Wind Farms, Drones and Defense

Wind farms, particularly the massive towers and enormous blades used in offshore projects, can have ‘significant effects’ on radar signatures. Our National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologists have had to ‘learn to work’ with the radar signature produced by wind fields in their watch areas, as if they needed another thing to decipher during severe storm outbreaks and possibly issuing life-saving alerts. 

 Wind Energy
Wind energy is one of the primary renewable energy sources being pursued by the government and industry as a solution to the dependence on fossil fuels. With an emphasis on increasing wind energy from 2% of the nation’s power (today) to 20% over the next two decades there will be a substantial growth in wind farm development. As a result, some wind farms are likely to be placed in close proximity to weather radars generating a need to recognize wind turbine interference.

The Facts

Although wind farms are detected by the NEXRAD, the effects are usually minimal unless they are within 18 km (10nm). Experienced operators are learning how to work with products that are c ontaminated by wind turbine interference. In fact, wind turbine clutter appears on the radar much like numerous other non-meteorological objects such as insects, birds, bats, buildings, or external sources of electro-magnetic interference. The following figures depict how some of these different sources of interference appear on NEXRAD products.

Link to the forecaster awareness training course developed, in collaboration with the Warning Decision Training Branch, to introduce forecasters to the appearance of wind turbine clutter (WTC) in NEXRAD products as well as provide some information on the “work-arounds” that are available.

Even as long as five years ago, the wind industry was acknowledging the concern as these immense developments became increasingly popular. Mitigation efforts began in earnest to address the growing concern over their size and effect on aviation safety and the implications for national security going forward.

Of course, then, everyone in power in the world – the Biden administration and uber-green cultish governments in Europe – were mad for renewables, and pursuing imposing them at a feverish pace. Offsetting, researching, and addressing concerns about the possible downside of wind to firm believers in the technology’s superiority wasn’t so much a priority as window dressing at the time.

Times have changed, as they tend to do. Hopefully, in time to throttle and choke the life out of this headlong, thoughtlessly instituted rush to renewables.

This is something that I guess I never really thought of in terms of specifics as far as the defense objections to wind farms. But watching as Ukraine (as documented so well by our John here) torches bits and pieces of Russian equipment and Russia itself day after day, not to mention what Iran’s been doing to tankers and Arabian neighbor installations, it’s totally legit.

Vast, towering offshore wind farms would be the forest that could hide drone swarm signatures on their way in.

The War Department recognized this over a year ago, and it’s only recently been revealed that they’ve held up the permitting process for over 150 wind farms for that very reason. 

Wind turbines can confuse radar systems on ships and aircraft. Their massive rotating blades create a “blade flash” on radar screens, while their steel bases reflect electromagnetic waves, making it difficult to distinguish the turbines from aircraft or other objects. That’s a problem for the military, which relies on radar for threat detection and navigation. For over a decade, the Pentagon has used a permitting program to review proposed projects and mitigate the effects on radar. Wind developers are required to submit project proposals, address military requests, and in some cases pay to upgrade radar systems to tune out the turbines. 

But now, in a world where small, deadly drones can zip through wind farms, the Pentagon says those upgrades may not be sufficient. 

For almost a year, the Pentagon has effectively frozen the permitting process for at least 155 new wind projects in 24 states, citing drone concerns, according to research from the American Clean Power Association, an industry advocacy organization. As long as the freeze persists, developers say, no new wind projects can begin construction. The Pentagon has not revealed when or if it will resume approving new projects. 

Naturally, the most expensive impact of the permitting delays has fallen on the struggling offshore wind industry, which is already under siege from repeated efforts by the Department of the Interior to cease and rescind permitting altogether in a general campaign to reverse the Biden rush to renewables.

…Wind developers say they’ve incurred $2 billion in additional costs as a result of the freeze and that the administration’s new narrative is just the latest excuse to shut down their industry. Some may already have missed a July 4 construction deadline to qualify for federal tax credits under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the 2025 law that phased out several clean energy incentives.

Wind developers and the usual co-conspiratorial climate-cult suspects have filed a lawsuit against the DoW, mostly in an effort to get the threatened offshore projects moving.

Golly yeah – in an industry decades old that still cannot stand on its own in the energy market, they surely do not want to lose what federal tax credits might be available. God forbid they should have to compete in an open market.

…In contrast, the permitting freeze for onshore wind projects has resulted in no reported project cancellations so far. But the scope of its potential impacts could be larger because it affects land-based projects — including those on private property — which represent the bulk of U.S. wind power development. The projects affected by the freeze have a combined capacity of 44 gigawatts — four times the generation capacity of the offshore projects canceled through federal payouts. 

In May, a coalition of renewable energy organizations and wind energy companies filed suit against the Department of Defense, claiming the permitting pause for onshore wind projects is the most damaging new tactic in the Trump administration’s “unprecedented campaign” against the industry. According to legal filings, the pause could cause developers to fall behind on project timelines, violate agreements, lose tax credits already baked into their financial models, and miss important deadlines for connecting to electrical grids, potentially making some projects unviable. 

“An unknown number of projects may never be able to move forward as a result of [the department’s] freeze,” the lawsuit stated.

And wind supporters can’t really point to Europe as an example to discount the legitimate national security concerns, either. Where some countries are ‘experimenting’ with integrating radar and offshore wind – a concept once considered to be an anathema by wind farm developers…

…In fact, Poland mandates inclusion of defense-relevant equipment on all offshore wind farms. Their first project carries radar and other sensors specified by Poland’s Ministry of Defense. The wind farm will start operating in the Baltic later this year, roughly 200 km south of Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave.

The U.K. is experimenting too. Last year, West Sussex–based LiveLink Aerospace demonstrated purpose-built, dual-use sensors atop wind turbines offshore from Aberdeen. The compact equipment combines a suite of sensors including electro-optical sensors, thermal and visible light cameras, and detectors for radio frequency and acoustic signals.

In the past, wind farm operators tended to resist cooperating with defense projects, fearing that would turn their installations into military targets. And militaries were also reluctant to share, because they are used to having full control over equipment.

…what is actually happening in one of the countries that doesn’t even share a border with an increasingly pugnacious Russia is the exact opposite.

Sweden has basically shut down further wind industry development over the possibility of missing incoming Russian drones.

…Contrary to Poland and the U.K., Sweden is the one European country that, like the U.S. under Trump’s second administration, has used national security to justify a broad restriction on offshore wind development. In 2024, Sweden rejected 13 projects along its Baltic coast, which faces Kaliningrad, citing anticipated degradation in its ability to detect incoming missiles.

This led the CEO of the country’s premier electronic firm and radar developer, Saab, to cry foul, sling accusations of playing politics, and basically call the government big ‘fraidy cats. 

Then again, it’s not Saab who has to answer the day after a drone strike gets through because of wind farm clutter.

The war in Ukraine and the subsequent action in Iran have really shown what advances have been made in the little things that do a great deal of damage and how aging security infrastructure isn’t being upgraded at a fast enough pace to keep up with what can pop out of a cloud at any moment, even from a ship offshore.

They don’t need a submarine to launch missiles anymore to raise hell. A seaworthy scow with enough deck space and a spacious hold for storing these wee death machines will do.

…In legal filings responding to the developers’ claims last month, lawyers for the Pentagon said that delays to wind projects are a “practical result” of the department’s review, which is necessary to safeguard the country from emerging threats.

“This case centers on the [Pentagon’s] ability to do its job — specifically, whether national security interests must take a back seat when they inconvenience the development interests of the energy industry. The answer should doubtlessly be ‘no,’” Pentagon lawyers wrote.

The wind industry’s answer?

WAAH!

The Pentagon should just fund another study if they think drones are so scary and leave us alone.

…If drone swarms are a new threat that needs to be handled, [Dave] Belote [wind energy consultant and former director of the Defense Department subagency that greenlights wind projects during the Obama administration] said, the Pentagon should openly fund studies and experiments to find the best solutions. The lack of transparency and open effort toward a solution points to political motives against the wind industry, he added.

That’s exactly how we got here in the first place.

Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s leadership, the warrior ethos is coming back to America’s military.

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