A Chinese national was arrested on Monday after authorities in California allege he flew a drone over the Vandenberg Space Force Base as Space X launched a rocket with a “sensitive payload.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California announced Wednesday charges of failure to register an aircraft not providing transportation and violation of national defense airspace against Yinpiao Zhou, 39.

Zhou is a Chinese citizen and lawful permanent resident of the United States, living in Brentwood, Calif.

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

The incident follows about two months after five University of Michigan graduates from China were charged with spying on the Camp Grayling Michigan National Guard Base during Northern Strike, one of the largest National Guard exercises in the nation that also involved the Taiwanese military.

Both incidents underscore widespread national security and other concerns about the one square mile Chinese Communist Party-linked Gotion EV battery component plant planned for Mecosta County, located roughly 88 miles south of Camp Grayling and just a few miles from Ferris State University’s cybersecurity center, which contracts with the Department of Defense.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and allied Democrats that control the state’s legislature approved $715 million in taxpayer subsidies for the Gotion plant following secret negotiations in 2022. Whitmer also met with CCP officials at her summer residence in Mackinac Island in 2023.

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While the Gotion plant remains tied up in litigation and opposition from Republicans, both locally and in Washington, Zhou’s arrest serves as yet another example of why they’re concerned the facility will serve as a means to funnel sensitive information to China.

Zhou’s criminal complaint alleges officials at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County detected a drone flying over the base on Nov. 30.

“The drone systems detected that the drone flew for nearly one hour, traveled to an altitude of almost one mile above ground level, and originated from Ocean Park, a public area next to the base,” according to the Justice Department. “Base security personnel went to the park, spoke to Zhou and another person accompanying him, and learned that Zhou had a drone concealed in his jacket – the same one that flew over the base.”

Agents eventually secured a federal warrant and searched the drone, locating several photos of the base from the air. Investigators also searched Zhou’s cell pone and found he searched the phrase “Vandenberg Space Force Base Drone Rules” about a month earlier. In messages on his phone with another person, Zhou discuss how he hacked the drone to fly higher than it would have otherwise, the Justice Department reports.

Investigators learned Zhou returned to the U.S. from China in February 2024, while the person who accompanied him in Ocean Park arrived in the U.S. from China on Nov. 26.

The Nov. 30 bust occurred the same day Space X launched a rocket with a “sensitive payload” from the base on behalf of the National Reconnaissance Office, the federal intelligence agency that runs spy satellites, the Telegraph reports.

Zhou was arrested on Monday at San Francisco International Airport as he prepared to board a flight bound for China, and he made an initial appearance on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.

“Zhou remains in federal custody pending prosecutors’ appeal of a fderal magistrate judge’s decision to release him,” according to the Justice Department. “No pela was taken and his arraignment is expected to be scheduled in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles in the coming weeks.”

Zhou faces up to four years in federal prison if convicted.

His arrest follows numerous reports in recent weeks of drones flying over sensitive sites in New Jersey, including President-elect Donald Trump’s Bedminster golf course and Picatinny Arsenal, a military research and manufacturing facility.

The FBI is investigating those drones, which the Associated Press reports are much larger than hobby drones at approximately 6 feet in diameter, but have not tracked down those responsible, officials told Congress on Tuesday, the Morristown Daily Record reports.

“The bureau is actively investigating the unexplained sighting of drone activity over that part of New Jersey, including proximity to sensitive sites and areas of concern,” Robert Wheeler, assistant director of the FBI’s Critical Incident Response Group, told frustrated lawmakers. “We do not attribute that to an individual or group yet. I don’t have an answer of who’s responsible, one or more people that are responsible, but we’re actively investigating.”

Similar incidents occurred at air bases used by the US Air Force in the UK last month, prompting counter-drone measures from the UK’s Ministry of Defence and speculation from government officials there the drones may have been sent from a hostile foreign state, the Telegraph reports.

Chinese nationals have been arrested for flying drones and capturing images of multiple U.S. military sites in Virginia, Florida, and Hawaii in recent years.