QuickCheck: Did the US Defence Department confirm the existence of UFOs in 2021?

THE US Department of Defence submitted a report to the US Congress confirming the existence of unidentified flying objects (UFO) in 2021.

Is this true?

Verdict:

TRUE

As part a stimulus response Act for the Covid-19 pandemic that was signed into law in 2020, the US House of Congress had mandated the Director of National Intelligence to work with the Secretary of Defence to produce a report detailing what the government knew about unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAP), commonly known as UFOs, and release it in June 2021.

The mandate came after articles published by The New York Times and Politico confirmed the existence of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, a Defence Department programme that began in 2007 to investigate UAPs, which officially ended in 2012.

Also important to note, was that in 2019, three videos featuring UAPs caught on camera by US military aircraft, were leaked to the press.

In 2021, the Pentagon confirmed the authenticity of the videos.

When it was released, the report focussed on 144 observations made by US Armed Forces from 2004 to 2021, of which 143 were unexplained.

It asserted 18 of these incidents featured UAPs with "unusual flight characteristics" such as appearing to remain stationary in winds aloft, move against the wind, manoeuvre abruptly, or move at considerable speed, without discernible means of propulsion.

The report added that there were "11 reports of documented instances in which pilots reported near misses with a UAP."

Also, some UAPs emitted radio frequency energy that was picked up by US military aircraft.

The report did not however go as far as to state that the UAPs were extraterrestrial in origin but did establish five potential explanations: airborne clutter, natural atmospheric phenomena, U.S. government or American industry developmental programs, foreign adversary systems and a catch-all "other" category.