The Pentagon gave an update on its work in tracking UAP (formerly known as UFO) sightings this week, revealing that a recently established office focused on investigating such phenomena is currently examining an estimated 650 different cases.
Speaking at the Senate Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities on Wednesday, Dr. Sean M. Kirkpatrick—who heads the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO)—said that roughly half of those cases have been determined to be “especially interesting and anomalous.” A key shortcoming in fully resolving cases, Kirkpatrick noted, was a lack of data.
“I will not close a case that we cannot defend the conclusions of,” Kirkpatrick told senators, adding that the AARO has thus far found “no credible evidence” of extraterrestrial explanations for these sightings.
This week’s update also saw Kirkpatrick sharing footage, including of an unidentified object in South Asia said to likely be “a commercial aircraft.” Footage captured in the Middle East, meanwhile, focuses on an object that “remains unidentified.” The latter incident shows a sphere-like object zipping through the sky as it’s filmed by a drone.
The AARO was established in July of last year amid heightened national attention on the larger UAP issue. Its stated mission, per a press release announcing its launch, is to “synchronize efforts” across a variety of federal agencies whose work intersects with researching and addressing UAP cases.
Despite the office’s predictably government-minded comments on the extraterrestrial possibilities of such sightings, Politico’s Connor O’Brien points out that Kirkpatrick co-authored a draft paper in March in which he wrote that some objects could be “probes” originating from a “parent craft.”
Here’s more, straight from a copy of the paper:
“Once an Earth-like planet is targeted, an interstellar device can plunge into its atmosphere. In principle, a multitude of tiny devices can be released from a mothership that passes near Earth.”
Key to the current, increasingly destigmatized chapter of UAP developments is the team behind To the Stars, a company co-founded by Tom DeLonge in 2017. As Coachella 2023 attendees and at-home viewers will note, the company’s logo was front and center during blink-182’s set at the festival last weekend.
