particularly sophisticated capabilities like becoming undetectable once a police drone or helicopter gives chase.

They also hover in one place for hours — far longer than the battery life of know civilian unmanned aircraft.A Post reporter even witnessed one in person Wednesday, when an object the size of a Honda Fit with blinking white lights cruised by a gas station and headed toward Picatinny Arsenal – the US Army weapons research and manufacturing facility covering a swath of land in Wharton.Many are suspicious Picatinny might be the source of the drones – and that the military knows exactly what they are but won’t say.“I think the government knows what they are,” said 46-year-old mother and track coach, Melissa Ann Pederson.“I think Picatinny A...