Since 2014, there has been a significant increase in the number of unidentified flying objects (UFO’s), or unexplained aerial phenomena, as the military calls them, flying around and often entering military-designated airspace. These incidences have been becoming more regular with some reports saying as often as multiple times per month. The descriptions of these objects vary for small spherical objects to oblong tic-tac shaped crafts.
Up until now, these sightings have just been ignored but concerns and anger from pilots and other military personnel have prompted the Navy to take action.
New Procedures
Joseph Gradisher, spokesman for office of the deputy chief of naval operations for information warfare, has said that due to safety and security concerns, each and every UFO sighting will now be individually investigated. Furthermore, the Navy has drafted formal procedures for pilots which allow them to document any encounter – a corrective measure which many say is long overdue.
Citing safety and security concerns, Gradisher vowed to “investigate each and every report. We want to get to the bottom of this. We need to determine who’s doing it, where it’s coming from and what their intent is. We need to try to find ways to prevent it from happening again.”
Chris Mellon, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for intelligence and staffer on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said “It’s very mysterious, and they still seem to exceed our aircraft in speed, truly radical technology. Imagine you see highly advanced vehicles, they appear on radar systems, they look bizarre, no one knows where they’re from. This happens on a recurring basis, and no one does anything.”
These new procedures will hopefully allow investigators to get a better understanding of what these objects are, where they’re coming from and who or what is allowing them to drift into military airspace. This should appease the angry pilots who say their concerns are being ignored and many say the Navy has been irresponsible by not investigating the encounters.
What are these strange objects?
As the name suggests, these flying objects are still unidentified. Although there aren’t any official reports, there is a lot of speculation. Excluding drones, every kind of aircraft requires some sort of fuel to go up in the air and propel itself forwards and backwards. However, all the vehicles sighted had no air intake, no wind and even no exhaust. So aren’t they just drones? It’s not that simple. Drones still need some kind of propelling system which is what contributed to their well renowned “odd shape”. All of the sighting were well-rounded shapes with no obvious signs of engines or any propellant, which makes it all the more weird.
Is this the work of extraterrestrials?
To many, aliens are the work of science-fiction. However, there may be some truth there as well. The United States Government definitely thought so when they launched the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) in 2007. It was designed to collect and analyse any anomalous aerospace threats and had received funding in excess of $20 million. The program has since been shut down in 2012. At least that’s what we’ve been told.
Despite so much evidence suggesting that there may be something far beyond our understanding out there, the pilots who witness a UFO are often too afraid to report it. The awestruck and baffled pilots were concerned that reporting unidentified flying aircraft would adversely affect their careers and so they tended not to speak up. Therefore, there may be even more occurrences than previously thought. The sheer number of reported sightings as well as corroborating radar data was just too much for the Navy not to do anything about.
Strange flying objects that move incredibly quickly with dozens of sightings every year but still no one knows what they are or where they come from? Something definitely smells a bit fishy here. It’s impossible to rule out the idea of aliens in this scenario. Almost all the other possible explanations have been thought of and simply don’t match to the descriptions. Hopefully the Navy will investigate the sightings thoroughly and potentially come to a conclusion. Aliens might have been around here for many years but we’re only now realising it. What if they walk among us? Anything is possible…
