UFO sightings from pilots on the rise, pushing US Navy to investigate
A
recent uptick in sightings of unidentified flying objects prompted the
US Navy to draft formal procedures for pilots to document encounters,
something former officials say is long overdue.
"Since 2014, these intrusions have been happening on a regular basis,"
Joseph Gradisher, spokesman for the deputy chief of naval operations for
information warfare, told The Washington Post.
Recently, unidentified aircraft entered military-designated airspace multiple times per month.
"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." Citing safety and
security concerns, Gradisher vowed to "investigate each and every
report".
Chris Mellon, a former deputy assistant secretary of defence for
intelligence and a staffer on the Senate Intelligence Committee, was
less laudatory.
"I don't believe in safety through ignorance," he said, scolding the
intelligence community for its lack of "curiosity and courage" and
"failure to react" to a strong pattern of sightings.
Aside from drones, all engines rely on burning fuel to generate power,
but these vehicles all had no air intake, no wind and no exhaust.
"It's very mysterious, and they still seem to exceed our aircraft in speed," he said, calling it a "truly radical technology".
According to Mellon, awestruck and baffled pilots, concerned that
reporting unidentified flying aircraft would adversely affect their
careers, tended not to speak up. And when they did, he said there was
little interest in investigating their reports.
supplied
A close encounter between an F/A-18F Super Hornet and a UFO in 2004.
"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," said Mellon,
who now works with UFODATA, a private organisation.
Because agencies don't share this type of information, it's difficult
to know the full extent of activity. Still, he estimated that dozens of
incidents were witnessed by naval officers in a single year, enough to
force the service to address the issue.
"Pilots are upset, and they're trying to help wake up a slumbering system," he told The Post.
Lawmakers' growing curiosity and concern also appeared to coax action out of the Navy.
The
1997 "Roswell Report" was meant to close the book on rumours the Air
Force recovered a flying saucer and extraterrestrial bodies near
Roswell.
As The Post's
Joby Warrick reported, the investigation ranged from "advanced aircraft
fielded by traditional US adversaries to commercial drones to possible
alien encounters".
According to former Pentagon officials and documents previously seen by The Post, programme funding, which totalled at least US$22 million (NZ$33 million), was suspended in 2012.
Gradisher, the Navy spokesman, said that "in response to requests for
information from congressional members and staff, officials have
provided a series of briefings by senior Naval Intelligence officials as
well as aviators who reported hazards to aviation safety".
Elizondo, who also ran AATIP, said the newly drafted guidelines were a
culmination of many things. Most notably: that the Navy had enough
credible evidence - including eyewitness accounts and corroborating
radar information - to "know this is occurring.
"If I came to you and said, 'There are these things that can fly over
our country with impunity, defying the laws of physics, and within
moments could deploy a nuclear device at will' - that would be a matter
of national security."
With the number of US military people in the Air Force and Navy who
described the same observations, the noise level could not be ignored.
"This type of activity is very alarming," Elizondo said, "and people
are recognising there are things in our aerospace that lie beyond our
understanding."
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