An unresolved case of a UAP flying past a Navy fighter jetUS Navy/Public Domain
It's not just the Mulders of the world watching the skies anymore - the Scullys are getting involved. The US Department of Defense (DoD) has released its latest report on UFOs, with some intriguing stats and stories.
As part of a recent effort to take strange sightings more seriously, the US government set up the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) to provide a way for people to report incidents so they could be officially cataloged and investigated.
To avoid half a century's worth of baggage, the government avoided the term "UFO," rebranding sightings as Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP). The A in the new name originally stood for "Aerial," but was made more general to also cover weird things seen in space or oceans.
The latest Consolidated Annual Report on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena has some fascinating insights. This report covers the time period of May 1, 2023 to June 1, 2024, with 757 new incidents reported this year. That brings the total number of incidents reported to AARO since it began to 1,652. Of the new reports, 708 occurred in the air and 49 were seen in space, while there were no new ocean-based incidents.
The most common form that UAP take is lights in the sky, which accounts for 65% of the reports gathered this year. Orbs, spheres and otherwise round objects account for 22%. The iconic disk shape only made up 1% of reports, funnily enough.
Let's get it out of the way early - according to the report, "AARO has discovered no evidence of extraterrestrial beings, activity, or technology." Instead, 49 cases were officially closed after further investigation was able to pin them to mundane sources, with 70% being attributed to balloons. Drones, birds, satellites and aircraft accounted for the rest, with the expansion of SpaceX's Starlink constellation accounting for a growing number of cases of mistaken identity. Another 243 cases were recommended for closure, but will be peer reviewed first.
Frustratingly, the vast majority - 444 cases - lacked enough data to make a conclusion, so they've been placed in an active archive. This means they'll be reopened if new data becomes available, and they'll be checked against new cases for signs of patterns or trends that could lead to explanations.
If you've done the math, you'll notice we're left with 21 cases. And these are the really interesting ones - the sightings with "anomalous characteristics and/or behaviors" that means they merit deeper analysis. These could potentially indicate breakthrough aerospace technologies operated by foreign (human) groups, the report says. The DoD will investigate with the help of intelligence and science and technology partners.
The standout case was a report from the crew of a commercial flight that almost collided with a cylindrical object off the coast of New York. AARO is still investigating what this might have been.
This wasn't the only potential safety issue, although the others involved Identified Flying Objects. The report outlines 18 times where drones were flown over protected areas, including one that stuck around for nearly two hours. In October 2023, drones were spotted flying over a nuclear facility in Virginia for six nights in a row. In another case, a drone crashed and was recovered by law enforcement, who are still investigating where it came from.
Since a lack of data is one of the main problems, AARO is testing a new sensor system called GREMLIN. This uses a mix of 2D and 3D radar, GPS, radio, electro-optic infrared, and ADS-B flight tracking, which would help detect, track and identify UAP, and confirm or rule out obvious explanations faster. A short trial was conducted in March 2024, and a longer, 90-day test run will follow soon at a site of national security, the report says.
Hopefully that'll give us a better idea of what's going on in our skies, seas and space. It's probably not aliens, but the answer - or answers - could still be fascinating.