For decades, the public suspected that the US Government was hiding secret intelligence about UFOs — now rebranded as "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena" (UAPs). Turns out...it kind of was. 

But as of a few years ago, things started to change. A 2019 New York Times report about seasoned US Navy pilots routinely spotting UAPs near their aircraft carriers suddenly thrust the topic back into the spotlight. And now the US government has a growing, public dataset of UAP sightings and related data reaching back decades.   

GOFAST and GIMBAL

The alarming accounts of the pilots were bolstered by a pair of shocking videos filmed from their fighter jets that seemed to show a fast-moving pill-shaped object that rapidly shifted speed and direction in a way that couldn't be explained by any known drones or aircraft. The videos were named “GOFAST” and “GIMBAL”

This was the first time the public saw UAP footage captured not by a random person with a shaky camcorder, but by advanced US military hardware corroborated by seasoned fighter pilots.

These videos caught the attention of lawmakers in Washington, prompting them to investigate whether the UAPs were terrestrial threats rather than extraterrestrial phenomena.

After these videos gained wide coverage in the media, the Department of Defense (DOD) publicly confirmed the authenticity of the videos, and officially released them to the public. In August 2020, the DOD announced the creation of the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF).

In response to public scrutiny, the government started collecting and sharing data about UAP reports collected from members of the military and civilian aviators, as well as the general public. In fact, members of the military have been commanded to report such sightings, as the previous skepticism surrounding UAPs might have dissuaded personnel from reporting them in the past.

Congressional action

Senator Marco Rubio (FL-R) (currently the Secretary of State) inserted language into a 2020 spending bill directing the UAPTF to undertake a detailed analysis of “unidentified aerial phenomena data and intelligence reporting collected or held by the Office of Naval Intelligence, including data and intelligence reporting held by the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force.” 

In June 2021, the Director of National Intelligence released the results of this analysis in an unclassified report titled “Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena” which took a look at the higher quality reports in the government’s possession. In the course of preparing the report, the UAPTF received input from 17 government agencies including the FAA, FBI, NSA and NOAA. 

The analysis examined 144 UAP reports gathered between 2004 and 2021 which originated from US government agencies. The report found that 18 of the incidents “appear to demonstrate advanced technology,” which it could not give an explanation for. 

“Some UAP appeared to remain stationary in winds aloft, move against the wind, maneuver abruptly, or move at considerable speed, without discernible means of propulsion. In a small number of cases, military aircraft systems processed radio frequency (RF) energy associated with UAP sightings,” said the report.

“Most of the UAP reported probably do represent physical objects given that a majority of UAP were registered across multiple sensors, to include radar, infrared, electro-optical, weapon seekers, and visual observation.”

Above: "Puerto Rico Object." Observed April 23, 2013 in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. Source: AARO / DOD

One of the big takeaways of this report was that the lack of a uniform process for reporting UAP activity resulted in “a limited amount of high-quality reporting,” which made it harder to assess what was happening in each report. 

The task force determined that even if they couldn’t explain the nature of these sightings, they did pose an actual threat to flight safety and even national security, especially considering the unusual amount of observations clustered near military bases. 

Prompted by these national security concerns, the DOD announced the successor to the task force, the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group (AOIMSG) in November 2021. 

Next up…NASA 

In 2022, NASA conducted an analysis of the latest UAP sightings, and issued a report in September 2023 titled “NASA Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Independent Study.”

In the foreword, the report echoed the task force's concerns about the lack of consistent, detailed data needed to study UAP sightings. “Despite numerous accounts and visuals, the absence of consistent, detailed, and curated observations means we do not presently have the body of data needed to make definitive, scientific conclusions about UAP,” said the report. 

The panel suggested that NASA is uniquely suited to help in the effort to identify the origins of UAP reports, and called for an increased use of sensors to collect aircraft data as well as satellite imagery. 

Mysterious metal

Another government organization to jump into the UAP fray was the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. AARO asked the famed Department of Energy laboratory to run a detailed analysis of a mysterious metal sample claimed to be recovered from a 1947 UAP crash. 

For decades, the metal specimen was the subject of speculation that it could be of extra-terrestrial origin, and that its bismuth and magnesium layers could act as a “tetraherz waveguide,” with anti-gravity capabilities.  

The exhaustive analysis of the silvery, half-dollar–sized clump of metal ultimately ruled out the extraterrestrial theory.

The report said “a modern and robust analysis of its chemical and structural composition and properties does not indicate that its origin is non-terrestrial, nor do the data indicate that the material examined ever had the pure single-crystalline bismuth layer that could possibly have acted as a terahertz waveguide.” 

It also concluded that the lab had a high confidence that the sample was  “manufactured terrestrially—albeit using an uncommon mixture of elements by today’s standards—and then incurred damage caused by mechanical and heat stressors. ” 

National Archives

As part of a 2024 spending bill, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) was ordered to create a “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Records Collection.” By centralizing all of the US government’s non-classified and archival records in one repository, the National Archives helps create a foundation for future research, as well as collecting older material related to UAPs that might exist in many different agencies’ records. 

Avrocar UFO Blueprint T-shirt

In 1960, the United States Air Force tested a top secret experimental aircraft shaped like a flying saucer known as the AVROCAR. From declassified public records, this schematic shows this UFO-shaped skunkworks craft that was cancelled after several test flights. Bright green ink on black, grey, purple and navy.

Premium quality unisex garment-dyed heavyweight t-shirt made of 100% ring-spun cotton.

Beautiful Public Data logo in alien green on the left sleeve.

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The collection as it stands today contains photos, videos, documents, sound recordings reaching back decades. There are many files about “Project BLUE BOOK” and the lingering fascination with Roswell, New Mexico. It’s a fascinating collection including everything from 1950s newsreels featuring reports of suspected alien spaceship wreckage, Presidential UFO records and some famous blurry “flying saucer” photos. 

There’s also some incredible 16mm footage of test flights from a previously classified US Air Force prototype flying saucer called the “AVROCAR” from 1960. You can see a prototype of this amazing vehicle at the superb Air Force Museum in Dayton, OH. 

Annual UAP Reports

As part of the US government’s new goals for transparency around UAPs, AARO continues to assess new UAP sightings, and is mandated to issue yearly reports to Congress with their findings. There have been three annual reports to date: FY 2022, FY 2023 and FY 2024.  

In the latest report covering fiscal year 2024, AARO said they received 757 reports of UAPs between May 1, 2023 and June 1, 2024. 81 of the reports came from the military, and 18 reports came from locations related to  “US nuclear infrastructure, weapons, and launch sites.”

The report also mentioned a new initiative being developed at Georgia Tech Research Institute called GREMLIN. According to the report, GREMLIN is a portable sensor system that integrates radar, electro-optical/infrared sensors, and radio-frequency monitoring tools to help address the lack of high-quality sensor-based data that can be used for tracking and identifying UAPs.

GREMLIN was being field tested in Texas last year, according to Task & Purpose, but was still trying to filter out the bats and birds it was detecting.

AARO’s website hosts a growing collection of high-quality UAP footage, as well as possible explanations and official determinations for the UAP. 

And if you are a current or former government employee, service member or government contractor and you happen to see something unexplainable in the night sky, you can submit your report via a form on their website. 

Above: "Mt. Etna Object." Observed Decmber 1, 2018 near Mt. Etna in Sicily, Italy. Source: AARO / DOD