A new report from the Pentagon on UFOs this week revealed hundreds of new incidents have been reported involving unidentified aerial phenomena.
The review documents hundreds of instances where balloons, birds and satellites were mistakenly identified, along with a few cases that remain puzzling—such as a close encounter between a commercial airliner and an unidentified object off the New York coast.
The Government’s UFO Report
Though unlikely to resolve debates over alien life, the report underscores growing public interest in the subject and reflects the government’s efforts to offer some clarity. Its release follows a congressional hearing in which House lawmakers urged greater transparency on unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs), the government’s term for UFOs.
Federal efforts to investigate UAPs have prioritized potential risks to national security and air safety rather than delving into theories. Officials at the Pentagon’s All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), established in 2022 to track UAPs, have stated there is no evidence suggesting that any cases they examined have extraterrestrial origins.
What the Report Says About Extraterrestrials
“It is important to underscore that, to date, AARO has discovered no evidence of extraterrestrial beings, activity, or technology,” the authors of the report said.
AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File/AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File
The Pentagon’s review examined 757 UAP cases reported globally to U.S. authorities between May 1, 2023, and June 1, 2024. This figure includes 272 incidents that took place before this period but had gone unreported until now.
Most reported incidents took place in airspace, but 49 were recorded at altitudes of at least 100 kilometers (62 miles)—officially classified as space. No incidents were reported underwater. Witnesses included commercial and military pilots, along with ground-based observers.
Investigators identified explanations for nearly 300 incidents, often attributing the unidentified objects to balloons, birds, aircraft, drones or satellites. The report noted that Elon Musk‘s Starlink satellite system has become a frequent source of confusion, as people often mistake its satellite chains for UFOs.
Hundreds of cases remain unexplained, though the report’s authors emphasized that this is often due to insufficient information to reach definitive conclusions.
None of the incidents resulted in injuries or crashes, though a commercial flight crew did report a close call with a “cylindrical object” while flying over the Atlantic near the New York coast. That encounter is still under investigation.
In three separate cases, military air crews reported being followed by unidentified aircraft. However, investigators found no evidence linking these incidents to any foreign power.
What Officials Are Saying
At Wednesday’s hearing on UAPs, lawmakers heard from several expert witnesses, including two former military officers who have studied the phenomena. The discussion ranged from speculative questions about alien intelligence and potential military research involving alien technology to concerns that foreign powers may be deploying secret aircraft to surveil U.S. military sites.
Republican Representative Andy Ogles of Tennessee said, “There is something out there.”
“The question is: Is it ours, is it someone else’s, or is it otherworldly?” he added.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.
