By Staff Report Wednesday, December 11th, 2024

The competition for aerospace supremacy hit home on Dec. 11 when a Chinese citizen living permanently in the U.S. was accused of illegally flying a drone over Vandenberg Space Force Base.

In a release, the United States Attorney for the Central District said that Yinpiao Zhou, a Brentwood resident, was at San Francisco International Airport and ready to board a plane to China when he was arrested and charged with “taking photographs of Vandenberg Space Force Base” from a drone he was flying back in November.

The possible charges he faces include failure to register the drone and violating national defense airspace.

Zhou “remains in federal custody pending prosecutors’ appeal of a federal magistrate judge’s decision to release him.”

He will be formally charged in Los Angeles in the coming weeks, according to the press release.

“This defendant allegedly flew a drone over a military base and took photos of the base’s layout, which is against the law,” said United States Attorney Martin Estrada.

“The security of our nation is of paramount importance and my office will continue to promote the safety of our nation’s military personnel and facilities.”

According to an affidavit filed in court, observers from Vandenberg detected the drone flying over the base for about an hour on Nov. 30.  

Security personnel found Zhou near the base and found a drone concealed in his jacket.

A subsequent search turned up photos of Vandenberg.

Vandenberg contains several sensitive areas including facilities and launch pads used to loft top-secret spy satellites.

It also is home to one of the nation’s most important anti-missile defense installations.

The flight of a balloon launched from China triggered an international incident a year ago when U.S. fighter jets shot it down over the Atlantic Ocean after it passed over Alaska, Canada and several states.

email: [email protected]