A newly revealed classified U.S. Military report on UFOs shines some more light on what the U.S. government knows about the matter after the subject garnered significant national interest last summer following the government’s release of a report titled “Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena.”
Motherboard reported that the report, which is still heavily redacted, documents more UFO sightings, what are believed to be the most “common shapes” of UFOs, and possible explanations.
Motherboard reported:
Certain sections of the classified report, such as one called “And a Handful of UAP Appear to Demonstrate Advanced Technology,” have far more detail on specific incidents that the Department of Defense cannot explain and that are not mentioned in the public report, including seemingly two different incidents witnessed by multiple pilots and officers in the Navy. A section called “UAP Probably Lack a Single Explanation” seemingly attempts to go deeper in exploring what those explanations could be, and also has an extra redacted paragraph about what the DOD believes could be attributed to “Foreign Adversary Systems.” Most interestingly, redacted figures, images, and diagrams in the classified reports explain what the DOD believes to be the most “common shapes” of UFOs, as well as “less common/irregular shapes.”
The classified report states, “Given the national security implications associated with potential threats posed by UAP operating in close proximity to sensitive military activities, installations, critical infrastructure, or other national security sites, the FBI is positioned to use its investigative capabilities and authorities to support deliberate DOD and interagency efforts to determine attribution.”
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) released its report late last June detailing what it knew about UFOs. The report said that 18 out of 144 reported incidents showed UAP that potentially demonstrated advanced technology and that out of those incidents, U.S. military aircraft systems detected radio frequency or a degree of signature management, meaning efforts to avoid detection.
The report cautioned that data collected could be inaccurate due to “sensor errors, spoofing, or observer misperception.”
The Director of National Intelligence said that the UAP observed by the U.S. government fall into one of five categories:
- Airborne Clutter: These objects include birds, balloons, recreational unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), or airborne debris like plastic bags that muddle a scene and affect an operator’s ability to identify true targets, such as enemy aircraft.
- Natural Atmospheric Phenomena: Natural atmospheric phenomena includes ice crystals, moisture, and thermal fluctuations that may register on some infrared and radar systems.
- USG or Industry Developmental Programs: Some UAP observations could be attributable to developments and classified programs by U.S. entities. We were unable to confirm, however, that these systems accounted for any of the UAP reports we collected.
- Foreign Adversary Systems: Some UAP may be technologies deployed by China, Russia, another nation, or a non-governmental entity.
- Other: Although most of the UAP described in our dataset probably remain unidentified due to limited data or challenges to collection processing or analysis, we may require additional scientific knowledge to successfully collect on, analyze and characterize some of them. We would group such objects in this category pending scientific advances that allowed us to better understand them. The UAPTF intends to focus additional analysis on the small number of cases where a UAP appeared to display unusual flight characteristics or signature management.
The report, which is the unclassified version released to the public, said that UAP could pose a serious risk to U.S. national security if it is a foreign adversary that possesses a “breakthrough or disruptive technology.” The report found no evidence of any kind of alien life.