The image from video provided by the Department of Defense labelled Gimbal, from 2015, an … [+]
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) says it has documented over 100 new instances of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP), or what might have once been called UFOs.
The DNI quietly posted its required annual report on UAP online Thursday.
The publication is essentially an update to the first major report, which was released in 2021.
“In addition to the 144 UAP reports covered during the 17 years of UAP reporting included in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence preliminary assessment, there have been 247 new reports and another 119 that were either since discovered or reported after the preliminary assessment’s time period,” the report reads. “This totals 510 UAP reports as of 30 August 2022.”
Additional information was included in a classified version of the report that obviously was not made available to the public.
Of the 366 new sightings that weren’t analyzed for the 2021 report, over half were determined to be “unremarkable” and characterized as either drones, balloons or clutter.
That leaves 171 sightings without potential explanations.
“Some of these uncharacterized UAP appear to have demonstrated unusual flight characteristics or performance capabilities, and require further analysis,” the report reads.
Most of the new sightings originate with US Navy or Air Force personnel.
The new report notes an uptick in UAP reporting, which intelligence agencies believe is “partially due to a better understanding of the possible threats that UAP may represent, either as safety of flight hazards or as potential adversary collection platforms, and partially due to reduced stigma surrounding UAP reporting.”
It also points out that many sightings take place in “restricted or sensitive airspace” and could lead to “a collection bias due to the number of active aircraft and sensors, combined with focused attention and guidance to report anomalies.”
Translation: a number of UAP sightings may be military personnel seeing their own friendly fliers.
The initial 2021 report, which was mandated by Congress, was regarded as something of a yawner at the time it dropped. It was followed by a hearing by a Congressional committee in 2022 in which officials presented additional video evidence of UAP sightings.
The new report also notes that there have been no instances of collisions with UAP.
