Pentagon officials say they only detected three of the objects after adjusting strategic radar systems originally trained toward large items like ballistic missiles and bombers to take note of smaller, slower objects.
That might not supply answers on sketchy UFO claims from past years, but could lead to better and quicker explanations for any strange anomalies in the future, scotching tall tales of flying saucers.
For years, reports of unidentified flying objects were filed away with little investigation, except by a corps of alien-believing, conspiracy-theory toting "UFOlogists".
But after a slew of inexplicable sightings from US Navy and Air Force pilots, several years ago the Pentagon decided to pay closer attention.
The central worry was that the sightings could be of unknown aerial surveillance technology China was using to collect intelligence on US defenses.
In 2020, the Pentagon set up its Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) Task Force, using its own acronym for UFOs, to dig deeper into hundreds of cases with the support of the CIA and other agencies.
Some were easily written off as weather balloons or solar reflections.
But others were daunting, such as a Navy pilot's video from 2014 of an oblong aerial object that appeared to move faster and with more maneuverability than the jet the pilot was flying.
"What is true ... is that there's footage and records of objects in the skies that we don't know exactly what they are," former president Barack Obama said in 2021.
- Hundreds of reports -
Yet the first unclassified report, released by the director of national intelligence to Congress in June 2021, failed to dampen speculation about extra-terrestrials.
The task force could confidently explain away only one of 144 UAP sightings by US government personnel and sources between 2004 and 2021.
Meanwhile, 18 were objects that appeared to display unusual movements or flight characteristics, like holding stationary in high winds at high altitude, and moving with extreme speed with no discernable means of propulsion, the report said.
"We currently lack sufficient information in our dataset to attribute incidents to specific explanations," it said.
In January this year, the director of national intelligence issued a new report on the UAP investigations that resolved some questions but added more.
It increased the number of incidents being examined to 510.
Of those, nearly 200 had "unremarkable" explanations: balloons, drones or so-called aerial clutter, which covers birds, weather events and airborne plastic bags.
Many others could stem from weather phenomena, faulty sensors, or erroneous analysis by humans, but lacked enough detailed data for a clear attribution, the report said.
On the other hand, it said, "Some of these uncharacterized UAP appear to have demonstrated unusual flight characteristics or performance capabilities, and require further analysis."
- Balloon surprise -
Just weeks later the issue came to the forefront when the air force tracked a previously unseen Chinese surveillance balloon entering US airspace from the northwest.
It appeared to have self-steering technology and it tracked directly over sensitive sites including US nuclear missile silos and strategic bomber bases.
After it was shot down off the east coast, officials went back through electronic data from previous years.
They realized there have been at least four other instances when Chinese surveillance balloons entered US airspace since 2017 -- some possibly classified as UAPs.
One week later, three more objects, none resembling the Chinese balloon, were also detected in US airspace.
Not immediately identifiable, they too were shot down.
Pentagon officials said it was likely not a surge of alien objects but instead that adjusted radar systems were now registering smaller and slower objects.
"We have improved our ability to detect and ... that could be one reason why we're seeing more," said White House National Security spokesman John Kirby Monday.
Asked whether they could be UFOs from outer space, Kirby said: "I don't think the American people need to worry about aliens with respect to these craft, period."
Flying object mystery deepens in US as China accuses Washington
Washington (AFP) Feb 13, 2023 -
Questions about three unidentified flying objects downed by US Air Force jets over North America in three days intensified Monday, while Beijing and Washington traded accusations over using high-tech balloons to spy on each other.
Puzzlement, fear and in some political quarters growing anger reigned as demands mounted for President Joe Biden's administration to explain not just the origin of the objects but their purpose, potential threat, and number.
It's not clear whether the three latest unidentified flying objects -- shot down Friday over Alaska, Saturday over Canada, Sunday over Michigan's Lake Huron -- have any connection to a much bigger white balloon that was shot down over the Atlantic on February 4.
The US military, which tracked that balloon as it crossed much of the country, says it was a sophisticated, high-altitude Chinese spying device -- one of a fleet of such craft allegedly floating around the globe. Recovery teams are scouring the seabed to pull up the debris for analysis.
China insists that the balloon, which was big enough to be visible to ordinary Americans from the ground, was merely blown off course while collecting weather data. Chinese authorities also admitted that a balloon spotted over Latin America was one of theirs -- in this case a civilian device for flight tests.
On Monday, Beijing sought to turn the tables by accusing Washington of deploying more than 10 balloons into Chinese airspace over the last year.
"It's not uncommon as well for the United States to illegally enter the airspace of other countries," foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said during a briefing. The alleged flights were made "without any approval from Chinese authorities."
At the White House, National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson quickly called China's allegations "false" and said that China's high-altitude spying program has violated airspace of "40 countries across five continents."
The State Department said China was "scrambling to do damage control" and that the communist government "has failed to offer any credible explanations for its intrusion into our airspace."
Over the weekend, Chinese state-affiliated media reported that an unidentified flying object had been spotted off the country's east coast and that the military was preparing to shoot it down.
Beijing on Monday declined to comment on that report, referring journalists to the defense ministry, which did not respond to requests for comment from AFP.
- Questions and few answers -
In Washington, the extraordinary events are fueling already intense suspicion about China across both the Democratic and Republican parties -- a trend likely to grow as the 2024 presidential election approaches.
The diplomatic fallout has already been substantial, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken abruptly canceling a rare visit to Beijing.
Republican lawmakers Monday piled pressure on the White House to give answers about the scope and nature of the threat.
"How many more unidentified objects in US airspace before the Biden Administration gives us some -- ANY -- answers?" tweeted Republican Representative Mark Green.
Officials have issued little information about the three latest objects, other than to say they were much smaller than the confirmed Chinese balloon destroyed February 4. That was about the size of three buses, while the new targets were more car-sized.
"We're going to do everything we can to recover them," White House spokesman John Kirby told MSNBC on Monday. "As soon as we do that, we'll learn more."
The unidentified flying object shot down Sunday over Michigan was described by officials as an octagonal structure with strings hanging off it. However there was no information about how it was guided or propelled.
Canada's defense minister, Anita Anand, told CNN the object shot down over Canada by a US plane appeared to be "cylindrical" but said no more information would be given until "we gather the debris."
Amid often wild speculation, the US Northern Command's General Glen VanHerck was asked if the government could be sure these were not extraterrestrial craft and he replied: "I haven't ruled out anything at this point."
Why such a sudden spate of sightings is another unanswered question.
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Hemispheric Affairs Melissa Dalton said Sunday that this may be because the Pentagon has been "enhancing" its radars -- meaning smaller objects are now visible.
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