US government investigators have determined that many of the unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) commonly known as UFOs are routine aerospace disruptions.
However, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) said in a Jan. 12 report that an unspecified number of reports captured anomalous flight characteristics, requiring additional investigation.
ODNI, which leads efforts that include the Department of Defense’s All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), has cataloged approximately 247 new sightings of the UAP since March 2021. The analysis also included 119 previously reported incidents that were not previously analyzed.
Of these 366 events, 53% (195 reported incidents) were of routine aerospace material, intelligence officials said. According to ODNI’s research, 26 were believed to be unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and 163 were balloons or “balloon-like objects.”
The remaining six sightings are classified as clutter and may include birds, weather phenomena, or airborne objects such as plastic bags. ODNI describes these 195 incidents as “low profile.”
However, of the remaining 171 unidentified UAPs, the unidentified number is clearly noteworthy.
“Some of these featureless UAPs appear to have exhibited unusual flight characteristics or performance capabilities,” said the ODNI report.
Officials say these reported incidents “require further analysis,” but have not gone so far as to suggest any explanation.The report details the unusual performance characteristics observed. Not explained.
Many UAP reports are from US Navy (USN) and US Air Force military aviators. Several videos released by his USN in 2020 show a Navy pilot visually tracking his UAP and using onboard sensors.
In one video, two aviators explain that the aircraft can rotate freely and fly at high altitudes and against the wind with ease.Boeing F/A-18 pilot on news program 60 minutes In 2021, he described encountering an aircraft with no visible propulsion that performed a controlled descent of 24,384 m (80,000 ft) in a matter of seconds.
One possible explanation for the anomaly is advanced experimental aircraft being developed by the US military or US defense manufacturers. In December, AARO and Pentagon officials said the military was setting up a mechanism for clearing his UAP sightings of the potential presence of such experimental aircraft.
But another possibility that UAPs exhibiting such advanced flight characteristics are in fact aerospace platforms belonging to adversaries such as Russia and China has raised alarms in the Pentagon and the U.S. Congress.
“Unidentified objects in the air, sea and space pose potential threats to safety and security, especially for operational personnel,” said AARO Director Sean Kirkpatrick.
Kirkpatrick, who holds a PhD in physics and has spent his career developing technologies for intelligence applications, said the government should use “the highest scientific and analytical standards” to better understand and characterize UAPs. says he is trying.
Kirkpatrick says the UAP “clearly causes flight safety problems”, but ODNI’s report reveals that the reported events did not cause any serious incidents.
“To date, there have been no reported collisions between U.S. aircraft and UAPs,” ODNI said. “Regarding health concerns, there have also been no confirmed UAP encounters directly contributing to adverse health-related effects in observers.”
The 247 new UAP sightings since early 2021 are a significant increase from the 144 reports filed over the past 17 years, but incidents are not necessarily more frequent.
The Department of Defense (DoD), the source of the majority of reports, says it has taken steps in recent years to encourage pilots to file official reports if they encounter a UAP. The Department of Defense hopes to reduce the stigma of such reports.
According to AARO’s preliminary UAP report released in December, many pilots have so far remained silent over concerns about the negative impact on their careers. “The reputational risk could silence many observers and complicate the scientific pursuit of this topic,” the report said.
He adds that the stigma is fading as UAPs become more and more the subject of serious public debate and internal investigation.
Both ODNI and the Department of Defense have said they plan to document the UAP report and continue investigating the incident for clues to its origin.
ODNI believes that “continued multi-agency, coordinated UAP prosecution efforts are likely to increase awareness of objects in and around our air, space, and sea territories, and the nature and origin of future UAPs.” ‘ said.