UFO sightings rise to over 500, finds new Pentagon report

Unidentified flying objects, or unidentified aerial phenomena as the government calls them, have been taken more seriously by U.S. officials in recent years, starting in 2007 with a small, secretly funded program that investigated reports of military encounters. (Image: Reuters)

American officials have received 510 reports of "Unidentified Flying Objects" (UFOs) so far, a recent Pentagon document has revealed. Several sightings were due to drones and balloons but hundreds of others are unexplained.

The 2022 Annual Report on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP), released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), revealed 247 new UAP reports since June 2021. That year, ODNI had said it was investigating 144 suspicious sightings.

The information cut-off date for the 2021 report was March 5. So the 119 reports on events that took place before it were not included in the assessment .

This effectively means officials now have 366 new reports on their hands.

Out of these sightings, six were attributed to clutter, 26 were classified as Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) and UAS-like entities and 163 were labelled balloon or balloon-like entities.

The remaining 171 UAP reports are uncharacterised and unattributed.

"Some of these uncharacterized UAP appear to have demonstrated unusual flight characteristics or performance capabilities, and require further  analysis," the report said.

According to the Pentagon, the majority of new new UAP reporting is from the US Air Force and Navy.

Unidentified Aerial Phenomena continues to  pose risk to flight safety and present a possible adversary collection threat, ODNI said.

For years, politicians, the intelligence community and the US military have been highlighting the need to investigate reported sightings of Unidentified Flying Objects.

In 2021, the Pentagon eventually established the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, that focuses attention on studying unidentified aerial phenomena. Many such incidents have been reported to it by military pilots.

There is concern among the military community that some of the unidentified aerial phenomena may be technologies employees by rivals of the US.

(With inputs from AFP)