[Reading Science] US Department of Defense Unable to Identify UFO Identity

Annual UAP Investigation Report Released on the 12th
"Half Are Witnesses' 'Misidentifications', Half Are Unidentified Due to Data Shortage"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] The U.S. Department of Defense has finally released official research results on unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), which have long sparked curiosity.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), under the U.S. Department of Defense, announced the "2022 Annual Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) Report" on the 12th (local time). This report is the result of an analysis of 510 UAP cases reported so far, conducted by experts mobilized by the dedicated office AARO (All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office), established under last year's National Defense Authorization Act. This office includes experts from related agencies such as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Department of Energy (DoE), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), as well as military and intelligence agencies. The 510 UAP cases were mainly those officially reported through channels in the U.S. Navy and Air Force.

In conclusion, the report is a "dud." While it judged that "UAPs continuously pose a threat to flight safety and are potential risk factors," it deferred conclusions about their "identity" due to insufficient data. The report stated, "There is a lack of detailed data to identify UAPs with high confidence."

Specifically, ODNI revealed that after analyzing 366 UAP cases collected since the establishment of the dedicated office AARO, 26 cases were mistaken for unmanned aerial systems (UAS) or drones, and 163 cases were confirmed to be types of balloons. Six cases were identified as birds or plastic shopping bags floating in the air. However, for the remaining 171 UAP sightings, the report stated that "they could not be identified" and their identity remains unknown. The report explained, "Some of the uncharacterized UAPs exhibit unusual flight characteristics or performance capabilities, requiring further analysis."

The space-specialized media Space.com reported, "This report does not provide earth-shaking conclusions about the origin of UAPs," adding, "It partly emphasizes enhanced airspace safety triggered by the recent proliferation of drones and suggests that some UAPs could be intelligence-gathering tools used by adversarial nations against the United States."

The actual report explained, "UAPs consistently occur near restricted areas due to concerns about intelligence activities by adversarial nations or flight safety," and added, "Since these are areas with many aircraft operations and sensor deployments, evaluations are being made considering the goal of UAP observation simultaneously." It also pointed out that UAP observations might have been influenced by weather conditions such as lightning or atmospheric phenomena, or caused by equipment errors, sensor malfunctions, or operator mistakes.