A FORMER military official is joining the ranks of those calling for deeper investigations into the “disturbing” UFO sightings detailed in the Pentagon’s report.
Nick Pope, a former official at the Ministry of Defence, told The Sun that the report’s leaked conclusions are “intriguing and disturbing”.
He also called for the US and Britain to look into the possibility that the UFO sightings could be attributable to hypersonic technology testing by China and Russia, and to “assess the current level of technology these nations possess when it comes to aircraft, missiles, and drones.”
Intelligence officials briefed on the Pentagon report said that they have found “no evidence” that the flying objects are alien spacecraft, but their source remains unknown.
A classified version of the highly-anticipated Pentagon report was made available to senior administration officials on Thursday.
A declassified version is expected to be released to Congress by June 25, which is expected to contain everything the US Government knows about UAPs, The Washington Post reports.
Read our live blog below for the latest updates…
-
CONGRESS AUTHORIZED PENTAGON UFO REPORT
Back in December 2020, legislation passed by Congress required the Department of Defense and the National Intelligence Director to produce a report about “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena” within six months.
The request came after revelations in 2017 that the Pentagon was researching a series of unexplained intrusions into military airspace, including mysterious objects captured on video stalking US Navy ships.
Steve Bassett, the executive director of the Paradigm Research Group, previously told The Sun the release of information about extra-terrestrial encounters may be the “most profound” moment in the history of mankind.
-
PENTAGON INVESTIGATOR SAYS UFO ORIGIN IS UNKNOWN
Former Pentagon investigator Luis Elizondo, who led the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, previously told The Sun that the military doesn’t know what UFOs are and who is behind them.
He said: “There is something in our skies, we don’t know what it is, we don’t know how it works, we don’t know fully what it can do, we don’t know who is behind the wheel, we don’t know its intentions, and there isn’t a damn thing we can do about it.”
-
WILL CLASSIFIED ANNEX INCLUDE UFO INFORMATION?
An unclassified report expected to contain everything the Government knows about “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena” is set to be released to Congress by June 25.
However, the final report will still include one classified annex, according to the Times.
Officials said that the annex will not contain any evidence of alien activity, but the fact that it must remain classified will likely fuel increased speculation.
-
MINISTRY OF DEFENSE OFFICIAL CALLS FOR UFO INVESTIGATION
Nick Pope, a former official at the Ministry of Defence, branded the report’s leaked conclusions “intriguing and disturbing”.
He told The Sun: “The possibility that some of what’s been going on might be attributable to Russia or China is disturbing, and US and British spy chiefs need to step up their efforts to assess the current level of technology these nations possess when it comes to aircraft, missiles, and drones – particularly with regard to hypersonic technology.”
The former MOD civil servant called on Washington and London to pool resources to address the security issue.
-
ARE UFO SIGHTINGS CONNECTED TO NUCLEAR FACILITIES?
Gary Heseltine, the vice president of the new International Coalition for Extraterrestrial Research (ICER), told The Sun Online there appears to be a correlation between UFO encounters and the world’s nuclear capabilities.
He said: “There is a massive correlation between UFOs being seen near nuclear facilities, whether it’s nuclear aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines, nuclear weapon storage areas, power plants.
“This would seem to indicate that it’s as if they’re saying ‘we don’t like nuclear weapons’ so they show up.
“Maybe they realise we could destroy this beautiful planet.”
-
WHAT IS OUMUAMUA?
Oumuamua took the world by storm in October 2017 when it was identified as the first known visitor from another star system.
A pair of Harvard scientists suggested the long and thin object was a spacecraft, sparking a frantic flurry of scans by astronomers as it flew by.
Experts found no signs of alien signals, and eventually concluded that the space guest was a comet or asteroid.
-
USS KID SEES UFO NEAR SAN DIEGO
The USS Kidd, a Navy destroyer off hte coast of San Diego, was using night vision cameras and spotted several mysterious flashing objects in the skies, according to footage the Pentagon revealed to The Sun.
The report apparently acknowledges that much of the strange behavior of the unidentified phenomena — including how fast the crafts can move and change direction — remains inexplicable.
Many of the more than 120 incidents examined for the investigation were reported by Navy personnel.
-
MILITARY VETERAN SAYS UFO REPORTS ‘REAL’
Luis Elizondo, a 20-year veteran of covert military intelligence operations, told CBS of UFOs: “I’m not telling you that it doesn’t sound wacky. What I’m telling you, it’s real.”
“What is it? What are its intentions? What are its capabilities?” he asked of the flying objects the military continues to spot.
-
WHAT DID TRUMP SAY ABOUT UFO REPORTS?
Former president Donald Trump discussed the upcoming Pentagon UFO report with conservative commentator Dan Bongino last week.
He said: “I’m a believer in what you see, but there are a lot of people out there who are into that. I get that so much: ‘is it true, sir?’
“I’m not such a believer, but some people are, so I don’t want to hurt their dreams or their fears.”
-
WHERE WAS THE 2004 ‘TIC-TAC’ UFO SPOTTED?
Former Navy pilots Dave Fravor and Alex Dietrich, who spotted the UFO, were training with a strike group approximately 100 miles southwest of San Diego when the sighting occurred.
They were each flying F/A-18F fighter aircraft when they said they saw an anomalous object flying in their vicinity.
At the same time, the ship that was part of their training team, the USS Princeton, detected “multiple anomalous aerial vehicles” on the horizon that were descending 80,000 feet in under a second.
-
WHEN WILL THE PENTAGON RELEASE THE UFO REPORT?
The Pentagon is set to release an unclassified report on UFOs to Congress on June 25.
However, the final report will still include one classified annex, according to the Times.
Officials said that the annex will not contain any evidence of alien activity, but the fact that it must remain classified will likely fuel increased speculation.
-
UFO SIGHTING OFF THE COAST OF SAN DIEGO
An orb-shaped object was caught buzzing the Navy ship USS Omaha in July 2019 off the coast of San Diego as personnel tracked it with a targeting camera.
Former Navy Lieutenant Ryan Graves said that he recalled seeing unexplained flying objects flying in restricted airspace on a daily basis.
And, numerous San Diego-based US warships were reportedly visited by strange vessels from above.
-
JEREMY CORBELL, DOCUMENTARY MAKER, LEAKS UFO FOOTAGE
Jeremy Corbell, a documentary film maker, received leaked footage that appears to show a US Navy warship being swarmed by 14 “spherical” UFOs travelling at up to 160mph.
Corbell posted the clip on his Instagram to his 200,000 followers, showing the USS Omaha’s radar screen with audible chatter in the background from the crew.
Numerous objects can be seen swarming across the green and black screen in the ship’s combat information centre.
-
CANADIAN MILITARY HAS SEEN UFOS, REPORT CLAIMS
A VICE World News investigation found almost seven decades worth of extraterrestrial related cases involving the Canadian forces after trawling through information requests, public records, and exclusive interviews.
The sightings took place at military bases across the country and include “an orange pulsating symmetrical light” witnessed silently speeding over Ottawa by a pair of Air Force officers in March 1950.
-
PENTAGON REPORT MAY HAVE ‘CLASSIFIED ANNEX’
The Pentagon report will include a classified annex that will be held from the public, fueling speculations of government data on aliens.
The presence of a classified annex does present opportunities for conspiracy theories to arise, sources cited in a New York Times report cautioned.
-
COVID SPENDING PACKAGE WILL INCLUDE UFO REPORT
The Pentagon’s UFO report complied with decades of classified documents will be released as part of the $2.3billion coronavirus spending package passed in December 2020.
The bombshell report on UFO’s could be released as early as June 1.
Congress’ spending package required the Department of Defense and the Office of Director of National Intelligence to deliver an unclassified report on UFOs to Congress within six months.
-
TRUMP SIGNED BILL TO RELEASE UFO FILES
The legislation President Trump signed on December 27 said intelligence officials should submit their report within 180 days, which would fall in late June.
However, the bombshell report could arrive as early as June 1.
The report will be unclassified and is expected to contain everything the US Government knows about “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena.”
It will examine if UAPs constitute a threat to US airspace, Deadline reports.
-
WHEN WAS THE ‘TIC-TAC’ VIDEO RELEASED?
Videos of the encounter with a Tic-Tac shaped UFO, along with another one over Florida, were first released by the Pentagon in 2020.
Lt. Commander Alex Dietrich was training with a strike group approximately 100 miles south-west of San Diego when she and another pilot spotted the mysterious object.
Dietrich told CBS’s ‘60 Minutes’ fighter pilots had struggled with how much to reveal about the encounter as the descriptions sounded “crazy”.
-
WHAT DID OBAMA SAY ABOUT UFOS?
Former President Barack Obama spoke about UFOs on The Late Late Show With James Corden last month.
He said: “What is true, and I’m actually being serious here, is that there is footage and records of objects in the skies that we don’t know exactly what they are.”
The former president said that “new religions would pop up” if alien life was confirmed.
-
WHAT IS THE ‘TIC TAC’ VIDEO?
The most striking of a trio of remarkable videos released by Pentagon officials last year was a video known as the “Tic Tac” – which showed an unidentified object being pursued by fighter planes.
Lt Commander Alex Dietrich was training with a strike group approximately 100 miles southwest of San Diego when she and another pilot spotted the mysterious object.
The pilot was flying a F/A-18F fighter jet when she spotted an anomalous object flying in her vicinity.
Dietrich told CBS’ ‘60 Minutes’ fighter pilots had struggled with how much to reveal about the encounter as the descriptions sounded “crazy.”
-
MARCO RUBIO CALLS FOR UFO INVESTIGATION
Senator Marco Rubio said the government report should be only the beginning of the US effort to look into mysterious flying objects.
He said: “Men and women we have entrusted with the defense of our country are reporting encounters with unidentified aircraft with superior capabilities.
“We cannot allow the stigma of UFOs to keep us from seriously investigating this. The forthcoming report is one step in that process, but it will not be the last.”
-
ARE HYPERSONIC MISSILES BEHIND UFO SIGHTINGS?
Dr. David Clarke, who was a consultant for the release of the MOD’s UFO files at the National Archives between 2008-13, told The Sun: “[Hypersonic missiles] are exactly what a lot of these things that can’t be explained clearly are.”
Hypersonic missiles can travel up to 4,000 miles per hour – making them impossible to intercept.
“We’re not talking about the fighter jets that used to dominate everything in the Cold War. The new Cold War is unmanned aerial vehicles.”
-
ARE UFOS COMING FROM UNDER THE SEA?
Gary Heseltine, the vice president of the new International Coalition for Extraterrestrial Research (ICER), told The Sun Online recent videos showing encounters between the US Navy and UFOs along with a Pentagon investigation are game changers that pave the way to finally explain the unexplained.
“UFOs are often seen coming in and out of water so suspect that in our deepest oceans and trenches we may well have alien bases,” Mr Heseltine said.
“That sounds crazy but if you think about it we only know 5 per cent of ocean, we know more about the surface of the moon or Mars than our own oceans – so that would seem to me why UFOs are seen regularly coming in and out of water.”
-
MANY ELEMENTS OF UFOS ARE DIFFICULT TO EXPLAIN, REPORT SAYS
The Pentagon report found that many elements of the studied UAP sightings were difficult to explain, such as their acceleration, agility, and ability to submerge under water.
According to the Times, one hypothesis was that that flying objects were weather balloons, but that concept didn’t hold up in cases of changing wind speeds and the objects’ trajectory and acceleration.
Some senior officials briefed on the report said that the lack of concrete findings in the report indicates that the government cannot rule out the possibility of aliens and alien spacecraft.
-
OVER 120 AERIAL INCIDENTS DID NOT ORIGINATE FROM AMERICAN TECHNOLOGY, REPORT SAYS
The Pentagon report on unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) determined that over one hundred UAP sightings were not of technology created by the US military or government.
The report found that over 120 UAP sightings in the last two decades were not sightings of American military technology. Many of the 120-plus sightings were made by members of the US Navy.
The finding seems to eliminate the possibility that some mysterious sightings may have been of secret US government aircraft.
It is one of the few concrete conclusions made in the report, according to the New York Times.