FAA Records Add ‘Black Cube’ Sighting to Wright-Patterson AFB Drone Mystery

Newly released Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) documents obtained by The Black Vault under FOIA case 2025-04622 add significant new information to the still-developing story about a series of unauthorized drone incursions at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) in December 2024. These records, drawn primarily from the FAA’s SKYWATCH system, supplement the earlier Air Force FOIA release (2025-01757-F) previously covered by The Black Vault, and they introduce a striking new element: the report of a “black cube”-shaped “UAS” observed at around 16,000 feet.

SKYWATCH is an FAA operations security platform used to collect and disseminate reports of suspicious or unauthorized aerial activity, often relayed through Air Traffic Control Towers, FAA regional offices, and the Domestic Events Network. It serves as a central alert system for potential security risks, with reports often shared with law enforcement and military security forces.

Here is a breakdown summary of the events just released as a result of this case, and drawing from the SKYWATCH system. The documents themselves (located at the bottom of this article) go into greater detail.

Event #1 – December 14, 2024 (03:55Z)
Air traffic controllers observed a drone over multiple sensitive locations on base, including the Hot Cargo Ramp, the south side of Runway 5L, the military ramp, and the east side of the airfield. Base security reported the drones were turning their lights off and flying past them in close proximity. The incident triggered NOTAMs (M1132/24 and M1133/24) for an airfield closure, with the information broadcast on the ATIS. The closure remained in effect until base leadership met later that morning.

Event #2 – December 17, 2024 (04:41Z)
Multiple radar targets, presumed to be drones, were observed on tower radar. No visual confirmation was made, but the Riverside Police Department was notified.

Event #3 – December 17, 2024 (04:58Z)
The situation escalated when ZID Center radar detected between seven and seventeen targets within 40 miles of the airport. Wright-Patterson Security Forces on the ground confirmed the objects were drones. Riverside Police were again contacted. The report categorized the incident as a “swarm” involving multiple unmanned aircraft.

Event #4 – December 17, 2024 (18:08Z)
An aircraft on approach reported seeing a silver drone approximately five nautical miles southeast of Wright-Patterson at 3,200 feet. The pilot took no evasive action. FAA quality assurance later logged coordinates placing the object within the Dayton area, consistent with the Wright-Patterson region.

Event #5 – December 19, 2024 (18:45Z)
The most unusual report came from an aircraft westbound at 16,000 feet near Appleton VOR, roughly 70–80 miles east-northeast of Wright-Patterson. The crew reported a drone “passing beneath them by about 500 feet” and described it as a “black cube.” FAA quality assurance assigned coordinates to the sighting, placing it well east of the base, but it occurred within the same week as the other incursions and was documented in the same SKYWATCH dataset.

Located within the “Drone Sightings Near Airports” reports located at the FAA’s website, the sighting above described as a “black cube” is listed, however, the description of it being a “black cube” was removed, or intentionally not included.

The earlier Air Force records documented numerous sightings by Security Forces personnel of multiple drones over Areas A and B of the base, some flying in formations and performing rapid altitude changes. Many were described as turning lights off, maneuvering in ways consistent with evasion, and in some cases appearing over sensitive areas like the flightline and base gates. However, the “black cube” sighting did not appear in the Air Force release. The FAA records now confirm that during the same operational window, pilots and controllers were also logging high-altitude, unusually shaped drone activity, broadening the scope of what was occurring in the region’s airspace.

The FAA data mirrors many of the Air Force incident points but adds radar “swarm” data, aircraft pilot reports, and precise coordinates where available. The coordinates from the December 17 silver drone sighting place it within the Wright-Patterson airspace vicinity, while the December 19 “black cube” coordinates are farther east but along a flight corridor that could connect to the operational area around the base during that week’s security incidents.

While most of the December 2024 events involved drones at altitudes that could be considered typical of hobbyist or small commercial systems, the “black cube” report at 16,000 feet raises questions about capabilities far beyond those of standard small UAS operations. Whether connected to the Wright-Patterson incursions directly or it is a separate high-altitude event all together, its inclusion in FAA’s SKYWATCH reporting during the same security surge is notable.

Together, the Air Force and FAA FOIA releases now establish that multiple confirmed incursions occurred over and around Wright-Patterson in December 2024, including “swarms”; that a base closure and NOTAM airfield closure were directly tied to drone activity; that FAA radar detected up to seventeen simultaneous targets within 40 miles; and that a rare, pilot-reported sighting of a “black cube” drone at high altitude was documented during the same period. These details expand the public record and offer new leads in understanding the scale and sophistication of the aerial activity that prompted Wright-Patterson’s partial shutdown.

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Document Archive

2025-04622 Released Records [8 Pages, 0.5MB]

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