This bird's-eye view of the USS Ronald Reagan, apparently taken by a drone, was uploaded to X by @Xiao_Hao_4 on April 4, 2024. (X)
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — The Navy investigated overhead social media imagery of the USS Ronald Reagan but has not concluded that a drone flew over the home of the U.S. 7th Fleet, a base spokesman said.
Aerial photos and videos of the aircraft carrier were posted to X, formerly Twitter, over the past two months by @Xiao_Hao_4. Four photos posted April 4 show the Ronald Reagan, the amphibious command ship USS Blue Ridge, several destroyers and portions of the base’s coastline and interior.
These images of Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, apparently taken by a drone, were uploaded to X by @Xiao_Hao_4 on April 4, 2024. (X)
Another post on May 8 presented two more photos and a video apparently shot from a drone that flew directly over the aircraft carrier.
The base is aware of the imagery and Naval Criminal Investigative Service “investigated their authenticity,” base spokesman Justin Keller told Stars and Stripes in a Thursday email.
The investigation revealed no indication that a drone flew over the Ronald Reagan, Keller added.
He referred additional questions, including whether the images were determined to be real or fake, to NCIS on Friday. A spokesperson for the service did not immediately respond to a comment request that afternoon.
The base and its ships “have several force protection measures in place every day, and at no time was the security” of the base or the crew of the USS Ronald Reagan in question, Keller wrote.
The X account, which predominantly posts in Chinese and claims responsibility for the imagery, describes itself as a “Secret account for Secret contents.” The account holder, who has not been publicly identified, did not respond to a request for comment Friday morning.
On April 2, the account posted similar imagery of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s base in Yokosuka and a video of the helicopter destroyer JS Izumo docked there. The video was originally posted to the Chinese video sharing website Bilibili in March, but has since been deleted, Yahoo News reported April 2.
Japan has outlawed unauthorized drone flights over military bases.
Japan Defense Minister Minoru Kihara addressed the Izumo video during a Friday news conference and said it’s a “high possibility” that the footage is authentic.
“The Ministry of Defense and the Self-Defense Forces take the results of this analysis extremely seriously, as damages caused by drones to defense-related facilities could seriously impede Japan’s defense,” he said, according to a transcript posted on the ministry’s website.
Japan plans to take “all possible measures to ensure base security,” including the early introduction of new drone countermeasure equipment.
Japan analyzed the video from “various perspectives,” such as evaluating whether it was made by artificial intelligence, a Ministry of Defense spokesperson told Stars and Stripes by email Friday.
The spokesperson declined to elaborate further to avoid revealing “information gathering and analysis capabilities.”
The spokesperson said the ministry was aware of the Ronald Reagan imagery and declined to comment on the matter.
“In any case, we have been working closely with the U.S. side on a regular basis, including in matters related to information warfare,” the spokesperson said.
It’s customary in Japan that some government officials speak to reporters on condition of anonymity.
