President-elect Donald Trump has called for drones to be shot down as the FBI receives thousands of tips about mysterious sightings in several US states.

Multiple sightings of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAS) in New Jersey, New York and other US states have raised concerns and calls for an official investigation.

Earlier this week, an FBI official told Congress that the FBI had received over 3,000 tips from the public about these attacks, according to CBS.

The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security said Thursday they would “continue to investigate this situation and confirm whether the reported drone flights were actually drones or instead were manned aircraft or otherwise inaccurate sightings.”

Authorities said they had not confirmed any of the reported sightings through electronic detection and that review of available images appeared to show that many of the reported drones were in fact manned aircraft.

The Pentagon has also stated that these are not US military drones.

“Shoot them down!”: Donald Trump comments on the sightings

New President Donald Trump is the latest politician to call for transparency about the sightings.

“Can this really happen without the knowledge of our government,” he wrote on the social media platform Truth Social.

“Otherwise she’ll shoot down!!!” he wrote.

Previously, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy shared a letter he wrote to President Joe Biden asking for “more resources” to fully understand the sightings.

“New Jersey residents deserve more concrete information about these UAS sightings and their cause,” he wrote.

“I respectfully request that you continue to direct the federal agencies involved to work together until they find answers to what is behind the UAS sightings.”

Meanwhile, New York State Police said they were investigating numerous reports over the past 24 hours and sharing information with federal authorities.

“We have no evidence at this time that any of the reported sightings pose a threat to public safety,” they added.

“Size of a school bus”: New Jersey eyewitness

Evan Cutler, a New Jersey television producer, said he saw an object coming toward him that he originally thought was the moon.

“Then I think, ‘Maybe it’s a helicopter?’ No, it is not a helicopter,” he told Reuters.

“And it looks like a giant drone, I guess. I’m not even sure what that is… I’ve never seen anything like it.”

When Mr. Cutler stopped his car to take a photo of the object, it immediately began to drive away.

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“It was about the size of a school bus and hovered about 150 feet above the trees,” he said.

“And I can’t take my eyes off it.”

The governor of Maryland criticizes the government

Some governors have also taken matters into their own hands, releasing footage of their own sightings.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan documented what he described as “dozens of large drones in the sky” near his residence outside Annapolis.

“The public is increasingly concerned and frustrated by the federal government’s complete lack of transparency and dismissive attitude,” he said on the social media platform X.

“The government has the ability to track these from their point of origin but has been negligent in their response.

He described the reaction as “completely unacceptable.”

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New Jersey Senator Andy Kim also captured footage of a cluster of drones and said people were describing the drones as the “size of the hood of a car.”

“It’s hard to understand that with the technology we have we don’t have the ability to track these devices to determine their origins, and that makes me much more concerned about our capabilities more broadly if it “It’s about drone detection and countermeasures,” he added.

Drones have also been spotted in Virginia, Pennsylvania and Staten Island.

Drones over international air base

Drones were also spotted over U.S. Air Force bases in Ramstein, Germany, in early December, authorities confirmed.

There was “no impact on base residents, facilities or assets,” a U.S. Air Force spokesman said Friday.

“Together with the host country authorities, we continue to monitor the airspace to ensure the safety of the community,” they added.

The drone sightings over Ramstein were first reported by German news magazine Spiegel, which said a report from German security authorities had pointed to a series of unexplained drone sightings over the base in the evening hours of December 3 and 4.

ABC/Reuters