During a Senate hearing on Wednesday, the Pentagon revealed a declassified video depicting a UFO flying above an active military zone in the Middle East last year. The footage, captured by a US military drone, shows a mysterious spherical object swiftly moving through the sky.
Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, the director of the Pentagon's newly established All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), presented the video during a Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing, admitting that officials remain uncertain about the identity of the fast-moving orb. "This is essentially all the data we have of this event," Kirkpatrick stated. "It's going to be virtually impossible to fully identify that just based off that video."
Kirkpatrick noted that AARO does not believe the object posed an "apparent threat to airborne-asset safety." He also mentioned that this particular incident is among approximately 650 reported sightings of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UPAs), the government's term for UFOs, currently being investigated by the recently formed office.
However, Kirkpatrick emphasized that there is no indication of alien involvement. "AARO has found no credible evidence thus far of extraterrestrial activity, off-world technology, or objects that defy the known laws of physics," he told the hearing. Kirkpatrick added that most UPAs are eventually identified as "balloons, aerial systems, clutter, natural phenomena, or other readily explainable sources."
According to Fox News, Wednesday's hearing and presentation marked only the second public government meeting about UFOs in the past 50 years.
