A US intelligence report remained inconclusive about the nature of mysterious flying objects observed by military pilots.
The report did not find sufficient evidence to link the sightings to extraterrestrial life or a major technological advancement by a country like Russia or China but did not rule out these explanations.
The report, released on June 25, examined 144 sightings of "unidentified aerial phenomenon" (UAP).
Except in one instance, there was too little information about the flying objects to form conclusions.
"We were able to identify one reported UAP with high confidence. In that case, we identified the object as a large, deflating balloon. The others remain unexplained," the report said, as quoted by CNN.
There were 18 cases in which witnesses saw "unusual" patterns of movement or flight characteristics, Associated Press reported.
The report specified five potential categories, including the possibility of foreign adversaries flying unknown technology and events occurring naturally in the atmosphere.
More analysis was needed to determine if those sightings represented "breakthrough" technology.
"It's clear that we need to improve our capacity to further analyze remaining UAP observations, even as we accept that there are some limits to our capacity to characterize and understand some of the observations that we have," one official said, as quoted by AP.
The report was published online and delivered to the House and Senate intelligence committees with a classified annexe. Lawmakers were given a briefing last week on the investigation.
(With inputs from AP)
