A leading UFO expert said that the recent incident in North America where four 'objects' were shot down was a 'catastrophic failure of intelligence'.
Nick Pope ran the British Government's UFO project and is one of the world's leading experts on potential alien activity and recently he shared his take on the breaking news event with the Daily Star.
Four 'UFOs' were shot down by the US, and it later emerged that the Pentagon had announced they were investigating 171 unexplained UFO sightings.
Senior military leaders said the government's efforts to document the mysterious objects led to hundreds of incidents being looked into.
And now Nick has shared his take, saying that "alien hunters shouldn't be disappointed", describing the modern day as "exciting times" for believers of alien life.
What do you think about the UFO sightings? Let us know in the comments...
Nick said: "These are exciting times, for sure, and Chinese spy balloon hysteria has now been replaced by UFO hysteria."
Multiple unidentified objects have been spotted over North America in the last 10 days, sighted over Alaska, Michigan and Canada.
US President Joe Biden ordered an F-16 fighter jet to destroy the octagon-shaped object with a missile strike at an altitude of 20,000ft, following previous instances involving a so-called Chinese spy balloon.
Pope added: "If these are the ones spotted and shot down, how many more have we missed?
"Whatever we're dealing with, it's a catastrophic failure of intelligence."
A giant airship "the size of three buses" was also spotted earlier this month which is understood to have originated in China.
But in the latest sighting, US Air Force General Glen VanHerck said that intelligence services were exploring "all possibilities" when it came to the origin of the "octagonal" craft.
The Pentagon is refusing to rule out the possibility that three unidentified flying objects shot down in as many days over North America are alien in origin.
Pope added: "Much of that stems from the press conference when General VanHerck responded to a question about the extraterrestrial hypothesis by saying, 'I haven't ruled out anything at this point'."
When probed about the involvement of "aliens or extraterrestrials", VanHerck replied: "I'll let the intel community and the counterintelligence community figure that out. I haven't ruled out anything.
"We're calling them objects, not balloons, for a reason."
However, Pope said that anonymous national security officials have allegedly wanted it to be known that nobody thinks these mystery objects are alien.
"Everyone can have a bit of a laugh at the [UFO] story" Pope said, adding that it also takes the sting out of "a huge scandal if China, and maybe others, have been intercepting highly classified military communications."
But there's hope yet for those hoping to spot extraterrestrial lifeforms.
He added: "As much as I'd love this to be ET, I think we'll find the other objects that have been shot down are also balloons, or surveillance devices of some kind.
"Alien hunters shouldn't be disappointed though: just because some UFOs turn out to be balloons and drones, it doesn't mean that's the explanation for everything strange that's being seen in our skies.
"And the good thing about recent developments is that the US is now looking closer than they've ever looked before - so who knows what else they'll find?"
Do you have a story to sell? Get in touch with us at yourmirror@mirror.co.uk
