The annual UFO sightings report, released jointly by the Pentagon and director of national intelligence, reveals that whilst no extraterrestrial evidence was found amongst over 700 new reports from the previous year, approximately two dozen cases remain particularly intriguing.
The intelligence community and Pentagon utilise the term UAP (unidentified anomalous phenomena) instead of UFOs. The all-domain anomaly resolution office (AARO) is responsible for analysing incidents reported by military personnel and federal agencies.
AARO documented 757 new incidents between May 2023 and June 2024, comprising 485 current cases and 272 previously unreported cases from 2021-2022. This marked increase from the previous year’s 281 reports is attributed to enhanced reporting awareness rather than increased occurrence rates, according to Pentagon officials.
The cumulative number of cases examined by AARO since its establishment has reached 1,652.
This year’s report confirms that AARO has found “no evidence of extraterrestrial beings, activity, or technology”. Whilst some reports have terrestrial explanations and many require additional investigation, none indicate any “breakthrough” technology.
During Thursday’s press briefing, AARO’s leadership disclosed that 21 reports from the past eighteen months remain unexplained.
Dr Jon Kosloski, AARO’s new director, said, “There are interesting cases that with my physics and engineering background and time in the I.C. I do not understand, and I don’t know anybody else understands them”. These incidents occurred near national security locations and were documented through video, multiple witnesses, or sensor recordings.
Regarding the appearance of these unexplained UAPs, Kosloski described them as “Orbs, cylinders, triangles, in one of the cases, it has been happening over an extended period of time, and it is possible that there’s multiple things happening”, suggesting some incidents might involve drone activity misidentified as UAPs.