Pentagon UFO report 'doesn't rule out aliens' - although finds no evidence
US intelligence officials have found no evidence that a series of unidentified aerial phenomena observed by navy aviators in recent years were alien spacecraft, but the sightings remain unexplained in highly anticipated Pentagon files, it was reported on Thursday.
The New York Times claims that senior White House officials have been briefed on the findings of the report, which is due to be released to Congress later this month.
According to officials the report will say that the vast majority of 120 incidents documented over the past two decades did not originate from any American military or other advanced US government technology.
This suggests that the incidents were not aerial phenomena that were part of a secret government programme, but they are for now unexplained.
The report has been eagerly anticipated in the US and expectation has intensified in recent weeks. Last month, former president Barack Obama told The Late Late Show with James Corden that "there is footage and records of objects in the skies that we don’t know exactly what they are". (See video below)
Pentagon officials have publicly acknowledged that a special defence department body called the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) Task Force was established in the past few years to examine military reports of "incursions" into restricted airspace and training ranges. Defence officials have said such incidents are of a concern to Pentagon and intelligence agencies because of their national security implications.
According to officials who spoke to The New York Times, the report is unable to explain a number of aspects of the aerial phenomena, including their movement and acceleration, and rules out some of the phenomena being explained as weather balloons.
The final report will also include a classified section that officials insist does not prove the phenomena are alien spaceships, but will nonetheless fuel speculation about how much the American public is being told about the sightings.
The report also considers incidents involving foreign militaries and officials believe that some of the phenomena could have been experimental technology from a rival power, such as Russia or China.
One senior official told The New York Times that there was worry among intelligence officials that China or Russia could be experimenting with hypersonic technology.
