Kiwis spot 30 UFOs in 20 years
Unexplained lights over Hamilton, flying objects near Seddon and bright orbs close to Dunedin are some of the UFO descriptions collected by the Civil Aviation Authority over the past two decades.
The figures, released under the Official Information Act, show that across New Zealand the public have contacted the agency and recorded seeing a range of unexplained objects.
The data, which spans from 2000 to 2017, records 30 sightings of UFOs reported to the CAA.
While the sightings were recorded, only those where there was a risk to safety were investigated, according to the agency. Some of the sightings include reports of a silent object flying through the skies near Cambridge in 2012 and a white circular object near Titirangi, Auckland, in 2014.
Aliens and spaceships are usually confined to the world of conspiracy theories but former Pentagon analyst Dr Paul Buchanan said it wasn’t silly for governments to record UFO data. It was less about making contact with intelligent life, and more about states protecting and monitoring the space above them. ‘‘The race for space is full on. The hard fact of the matter is space will be militarised within the next 20 years.
‘‘No treaties are going to stop that. That is why [US President Donald] Trump has thought up the Space Force idea.
The New Zealand Defence Force told Stuff it does not investigate sightings of UFOs, and all potential sightings reported to NZDF were handed to New Zealand Police or the CAA to investigate. However, in the briefing to incoming minister Ron Mark, the NZDF stated there were increasing threats to New Zealand from space due to geopolitical reasons.
‘‘New Zealand is becoming increasingly reliant on access to space-based systems and infrastructure such as satellites. At the same time, threats to these systems have been increasing.’’
Due to its agreement with the Five Eyes alliance, New Zealand relied heavily on the other partners when it came to satellite technology, Buchanan said.
‘‘We can rely on the spacebased assets of our partners, by and large, for all strategic intelligence we get in New Zealand ... For the moment, we don’t need a space fleet.’’
And, while the New Zealand Government didn’t spend resources looking into reported UFO sightings, other countries were, Buchanan said.
The Pentagon confirmed last year that there was a US$22 million (NZ $31.4m) government programme to collect and analyse ‘‘anomalous aerospace threats’’ between 2007 and 2012.
The agency, called Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program, was classified and predominantly created to research the possibility of extraterrestrial life.
More recently, Trump announced his hope for a Space Force which would, in part, focus on space warfare.
However, those worried that aliens will soon take over the town square in Havelock North or run amok in Dargarville don’t need to, Buchanan said.
‘‘I think looking for UFOs and alien forms of life is extremely low on the priorities scale of the Five Eyes militaries.’’