High StrangenessS


Blackbox

Mysterious 'drones' swarmed Langley AFB for weeks

F-22 Raptor
© USAFA pair of F-22 Raptor stealth fighters turn on final approach to Langley Air Force Base in Virginia.
Langley Air Force Base, located in one of the most strategic areas of the country, across the Chesapeake Bay from the sprawling Naval Station Norfolk and the open Atlantic, was at the epicenter of waves of mysterious drone incursions that occurred throughout December. The War Zone has been investigating these incidents and the response to them for months. We know that they were so troubling and persistent that they prompted bringing in advanced assets from around the U.S. government, including one of NASA's WB-57F high-flying research planes. Now the U.S. Air Force has confirmed to us that they did indeed occur and provided details on the timeframe and diversity of drones involved.

This spate of bizarre drone incursions deeply underscores the still-growing threats that uncrewed aerial systems present on and off traditional battlefields, and to military and critical civilian infrastructure, issues The War Zone has been highlighting in great detail for years.

"The installation first observed UAS [uncrewed aerial systems] activities the evening of December 6 [2023] and experienced multiple incursions throughout the month of December. The number of UASs fluctuated and they ranged in size/configuration," a spokesperson for Langley Air Force Base told The War Zone in a statement earlier today. "None of the incursions appeared to exhibit hostile intent but anything flying in our restricted airspace can pose a threat to flight safety. The FAA was made aware of the UAS incursions."


Comment: The UAS designation can be applied to a UAP solely based on its size. In other words, if it's a UAP that happens to be smaller than a jet fighter, it may be classified by military observers as a UAS, even though it is technically unidentified.


"To protect operational security, we do not discuss impacts to operations," the statement added. "We don't discuss our specific force protection measures but retain the right to protect the installation. Langley continues to monitor our air space and work with local law enforcement and other federal agencies to ensure the safety of base personnel, facilities, and assets."

Clipboard

Pentagon's flawed UFO report demands congressional action

aaro report
On March 8, the Department of Defense published the most significant report on UFOs in at least two generations — a congressionally mandated historical review of U.S. government involvement with unidentified anomalous phenomena or UAP.

Unfortunately, the report from the Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) contains an array of striking omissions and one particularly egregious misrepresentation. The result is a misleading report which, like so much government UFO-related propaganda over seven decades, tells the reader just to move on, nothing to see here.

To start, it makes no mention of how the U.S. government's official investigation of UFOs began. In a landmark 1947 memo, Lt. Gen. (and future chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) Nathan Twining stated that UFOs are "real and not visionary or fictitious." He also described their flight characteristics as including "extreme rates of climb, maneuverability...and action which must be considered evasive when sighted or contacted by friendly aircraft and radar."

Nor does AARO's report mention the earliest surviving intelligence assessment of UFOs — a late 1948 analysis that found many UFO reports came from observers "who, because of their technical background and experience, do not appear to be influenced by unfounded sensationalism nor inclined to report explainable phenomena as new types of aerial devices."

Citing reports from "trained and experienced U.S. Weather Bureau personnel" from early 1947, the omitted document noted multiple observations of "strange metallic disks" with "a flat bottom and a round top." (Note that these incidents predated by several months the widely-publicized June 1947 incident that catalyzed the "flying saucer" era.)

UFO

US scrapped plans to create program for reverse engineering UFOs, Pentagon report says

Interview
© Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesBipartisan group of House lawmakers interview Ryan Graves, David Grusch and David Fravor
The U.S. scrapped an initiative to create a program for reverse-engineering remnants of alien spacecraft over a decade ago, according to a new report the Pentagon's UFO investigator released in unclassified form Friday.

The report overall found no evidence that any UFOs were reverse-engineered and dismissed whistleblower allegations of such programs as false or misrepresentations of existing national security programs. However, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2012 explored the idea of setting up a program, code-named "Kona Blue," to reverse-engineer extraterrestrial objects of non-human origin but ultimately canned the program for "lacking merit," the Pentagon's All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) found.

The report states:
"It is critical to note that no extraterrestrial craft or bodies were ever collected — this material was only assumed to exist by KONA BLUE advocates and its anticipated contract Performers."
The Pentagon delivered the report, a historical record of all U.S. government activity related to what are now termed unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) going back to 1945, to Congress last week in accordance with Congressional mandate, Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a statement.

Comment: Pentagon compartmentalization provides information fences. It need not divulge what it claims it doesn't have.


X

AARO Report: Flawed, unresponsive, clueless, and knavish

aaro report
Before I tear into this report, a few comments about the journals that were provided the report 48 hours before anyone else. @washingtonpost @politico @nytimes I was appalled at the minimal analysis done by each of these prestigious papers. They were obsessed with whether AARO stated evidence of ET had been unearthed and completely ignored that the report failed miserably in answering Congress's question regarding the history of UAP. Instead, it was the journal Defense Scoop that provided some valuable information. They reported that the DOD was developing the capability to help personnel collect real-time UAP data in the field with automated sensor units. I would urge readers to subscribe to their journal. And a welcome thanks to the author of the article @BrandiVincent. It's nice to see a journalist who seeks out important information.

My review of this paper is my own personal view. Nor do I intend my response to reflect negatively on Tim Phillips, the current temporary director of AARO. He has not been in his role for any appreciable time. This review does expose the naivety of those who think that anyone can delve into the UAP/UFO subject for only 18 months and expect to understand its history, the nuances of the information, and the scientific challenges that this subject places on those who study it. The simplistic statement that "we have found no evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence" is made by someone who lacks a thorough understanding of the subject matter and has not clearly thought through the scientific requirements to make such a statement. This will be discussed more fully later.

Flawed

Let's begin with the many flaws and errors in this report. Some were trivial but were flaws that any check of a paper should have detected. There are many broken links in the references cited; more than I have bothered to count. References #3, #4, and #6 were broken links. Reference #5 and #6 were combined as "56" instead of "5,6". References #8, #10, and #12 are broken links. There are many more. This poor quality of work is just the harbinger of more to come.

Comment: Dr. Garry Nolan & Ross Coulthart share their own thoughts and criticisms on Matt Ford's show below:


Micah Hanks over at The Debrief adds the following:
Although there were notable exceptions, most media coverage of the new AARO report focused almost entirely on the lack of evidence linking UAP sightings to extraterrestrial technologies, as well as the absence of classified programs involved in the recovery of crashed vehicles of non-human origin.

Also commanding media attention had been revelations involving the existence of a proposed program pitched to the Department of Homeland Security in the 2010s under the codename "Kona Blue," which involved a prospective reverse engineering program for any extraterrestrial technologies acquired by the U.S. government.

According to the AARO report, Kona Blue had been proposed by former members of a DIA program called the Advanced Aerospace Weapons Systems Application Program (AAWSAP), whose personnel are identified in the report as some of the main proponents behind ongoing assertions involving secret U.S. government UAP programs.

The report says that AARO investigators found no evidence that extraterrestrial craft or their occupants had ever been acquired by the U.S. military and that Kona Blue was ultimately rejected by DHS leadership due to a lack of merit.
Among the many mistakes that appear in the new report, one of the most glaring appears in references to the late Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and his involvement in helping acquire funding for a controversial UAP investigative effort run out of the Defense Intelligence Agency in the early 2000s. The report refers to the Democrat Senator's home state as being New Mexico, whereas Reid was a U.S. Senator from Nevada.
...
Beyond mere problems with dates, AARO's report makes further assertions that Battelle's study, the results of which were published in a report titled Project Blue Book Special Report #14, "concluded that all cases that had enough data were resolved and readily explainable." Quite the contrary, the study actually found that among the UFO sightings categorized within a reliability group of reports deemed "Excellent," only 4.2% had "insufficient info," whereas 33.3% of these cases remained "Unknown."
Despite the number of factual errors that appear throughout the final AARO report, there are nonetheless a handful of intriguing references in it that appear to describe advanced U.S. technologies, although again, few of these have received significant attention in mainstream coverage.

In one example, which describes an individual's account provided during an interview with AARO investigators, the report states that "AARO was able to correlate this account with an authentic USG program because the interviewee was able to provide a relatively precise time and location of the sighting which they observed exhibiting strange characteristics."

AARO concluded the technology mistaken for being an exotic UAP technology by the unnamed witness correlated with DoD tests "of a platform protected by a [Special Access Program]" occurring at roughly the same time. "The seemingly strange characteristics reported by the interviewee match closely with the platform's characteristics," the AARO report's authors state, "which was being tested at a military facility in the time frame the interviewee was there."

"This program is not related in any way to the exploitation of off-world technology," the report's authors emphasize, offering no further details on the technology that is believed to have been mistaken for a test involving an exotic craft.

The report's authors later add that "All the programs assessed to be authentic were or — if still active — continue to be, appropriately reported to either or both the congressional defense and intelligence committees."
As for the private defense contractors who denied any ET tech or reverse-engineering, AARO neglects to mention that it had no powers to either put these executives under oath, or to inspect their premises. They simply took their word for it, despite the fact that, by law, they would be legally obligated to lie to AARO about the existence of such waived unacknowledged special access programs (WUSAPs).

Finally, attorney Danny Sheehan had this response:





UFO 2

Canadian government's top science advisor provides update on official UFO study

sky canada project
The Canadian government's top scientific advisor says her office will release a public UFO report by early fall.

Speaking to lawmakers in Ottawa this week, Mona Nemer also said that more can be done to make UFO information available to Canadians.

"I think that there is room for improvement in terms of the gathering, reporting on the information, and also making it available to researchers and to the public," Nemer told Parliament's science and research committee on Tuesday.

"I can appreciate that some, you know, may be of national security concern, but I believe that by and large, that you can make the information public - and I think that's the best way to mitigate conspiracy theories and disinformation."

As chief science advisor of Canada, Nemer heads an arm's length office that reports directly to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the minister of innovation, science and industry. In March 2023, CTVNews.ca revealed the existence of the office's Sky Canada Project, which is the first known official Canadian UFO study in nearly 30 years.

No Entry

Concerns grow over UFO pushback effort, while whistleblowers remain silenced

Kirkpatrick
© Defense Visual Information Distribution ServiceSean Kirkpatrick, the head of the Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, testified before Congress in April.
Observers are increasingly apprehensive as the former Director, currently serving as a consultant to America's Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) office, seems to be taking on the role of its shadow spokesperson, bypassing established communication protocols within the Department of Defense (DoD).

Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, now an unpaid consultant to the UAP office, located within the DoD known as the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), recently informed New York Post journalist Steven Greenstreet that a forthcoming historical report on UAP would likely be made public "before the State of the Union [address on] March 7."

Responding to Dr. Kirkpatrick's comments, the AARO's official spokesperson, the DoD's Susan Gough, commented:
"We anticipate releasing an unclassified version of an initial volume of the Historical Record Report soon. I cannot provide anything more specific than 'soon.'"
Even after the DoD's clarification, Dr. Kirkpatrick's remarks have stirred confusion, with Liberation Times sources insinuating that he is subverting standard communication procedures.

Given his official consultant role with the AARO, it's perceived that Dr. Kirkpatrick is leveraging his intimate connection to the office to offer updates typically reserved for an official spokesperson.

UFO

Video shows Ukrainian soldiers' sighting of mysterious UFO-shaped object in sky

ukraine ufo
'Why isn't it moving?' troops with the Ukrainian's 406th Battalion can be heard debating as they witness a large UFO hovering, deadly calm, over their warzone
The Ukrainian soldiers filmed the unidentified disc-shaped object and its video was shared on social media platforms

In a bizarre turn of events in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, Ukrainian soldiers are now claiming to have spotted a disk-shaped UFO with the help of a reconnaissance drone which was deployed on the battlefield.

The unidentified disc-shaped object was filmed by the Ukrainian soldiers and its video was shared on the social media platforms, where it is circulating.

Comment: That report can be found here: 'Russia shoots down unknown object' in Rostov - Newsweek

Considering the conflict, as well as the nefarious goings on in Ukraine, the appearance of these unexplained objects is perhaps to expected: UPDATE: The Daily Mail spoke fairly extensively with the soldier who filmed the UFO. He told them he and his guys had never seen anything like this before:
'Initially, I thought that it was something new invented by the Russians,' he added, 'but then I understood... 'No! It might be [a] UFO.''

The 'craft' was 36 to 54 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than any other object this 406th drone pilot says he has ever tracked in the warzone — ruling out atmospheric phenomena, balloons and known enemy aircraft, he claimed.

'We were surprised, very surprised,' the soldier, whose first name is Vadym, recalled via an interpreter.
...
The 406th's drone pilot said he'd gotten his craft about 'a few kilometers' into its recon mission before spotting the UFO.

'I looked right and saw this,' Vadym said.

'After 30 seconds, we decided to film it. All the emotions we had at that moment, they're in the video... You you can hear it.'

As Vadym and his fellow 406th unit members scrambled to make sense of the apparent object, their confusion is palpable in the 17-second video, shared exclusively with DailyMail.com this week.

In between the swearing ('Holy s***') and the excitement ('What the f*** is this?'), one member of the battalion asks: 'Why isn't it moving?'

Another wonders: 'Why can't he fire missiles at us? What do you mean?'

Aside from the object's unusual heat signature, it appeared to more readily withstand the strong wind, but Vadym told DailyMail.com that no other extreme weather could help explain the unusual sighting.

'There was a very strong wind,' Vadym said. 'The wind was flowing into the same direction as we were flying basically.'

'But it [the UFO] just stayed at the same place — and the sky was clear,' he said. 'So no clouds, nothing.'

'I use this [infrared, heat vision] filter very often,' the unit drone operator said, 'and just got experience so I can differentiate how bright an object should be according to what temperature.'

Based on that experience, Vadym stated that the UFO 'was very hot. I'm guessing 20 to 30 degrees [Celsius] hotter than other objects.'

Vadym estimated that the roughly 1,300 ft (400 meters) long UFO was also about 328 feet (100 meters) tall.

The apparent object, craft or phenomena, was caught on the camera of a commercial DJI brand Mavic 3T thermal-imaging drone on February 23, 2024.

The UFO, spotted around 9:02pm local time, appeared to be approximately 37 to 40 miles away from the soldiers, he said, in the direction of Donetsk Oblast, the southeastern Ukrainian province that has been most dominated by Russia's forces.

Vadym requested that his last name and other key details of the encounter not be disclosed for reasons of operational security amid the Ukrainian Armed Forces' (UAF) effort to repel the Russian invasion.

A spokesperson for Mavic's manufacturer DJI told DailyMail.com that, while it could not help in explaining what is present in the UFO footage, an equipment error could have played a role - but Vadym doubted this

But he noted that, while 'it's hard to count' just how many times he has personally flown his unit's Mavic 3T, it was probably 'more than 10,000 times.'

'We've seen different things [in the skies],' he said, adding, 'We've never seen things like this before.'
...
'It wasn't a mirage,' Vadym told DailyMail.com, 'because in thermal vision you can't see a mirage. You can see it only with your naked eye.'

He continued to explain that the object did not ripple, shimmer or otherwise alter its shape, which would have been a tell-tale sign of a Fata Morgana mirage.

'Often, a Fata Morgana changes rapidly,' as the flight safety guide SKYbrary notes. 'The mirage comprises several inverted (upside down) and erect (right side up) images that are stacked on top of one another.

But according to Vadym, 'The object was in a stable form. It wasn't moving.'

That said, the UFO, whatever it was, wasted no time leaving its perch above Donetsk.

'At another position, we had another drone and put it up in about three minutes,' Vadym said, '[but] they didn't see it [the UFO] at that moment.'

'When we returned to the same position later, there was nothing there.'



Blackbox

Future of Rep. Turner in question after rare public statement on national security threat, amid continued dismissal of UFOs

mike turner
© AP Photo/Alex BrandonRep. Turner
Liberation Times has learned that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Representative Mike Turner's recent bizarre public push for declassifying "a serious national security threat" became entangled with a concerning briefing on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP).

On February 14, 2024, Republican members of Congress were briefed by Luis Elizondo, the former director of a government program focused on UAP, the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program.

Sources have revealed to Liberation Times that Elizondo was joined by a former member of the UAP Task Force and decorated uniformed military officer, a former military fighter pilot and eyewitness to a UAP sighting, a former DARPA scientist, and a former political advisor within the Obama administration.

Sources close to Liberation Times revealed that attendees left the session deeply concerned about the inability to openly discuss the national security implications of UAP within the government due to classification constraints.

In the aftermath of the briefing, Liberation Times has been informed that an impression was left that members present at the meeting wished to declassify information related to UAP, enabling national security discussions regarding the phenomena to occur within the government and with U.S. allies.

UFO

Govt whistleblower reveals he watched infamous Big Sur UFO film

big sur ufo
BACKGROUND:

According to two former US Air Force officers — Lieutenant Bob Jacobs and Major Florenze Mansmann — a USAF photographic team based at Vandenberg AFB, California, tasked with filming missile test launches, inadvertently captured the image of a domed, disc-shaped UFO as it circled and then disabled — with four flashes of an intense beam of light — a dummy nuclear warhead flying downrange over the Pacific Ocean. Jacobs had been in charge of the telescopic photography site located at Big Sur, California, and Mansmann was Vandenberg's chief photographic imagery analyst.

The date of the dramatic incident was September 15, 1964. Two days later, a highly-restricted screening of the spectacular footage took place at the base — attended by Jacobs, Mansmann, and two CIA officers who immediately classified the event Top Secret. The film was then confiscated by the pair and flown "back East" for analysis and storage, according to Major Mansmann. The destination was undoubtedly the CIA's National Photographic Interpretation Center (NPIC) which, it is now known, had already engaged in UFO photo analysis for years.

By the early 1980s, Jacobs felt that enough time had passed following the stunning UFO encounter to allow him to discuss it publicly. He has explained that, at the time of the 1964 film screening at Vandenberg, Major Mansmann had only ordered him "not to talk about" the unexpected filming of the UFO with anyone, pointedly saying that it had "never happened". No mention was made of its Top Secret classification, for reasons that remain unclear to the former Lieutenant. Furthermore, because the two officers lost touch with each other after leaving the Air Force, 19 years passed before Mansmann was able confirm to Jacobs that the two mysterious men in civilian clothes at the screening were in fact CIA personnel.

Comment: North Carolina experiencer Chris Bledsoe also claims to have seen the video. He says that one of his government contacts who have questioned and studied him over the years (probably Timothy Taylor) showed it to him.




UFO

Major airport crowned 'UFO hotspot' after countless strange sightings

Airplane
© paulpdh/Shutterstock.com
A slew of articles published Monday crowned a major British airport a "UFO hotspot" after a series of strange sightings in the last six years.

Some 27 reports of strange UFOs/UAPs have emerged around England's Stansted Airport in the last six years, according to the Daily Star. Some of these sightings are reportedly classified as "near misses" as mystery objects hurl themselves around the skies above this busy facility. Back in 2022, a Ryanair flight was nearly hit by something that didn't appear on the drone-monitoring equipment, but managed to get some 4,000 feet into the air, the outlet reported.

Comment:

Maybe the British Government should start their own "Project Blue Book" to prevent people from making crazy conspiracy theories about 'flying saucers' and get in panic. Or maybe UFO awareness has reached the point where it can no longer be denied.

See also: