UFOs Seen by US Military Are Garbage in the Sky or Foreign Spy

US government officials believe surveillance operations by foreign powers and weather balloons or other aerial debris explain the latest incidents of unidentified aerial phenomena — the Pentagon’s official term for UFOs, or unidentified flying objects — as well as many episodes in recent years.

The observations have intrigued the Pentagon and intelligence agencies for years, fueling theories about alien visits and spying by a hostile country using advanced technology. But government officials say many incidents have far more mundane explanations.

Intelligence agencies are expected to deliver a confidential document to Congress on Monday, updating a report released last year that said nearly all incidents remain unexplained. The original document analyzed 144 incidents between 2004 and 2021 that were reported by US government sources, mostly military.

This article is based on interviews with US officials briefed on the Pentagon’s findings and on intelligence agencies’ analysis of the incidents. Employees spoke on the condition of anonymity as the work was classified.

Some incidents were formally attributed to Chinese surveillance — with drone technology relatively commonplace — and others were also linked to Beijing. China, which stole plans for advanced fighter jets, wants to know more about how the United States trains its military pilots, according to US officials.

Much information about unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) remains classified. While Congress has been briefed on some of the findings on foreign surveillance, Pentagon officials have kept most of the work under wraps — mostly because they don’t want China or other countries to know that their efforts to spy on the US military have been detected.

But this official secrecy comes at a cost, allowing conspiracy theories about government lies to run wild.

Sue Gough, a spokeswoman for the Department of Defense, said the Pentagon remains committed to the principles of transparency but must balance them with its “obligation to protect confidential information, sources and methods.”

While the Pentagon “does not rush to conclusions in our analysis,” Gough said, no single explanation addresses most reports of UAPs.

“We are collecting as much data as we can, following the data where it leads, and we will share our findings as often as possible,” she said.

It was unclear how much of the new intelligence report would be released. But of the cases that were resolved, most proved to be stray debris in the sky, such as balloons, or surveillance activity, officials said. Incidents recorded last year, from which more data was collected, turned out to have common and banal explanations.

Officially, many older incidents remain unexplained, and there is little data for the Pentagon or intelligence officials to draw final conclusions from.

“In many cases, observed phenomena are classified as ‘unidentified’ simply because the sensors have not collected enough information to make a positive attribution,” said Gough, referring to cameras, radars and other devices that capture information. “We are working to mitigate these deficits in the future and ensure we have enough data for our analysis.”

Other officials insist that while the evidence is imperfect, the grainy videos do not show space aliens.

Optical illusions, along with the characteristics of stealth sensors, made common objects such as drones or balloons look unusual or frightening.

In May, the Pentagon announced that previously released images of green triangles that looked like alien spacecraft were actually drones photographed with night vision lenses.

Military officials declined to say exactly when or where the images were taken. But they believe the incidents are examples of attempted surveillance of military maneuvers.

UFO skeptics and opticians have long said that many of the videos and sightings of naval aviators represent optical illusions that have made ordinary objects — weather balloons, commercial drones — appear to move faster than possible.

The military has largely come to the same conclusion.

Aside from the footage of the green triangles, the other footage released by the Pentagon has not been classified as surveillance incidents, at least so far. But Pentagon officials also don’t believe any of them represent aliens.

One of the videos, known as GoFast, appears to show an object moving at great speed. But an analysis by the military says it’s an illusion created by the angle of observation, against the water. According to Pentagon calculations, the object is moving at only about 50 kilometers per hour.

Another video, known as the Gimbal, shows an object that appears to be rotating. Military officials now believe it is the optics of the covert image sensor, designed to help direct weapons, that make the object appear to be moving strangely.

Military analysts remain intrigued by the third video, known as Flir1. The object captured in the 2004 video appears to hover over the water, bounce around erratically and then flake off. Military personnel say the event is more difficult to explain, but officials who have studied it are convinced it is not a piece of alien technology.

However, attempts by the Pentagon or intelligence authorities to stamp out alien theories have largely failed. The Pentagon formed and later reformed groups within the department to improve incident data collection and provide better explanations.

Military personnel have repeatedly said there is no evidence that any of the images show alien visitors, comments often downplayed in the media or ignored by lawmakers. In May, Pentagon officials testified under oath that the government had not collected materials from any aliens that landed on Earth. But the testimony did little to dampen enthusiasm for theories about extraterrestrial visitors.

There is a long history of the US government using speculation about conspiracy theories to prevent secrets from becoming widely known. During the development of American spy planes like the U-2 and SR-71 Blackbird, the government allowed rumors about UFO sightings to help hide the development of these programs.

But intelligence officials long ago concluded that using conspiracy theories as a cover for secret programs sows public distrust of the US government and paranoia.