Since March 2021, there have been a total of 171 UFO sightings out of the 350 reported to the US government that cannot be explained, according to a report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
Now more commonly known as unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAP), nearly half of the sightings have been identified as ‘balloon or balloon-entities’, says the report released on January 12. Others are said to have been birds, drones or even plastic bags, reports the Daily Star.
But it is the 171 unidentified cases that have proven to be most intriguing, with the report saying: “Some of these uncharacterised UAP appear to have demonstrated unusual flight characteristics or performance capabilities and require further analysis. (They) pose a safety of flight and collision hazard to air assets.
“UAP events continue to occur in restricted or sensitive airspace, highlighting possible concerns for safety of flight or adversary collection activity. We continue to assess that this may result from a collection bias due to the number of active aircraft and sensors, combined with focused attention and guidance to report anomalies.”
There have been no reports of collisions between US aircraft and UAPs to date, while there has been an increase in the number of UAPs sighted by the public and thus reported. The report said the change could be due to people having “a better understanding of the possible threats that UAP may represent, either as safety of flight hazards or as potential adversary collection platforms”.
The report also didn’t rule out the possibility that the sightings could have been old adversaries of the US such as China and Russia. The Pentagon and the intelligence community “will continue to investigate any evidence of possible foreign government involvement in UAP events,” the report said.
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