US report on UFO sightings does not rule out visits from aliens
An unidentified flying object shown in a photo captured by US Navy pilots. Photo: Supplied
The Pentagon has told the US Congress it can’t rule out aliens as the cause of mysterious UFO sightings.
It’s unclear if some of the sightings are advanced early technologies, atmospherics, or signs of extraterrestrial life.
The nine-page unclassified report, released to the public on Friday (US time), encompasses 144 observations of what the US government officially refers to as “unidentified aerial phenomenon”, or UAP, dating back to 2004.
When many people think of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) or UAP, they imagine flying saucers and green bug-eyed creatures.
But that’s not accurate. All it means is that it’s something in the air that is not explained.
Either way, the report is a serious game changer.
It was issued by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in conjunction with a US Navy-led UAP task force.
When defence and military analysts spot a mysterious flying object in space, they must place it in one of five potential categories:
- Airborne clutter, like birds
- Natural atmospheric phenomena, like lightning
- USG or US industry developmental programs
- Foreign adversary systems
- ‘Other’.
The ‘other’ category is what most people are interested in.
But it gets even juicier.
“In 18 incidents, described in 21 reports, observers reported unusual UAP movement patterns or flight characteristics,” according to the report.
“Some UAP appeared to remain stationary in winds aloft, move against the wind, manoeuvre abruptly, or move at considerable speed, without discernible means of propulsion.”
In other words, there have been a total of 18 recorded incidents where UFOs appeared as if they could dart around in ways that couldn’t be explained.
In one instance, analysts reported spotting a UAP then realised it was actually just a deflating balloon, aka airborne clutter.
But for the remaining 143 cases, the intelligence community said they lacked sufficient information to “attribute incidents to specific explanations”.
A senior US official, when asked about the possibility of aliens being behind the observations, said: “That’s not the purpose of the task force, to evaluate any sort of search for extraterrestrial life.”
“Of the 144 reports we are dealing with here, we have no clear indications that there is any non-terrestrial explanation for them,” the official said.
“But we will go wherever the data takes us”.
Part of the reason why researchers lack sufficient data to explain sightings could be because science on Earth simply hasn’t caught up yet, the report noted.
Although some episodes remain mysterious because there isn’t enough information to explain them, the analysts said “we may require additional scientific knowledge to successfully collect on, analyse and characterise some of them”.
That means we may require advanced science beyond what we believe is currently possible.
And we thought Bluetooth and iPads were cool.
