A Chinese national has been charged with flying a drone at Vandenberg Space Force Base
A Chinese national living in Los Angeles is accused of flying a drone and taking aerial photos of Vandenberg Space Force Base last month, federal prosecutors said Monday.
Yinpiao Zhou, 39, was arrested this week at San Francisco International Airport before boarding a flight to China, the Justice Department said. He is charged with failure to register an aircraft not providing transportation and violating national defense airspace.
On Nov. 30, drone detection systems at a Santa Barbara County military installation detected a small aircraft flying over the base, prosecutors said.
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Officials unveiled the new name of the US Space Force Vandenberg during a renaming ceremony and the 30th Space Wing redesignation ceremony on May 14, Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif. ((US Space Force photo by Michael Peterson)
This drone takes off from Ocean Park, which is a public area near the base, and flies for about an hour. During the flight, it flew to an altitude of about one mile from the ground, authorities said.
The security staff at the base went to the park and spoke to Zhou and another companion.
Zhou had a drone flying over the base hidden in his coat, prosecutors said.
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AV8 private plane. (KVUE)
The drone was later searched and investigators found several photos of the site taken from above, authorities said. A search of Zhou’s cell phone showed that he had searched Google one month earlier for the phrase “Vandenberg Space Force Base Drone Rules” and texted someone about hacking his drone to fly higher than it could.
Zhou is a permanent resident, having just returned from China in February. The person he was with at Ocean Park had entered the United States from China on November 26.
Zhou faces up to four years in prison.
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Vandenberg’s commanding unit, Space Launch Delta 30, supports the West Coast launch operations of the Air Force, Department of Defense, National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Fox News Digital reached out to the military base.
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