US government launches new UFO-tracking office for ‘anomalous, airborne, and transmedium’ craft
The United States government has announced a new office for tracking unidentified flying objects.
Pentagon officials announced the establishment of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), which replaces the Airborne Object Identification and Management Group established in May this year.
That organisation was primarily set up to watch over “special-use” airspace, including ongoing military operations, firing rangers, and other areas restricted for national security uses.
“The mission of the AARO will be to synchronize efforts across the Department of Defense, and with other US federal departments and agencies, to detect, identify and attribute objects of interest in, on or near military installations, operating areas, training areas, special use airspace and other areas of interest”, the Department of Defence writes.
“As necessary [it will] mitigate any associated threats to safety of operations and national security. This includes anomalous, unidentified space, airborne, submerged and transmedium objects.”
The new office was formed as Congress gives more funding to the defence budget.
“We must ensure the military and intelligence community are armed with the best possible information, capital, and scientific resources to defeat our enemies and maintain military and technology superiority,” Representative. Mike Gallagher said in a statement about the funding.
“This amendment will play an important role in furthering Congress’ ability to fact gather and further prove or disprove the origin and threat nature of whatever seems to be flying in our skies.”
A total of 143 UFO sightings since 2004 have been made and cannot be explained, the US government said in May this year, and while it has “no clear indications that there is any non-terrestrial explanation for them, but we will go wherever the data takes us”.
Many of these sightings appear to involve craft that can move without observable propulsion, or accelerate faster than any known aircraft, although many critics have suggested that this is due to lighting or camera angles.
The infamous video of a UFO captured by a Navy jet, for example, was suggested to be a camera artefact rather than an alien craft.
“It’s an object that somehow projects rotating light patterns that rotate with it. It’s an object that rotates in a way that matches exactly the amount needed to stay within three degrees of a gimbal system tracking the target while minimizing roll, but just from this one plane at this pitch and this bank angle”, UFO investigator Mick West said.
“Or, it’s a glare, rotating because of the gimbal system, in a video titled ‘Gimbal’.”
