Some UFO reports from military witnesses present potential flight concerns, government UAP report says

More than 270 reports of unidentified anomalous phenomena, known as UAPs or UFOs, were made to the U.S. government in a recent eight-month period, the Department of Defense said in a Tuesday report to Congress. 

There was no evidence that any of the UAPs reported between Aug. 30 of last year and April 30 this year came from outer space, according to the unclassified report. While none of the UAP reports have been confirmed as being foreign in origin, the possibility is being investigated.

Officials said many of the reports by military witnesses “present potential safety of flight concerns, and there are some cases where reported UAP have potentially exhibited one more concerning performance characteristics such as high-speed travel or unusual maneuverability.”

“While the mere presence of UAP in the airspace represents a potential hazard to flight safety, none of these reports suggest the UAP maneuvered to an unsafe proximity to civil or military aircraft, positioned themselves in flight paths, or otherwise posed a direct threat to the flight safety of the observing aircraft,” according to the report. 

Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said Wednesday, “The safety of our service personnel, our bases and installations, and the protection of U.S. operations security on land, in the skies, seas, and space are paramount. We take reports of incursions into our designated space, land, sea, or airspaces seriously and examine each one.”

Over the eight-month period, there were 274 new reports made to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, which leads the country’s efforts documenting and analyzing reports of UFOs. Many of the reports it receives are made by members of the military, according to the report. 

The agency also began looking into 17 sightings that happened between 2019 and 2022 that hadn’t been included in earlier reports. As of April 30, the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office had received 801 UAP reports.

According to the report, most of the UFOs will likely be explained by “ordinary phenomena.” Officials believe many of the reports are a result of equipment error, misidentification, or misperception.

Most of the reports came from restricted military airspace, though there has been some reporting by commercial pilots, officials wrote in the report. 

Tuesday’s report was part of an annual delivery to Congress. In July, there was a congressional hearing on UFOs. Separately, NASA in 2022 convened a group of experts to review how data about UAPs is collected. The group in September said it found no evidence that UAPs are “extraterrestrial.”