Pentagon: UFOs are probably spy planes or spacecraft tests

UFO sightings in the 1960s were probably top-secret flight tests of advanced American spy planes and spacecraft, a Pentagon report has found.

The highly anticipated document, which was submitted to Congress on Friday, found no evidence that the US government had covered up the existence of aliens.

Most sightings of UFOs, described in the report as “unidentified anomalous phenomena” (UAPs), were actually ordinary objects, the report said.

“However, we assess that some portion of these misidentifications almost certainly were a result of the surge in new technologies that observers would have understandably reported as UFOs,” it said.

The landmark release is the Pentagon’s most definitive response to date to decades-old questions and conspiracy theories that it has information on extraterrestrial life or technology.

“All investigative efforts, at all levels of classification, concluded that most sightings were ordinary objects and phenomena and the result of misidentification,” Maj Gen Pat Ryder said.

He added that the Pentagon had approached the report with an open mind.

The Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly

Resolution Office (AARO) concluded that those sightings it was not able to solve could have been identified if better data were available.

Around two in five Americans believe in aliens, according to a 2023 Ipsos poll, while one in 10 claims to have seen one.

A Gallup poll in 2019 found that 68 per cent of Americans believe the US government knows “more about UFOs than it is telling us”.

The AARO concluded that the report

‘Some misidentifications almost certainly were a result of the surge in new technologies’

is unlikely to dispel the widespread belief that the US government is hiding the truth about the existence of aliens.

“The proliferation of television programmes, books, movies, and the vast amount of internet and social media content centred on UAP-related topics most likely has influenced the public conversation on this topic, and reinforced these beliefs within some sections of the population,” the report said.

“Aside from hoaxes and forgeries, misinformation and disinformation is more prevalent and easier to disseminate now than ever before, especially with today’s advanced photo, video, and computer-generated imagery tools.”

To produce the report, the AARO studied classified and unclassified files and reviewed all official government investigations into UFOs dating back to the end of the Second World War.

Researchers identified a “spike” in UFO sightings between 1952 and 1957, then again in 1960.

These spikes, the report concluded, “most likely are attributed to observers unknowingly having witnessed new technological advancements and testing and reporting them as UFOs”.

The report also includes a list of declassified aerospace programmes that it said “probably were associated with erroneous UAP reporting”.

Among them were several experimental aircraft including the U-2 spy plane and its successor, the SR-71 Blackbird, as well as the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo space programmes. It also mentioned later programmes for stealth aircraft, and drones.

Investigators also tested a sample from an alleged extraterrestrial crash and found it to be “a manufactured, terrestrial alloy” of magnesium, zinc and bismuth that “does not represent offworld technology or possess any exceptional qualities”.