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2024 · Niobrara County (Lance Creek), Sweetwater County (Red Desert and the Jim Bridger Power Plant) and Sublette County, Wyoming

Drone formations seen by three Wyoming sheriffs (2024-2025)

Sourced, unconfirmed
Strength C · 5/10
Evidence 1/4 · Witnesses 2/3 · Backing 2/3

Three named sheriffs saw the objects themselves, with deputies, staff and residents' video; the videos sit with Wyoming homeland security and are unreleased; all reporting is from one regional newspaper.

Plausibility High
Score 11 · 8 factors for, 0 against

Three named county sheriffs describe watching drone-like formations themselves over a power plant and oil and gas sites for more than a year, with deputies and residents' video, and the state adjutant general hints at other UAP near federal facilities; no imagery is released and all coverage comes from one newspaper. A drone or aircraft cause is proposed, not demonstrated.

See the factors ↓

Unidentified
A drone formation in a spoke pattern over the Jim Bridger Power Plant in the Red Desert, watched by a sheriff's deputy. · Illustration for uaptrail.com
WhenLate October 2024 to at least December 2025
WhereNiobrara County (Lance Creek), Sweetwater County (Red Desert and the Jim Bridger Power Plant) and Sublette County, Wyoming

From late October 2024, sheriffs in three Wyoming counties say they watched drone-like objects themselves. In Niobrara County they flew about 45 minutes every night until March 2025. In Sweetwater County, formations in grids, lines and spokes have gathered over the Red Desert and the Jim Bridger Power Plant for more than a year, too high to shoot down. In Sublette County two Volkswagen-sized drones flew with smaller ones over oil and gas sites. Wyoming's adjutant general told legislators he knew of UAP near other federal facilities that he could not discuss in open testimony. A drone or aircraft cause is proposed, not demonstrated.

How plausible · High

Three named county sheriffs describe watching drone-like formations themselves over a power plant and oil and gas sites for more than a year, with deputies and residents' video, and the state adjutant general hints at other UAP near federal facilities; no imagery is released and all coverage comes from one newspaper. A drone or aircraft cause is proposed, not demonstrated.

  • ●●
    Access Sheriffs and deputies saw the objects themselves.
  • ●●
    No gain sought Law-enforcement reports; nothing sold.
  • ●●
    Character record Elected sheriffs and the state adjutant general, named.
  • ●○
    Consistent over time Similar formations described across counties and months, as reported by one outlet.
  • ●○
    Restraint They call them drones and say only that 'nobody wants to give us any answers'.
  • ●○
    Independent convergence Within each county, deputies, staff and residents with video back the sheriff; the counties and other drone waves elsewhere are pattern matches, not counted.

Plausibility weighs how well an account fits where secrecy hides the documents by design, so missing records never count against it. Strength measures what is documented. Assessed 2026-11-07.

Claims

In Niobrara County, around Lance Creek, objects flew for about 45 minutes every night from late October 2024 to March 2025. Sheriff Randy Starkey watched them himself and said: 'We never got anybody to come forward.'Jersey dronesThree rotating lights over Gillette, Wyoming, and Colstrip, Montana (2019-2026)firsthandOn the recordSheriff Randy Starkey (Niobrara County), via Cowboy State Daily
Sweetwater County has had 10 confirmed reports since December 2024, starting over the Jim Bridger Power Plant, in grid-like formations, straight lines and 'spoke-like' patterns of smaller drones branching off one large central drone. Sheriff's staff saw them and residents supplied video.Jersey dronesThree rotating lights over Gillette, Wyoming, and Colstrip, Montana (2019-2026)firsthandOn the recordSweetwater County Sheriff's Office, via Cowboy State Daily
On 15 December 2025 Sheriff John Grossnickle said, through spokesman Jason Mower, that he had seen them again 'as recently as Saturday': 13 months of objects in coordinated formations over the Red Desert and the plant, 'too high to shoot down', and 'nobody wants to give us any answers'.firsthandOn the recordSheriff John Grossnickle (Sweetwater County), via spokesman Jason Mower and Cowboy State Daily
The sheriff took Rep. Harriet Hageman out to watch the objects, and she saw them.secondhandSourced, unconfirmedSweetwater County Sheriff's Office, via Cowboy State Daily
In Sublette County, Sheriff KC Lehr reports sightings since 1 January 2025 over oil and gas infrastructure on 'the mesa': two 'very large' drones, 'the size of a Volkswagen', with smaller ones flying a grid around them. Deputies confirmed the sightings, and video went to the Wyoming Office of Homeland Security.Three rotating lights over Gillette, Wyoming, and Colstrip, Montana (2019-2026)Jersey dronesfirsthandOn the recordSheriff KC Lehr (Sublette County), via Cowboy State Daily
On 12 December 2025 Adjutant General Greg Porter told state senator Tim Salazar there were no UAP 'for our air space', but: 'I'm aware of some other ones, near some other federal facilities, that I don't think in open testimony here I could probably say much about.'firsthandOn the recordMaj. Gen. Greg Porter, Wyoming Adjutant General, legislative committee testimony, via Cowboy State Daily
Washakie County's last reports turned out to be agricultural drones.analysisSourced, unconfirmedCowboy State Daily (29 Jan 2025)

In The picture

The shoot-down yearsDrones and orbs came over Langley, U.S. bases in Europe, New Jersey, Wyoming's power plants, where three sheriffs saw them, Europe's airports and Australia's F-35 base at Williamtown, and no operator was caught. At Volkel, the Dutch F-35 base that stores American nuclear bombs, guards opened fire on objects in Novemb…

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Sources

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