Hundreds of UFO sightings in latest report

The UFO Office Tracking Report added nearly 400 additional sightings to its catalog last year, either new sightings or older sightings found on existing files, bringing the total number of UFO sightings to over 500. rice field.

On Thursday, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released an unclassified version of its annual report on UFOs, or what the government calls Unidentified Aeronautical Phenomena (UAPs).

The assessment revealed that offices tracking the UAP had a total of 510 sightings since 2004. This is a significant increase from the 144 sightings included in the original report in 2021.

An additional 366 sightings are either new or discovered on file. An office within the Department of Defense determined that about half of the additional sightings showed “distinct features.”

Of the additional sightings, 26 were characterized as drones, 163 as balloon-like objects, and 6 as airborne clutter. This left 171 aircraft unexplained, some of which “exhibited unusual flight characteristics or performance and required further analysis.”

A recent assessment suggests that the increase in reported sightings is due in part to a decrease in stigma surrounding UAP sightings. Most of the new reports are from U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force aviators and pilots who have seen the UAP and reported through official channels.

The increase in sightings is also due to a better understanding of the potential threat that UAPs pose as a threat to flight safety or as threats that adversaries may collect.

A U.S. official told CBS News that none of the cases have yet been conclusively linked to China, Russia or any other country.

However, in 2019 there was at least one incident that turned out to be a drone off the west coast where Chinese merchant ships were known to be in the area. US intelligence agencies have been unable to link the drones directly to the vessel, but China remains a “suspect” in the incident.

To date, there have been no reported collisions between U.S. aircraft and UAPs, and no encounters with UAPs that have directly contributed to adverse health-related effects.

David Martin contributed the report.