UFO sightings increased in past two years: US intelligence report

Unexplained incidents raise concerns about potential threats from foreign adversaries.

An image taken from one of three unclassified US Navy videos shows interactions with Unidentified Aerial Phenomena at an undisclosed location.

Reported sightings of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, known popularly as UFOs, have climbed significantly in the past two years, and almost half the new sightings remain unexplained, US spy agencies and the Pentagon said in a report released on Thursday.

The study, led by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, said the number of UAP sightings – often by US Navy and US Air Force pilots – stands at 510, with 366 of those reports coming in since March 2021.

Slightly more than half of the objects are likely to be unmanned aircraft, balloons or airborne debris, according to analysis by a new Pentagon office focused on the issue, but 171 remain “uncharacterised and unattributed”, the report says.

“Some of these uncharacterised UAP appear to have demonstrated unusual flight characteristics or performance capabilities, and require further analysis,” it says.

Once dismissed as the stuff of science fiction, reports of unidentified airborne objects have received renewed, serious attention from US legislators and others following sightings by American military aviators of objects moving in ways that don’t appear to obey the known laws of physics.

The concern is that the objects, whatever they are, could pose a safety threat to military aircraft or represent surveillance by a foreign adversary using technology unknown to the US. “UAP events continue to occur in restricted or sensitive airspace, highlighting possible concerns for safety of flight or adversary collection activity,” the report says.

Congress mandated the annual report released on Thursday, as well as the establishment of a new Pentagon office, named the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office, to co-ordinate with the US intelligence community and other government agencies to study the phenomena.

“Today’s report reflects a step forward in understanding and addressing risks to aviators,” said Democrat senator Mark Warner, chairman of the Senate intelligence committee.

“Overall, I am encouraged to see an increase in UAP reporting – a sign of decreased stigma among pilots who are aware of the potential threat that UAPs can pose.”

At a Pentagon briefing in December, Ronald Moultrie, under-secretary of defence for intelligence and security, said none of the reported sightings indicate extraterrestrial life.

“I have not seen anything in those holdings to date that would suggest that there has been an alien visitation, an alien crash or anything like that,” Mr Moultrie said.

The ODNI says the increased reporting of unidentified objects is probably due in part to the fact that pilots are no longer reluctant to report what they see, as well as a heightened awareness of the potential threat the objects represent.

An earlier, preliminary report by the national intelligence director’s office identified 144 UAP reports as of March 2021. Since then, there have been 247 new reports, as well as another 119 based on events that predate March 2021 but weren’t known or reported at the time.

Of the 366 newly identified reports, it said, the Pentagon’s AARO office characterised 26 as unmanned aircraft systems, also known as drones; 163 as balloons or “balloon-like entities”; and six as “clutter”, such as birds, weather events or airborne debris. The rest could not be ­characterised.

Most of the new reports came from navy and air force aviators, and many “lack enough detailed data to enable attribution of UAP with high certainty”, it said.

“The safety of our service personnel, our bases and installations, and the protection of US operations security on land, in the skies, seas, and space are paramount,” said air force Brigadier General Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary.

“We take reports of incursions into our designated space, land, sea, or airspaces seriously and examine each one.”

The Wall Street Journal