Navy Confirms Existence of UFOs Seen In Leaked Footage (yahoo.com) 197
A Navy official has confirmed that recently released videos of unidentified flying objects are real, but that the footage was not authorized to be released to the public in the first place. From a report: Joseph Gradisher, the spokesman for the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Warfare, confirmed to TIME that three widely-shared videos captured "Unidentified Aerial Phenomena." Gradisher initially confirmed this in a statement to "The Black Vault" a website dedicated to declassified government documents. "The Navy designates the objects contained in these videos as unidentified aerial phenomena," Gradisher told the site.
He tells TIME that he was "surprised" by the press coverage surrounding his statement to the site, particularly around his classification of the incursions as "unidentifiable," but says that he hopes that leads to UAP's being "de-stigmatized." "The reason why I'm talking about it is to drive home the seriousness of this issue," Gradisher says. "The more I talk, the more our aviators and all services are more willing to come forward." Gradisher would not speculate as to what the unidentified objects seen in the videos were, but did say they are usually proved to be mundane objects like drones -- not alien spacecraft. "The frequency of incursions have increased since the advents of drones and quadcopters," he says. The three videos of UFOs were published by the New York Times and "To the Stars Academy of Arts and Science," a self-described "public benefit corporation" co-founded by Tom DeLonge, best known as the vocalist and guitarist for the rock band, Blink-182.
He tells TIME that he was "surprised" by the press coverage surrounding his statement to the site, particularly around his classification of the incursions as "unidentifiable," but says that he hopes that leads to UAP's being "de-stigmatized." "The reason why I'm talking about it is to drive home the seriousness of this issue," Gradisher says. "The more I talk, the more our aviators and all services are more willing to come forward." Gradisher would not speculate as to what the unidentified objects seen in the videos were, but did say they are usually proved to be mundane objects like drones -- not alien spacecraft. "The frequency of incursions have increased since the advents of drones and quadcopters," he says. The three videos of UFOs were published by the New York Times and "To the Stars Academy of Arts and Science," a self-described "public benefit corporation" co-founded by Tom DeLonge, best known as the vocalist and guitarist for the rock band, Blink-182.
Rule of silence (Score:5, Interesting)
From TFS:
"The reason why I'm talking about it is to drive home the seriousness of this issue," Gradisher says. "The more I talk, the more our aviators and all services are more willing to come forward."
I had an uncle who used to be a commercial airline pilot. During a flight, he and his co-pilot saw a UFO passing by them at tremendous speed and then making an impossible looking abrupt direction change before disappearing.
He and his co-pilot looked at each other and said "what do we do?". They decided to do absolutely nothing, not even reporting it over radio. Otherwise, they would have spent countless hours in debriefing and they just wanted to get home as fast as possible when the plane would land.
So, it is likely that only a small fraction of those events are actually reported by airplane pilots.
Re:Rule of silence (Score:5, Interesting)
I think there is a good reason to call "UFOs" "UAPs" -- Unidentified Aerial Phenomena. Saying "object" is begging the question; you don't *know* it's an object.
Many "UFOs" -- particularly ones that do "impossible" things -- have been convincingly explained as optical phenomena. Why would even an alien space craft make such maneuvers, even if it were somehow physically possible? What's unique about these Navy incidents is that the phenomena appear to have shown up on multiple sensors, FLIR and "ASA" (which I'm guessing is actively scanned array or in other words, radar). Nor do the the phenomena do anything that's physically implausible. That's enough to establish at least a presumption that they're dealing with objects of some kind.
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I think there is a good reason to call "UFOs" "UAPs" -- Unidentified Aerial Phenomena. Saying "object" is begging the question; you don't *know* it's an object.
A very reasonable attitude, however considering the vastness of space and the history of invention it's probable that aliens do exist and have means to cover interstellar space - in such a case making the UFO or UAP phenomena secret - just because, instead of publishing them with known explanation is kind of crime to humankind. In my opinion it's beneficial for a free society to be engaged in the scientific process of discovery and explanation of unknown phenomena, it make such a society more resilient.
I r
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And here, I thought "wow, someone used 'begging the question' correctly for once". This must be a troll. Here, have a virtual cookie.
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"Begs the question" does NOT mean "raises the question".
Please stop trying to look smart by misusing terms you don't understand.
No, "Begs the question" means it begs for the question to be raised.
Seems he wasn't misuing the term at all.
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No, I was specifically referring to the fallacy petitio principii. Calling a UFO an "object" makes the unwarranted assumption that it is an object.
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So that scene from Close Encounters of the Third Kind (the chatter between a pilot and the tower) was pretty realistic then? That's kinda cool.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Re: Rule of silence (Score:2, Flamebait)
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Re: Rule of silence (Score:2)
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Statistically, there must be.
Have they visited us? I don't believe so.
There's something like 2.5 BILLION smartphones on the planet, most of which have a camera in them. Yet there's no more "UFO Pictures" than there was when I was a kid in the 1970s.
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When I read the GP my first thought was: ... and then the flight attendant asked whether either of them would like coffee, and they realized it was a reflection from the opening cockpit door.
And the Vree responsible are laughing. (Score:2)
Next up: proof that certain probes really happened...
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Don't act like you didn't like it, we know better.
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Maybe, but I think these objects at least are going a bit fast for that sort of procedure.
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Next up: proof that certain probes really happened...
That's between me and my wife.
Re: And the Vree responsible are laughing. (Score:2)
No worries, the great great grandson of the guy they probed will sue the Vree in 2258.
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Yeah (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Yeah (Score:5, Funny)
These are objects that are flying and have not been identified. There's a lot of room between that and aliens.
Sure, but it ALWAYS turns out to be aliens, in every. single. movie.
So odds are, it's aliens.
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These are objects that are flying and have not been identified. There's a lot of room between that and aliens.
Sure, but it ALWAYS turns out to be aliens, in every. single. movie.
So odds are, it's aliens.
So...they aren't saying it's aliens, but it's aliens.
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When you are a newspaper searching for clickbait, this is gold. :) oh yeah
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"Boys, we can stay in business for at LEAST another week!"
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I don't think you understand. "Aliens Exist" was one of the better songs on Enema of the State. "Something Exists" would've been more wishy-washy, that's not punk. That's not even Hot Topic!
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"that's not punk"
Neither is Blink 182.
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Do you know how he got hair like that? He had a rather close encounter with some aliens, let's just say they didn't have soft hands.
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You Sir, have the the Internet today!
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Ah crap, I meant to say "You Sir, have won the Internet today!".
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What we see in these videos are often objects that appear to perform maneuvers that no publicly known aircraft could accomplish, not anywhere near that level of performance for climb, turn, speed changes. Level flight with a sudden accelerations up and away from Earth's gravity without visible exhaust is pretty much impossible with our known physics, even, as we don't have any idea how this engine could work and what energy density would be needed to even power that thing.
Admittedly, it's still a long way b
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Not if it's reflected light or the shadow of something. Then, only the attributes of light limit it. One of he problems with "UFO" is the "O". People readily misinterpret that to mean solid.
Re: Yeah (Score:2)
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It's more like if you interpret the reflection or projection as an object it appears to do something that is not physical. For instance, one can shine a laser at one side of a surface and then flick the laser so that it shines at the other side of the surface fast enough that the target point appears to move faster than light. Nothing's actually moving faster than light because that incident point isn't an object.
Re: Yeah (Score:2)
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Or if you are in to multiverse theories, it could be us in an altern
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Either way, no aliens needed, just us humans playing with unstable time warps.
Earthlings. No reason either has to be human.
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These are objects that are flying and have not been identified. There's a lot of room between that and aliens.
It's worse than that: These are images that appear to show flying objects... There's quite a long way between that and actual flying objects. If an object appears to be moving and changing direction so rapidly that it would defy the laws of physics then, without substantial evidence to the contrary, Occam's Razor says that its probably a reflection/refraction and not an alien spaceship need to be fitted with a freaking Bergenholm [wikipedia.org].
UFO != Aliens (Score:5, Insightful)
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Unless it is aliens, of course. Unlikely but not impossible.
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Get a haircut!
Re: UFO != Aliens (Score:2)
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as per title.
And yet it took the US Government half a fucking century to confirm exactly what happened in Roswell, NM?
Yes, I'll have the Government Special #2, with a single grain of salt on top please.
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BS. They said it was a mylar weather balloon and had the artifacts to prove it. People wanted to believe in aliens so they claimed the government wasn't say exactly what happened.
Re: UFO != Aliens (Score:3)
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But who gave them to the aliens?
Surely that's why the term exists (Score:3, Insightful)
Doesn't mean aliens. Just means they don't know what it is.
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Pilots saw objects, flying, that were not identified. Doesn't mean aliens. Just means they don't know what it is.
There is a certain amount of relgiosity in the UFOlogist community about this. I know people who have gone on UFO spotting trips with these guys around places like area 51 or some experimental airbase in Europe and what they told me is that they'd see something like twin lights moving at night in perfect synchronization. The UFOlogists wold get all excited about this and start speculating only to get angry when our newcomer suggested these might be something as mundane as the exhausts of an F-22, F-15, Typh
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They are somewhat comical to watch on TV. There's always some "unexplained" phenomena, they get all excited and send a "field team" to talk to the locals and get the real scoop. They never get any firm information about 'what' are the things people saw. And next week's show does the same thing. They'd be perfectly at home listening to a broken record for three hours.
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That statement is too rational for most people. They want to believe.
Isn't it odd... (Score:5, Interesting)
... how reports of triangle shaped UFOs have almost disappeared since the F-117 and B-2 became public knowledge.
I'd say the chances of these objects being new unmanned drones being tested by the government - and who better to test their agility against than their own unwitting pilots - are pretty damn high.
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... how reports of triangle shaped UFOs have almost disappeared since the F-117 and B-2 became public knowledge.
I'd say the chances of these objects being new unmanned drones being tested by the government - and who better to test their agility against than their own unwitting pilots - are pretty damn high.
When said objects tend to defy physics, that leaves a LOT of explaining to do if the UFOs are in fact future aircraft being developed by our military.
Perhaps the US Government should stop wondering why concepts like Storm Area 51; They Can't Stop All of Us! comes on strong. Doubling down on mysteries and continuing to not confirm or deny anything is wearing dangerously thin, especially when whistleblowers have revealed a lot of shady shit in recent years that citizens do not like at all.
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"When said objects tend to defy physics"
Who says they do? They eye can be fooled very easily especially in a fast moving enviroment such as a fighter jet cockpit, and pilots arn't generally chosen for their knoweldge of newtonian mechanics anyway. Some in fact can be quite thick.
"that citizens do not like at all."
Are these the same citizens wearing those shiny silver hats?
Re: Isn't it odd... (Score:2)
No. Fighter pilots are, actually, quite bright. They are officers, with college degrees. They undergo a lot of training in aeronautics. And, they are chosen for their ability to make split second decisions and rational mindset. You have to be when flying at Mach 2.
If a pilot gets excited by something they are seeing, it is something to get excited about.
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Fighter pilots make mistakes. If they get excited about something they're seeing, it's something they don't normally see, or they're high or tired or both. It doesn't mean their explanation, or even description of the observation is necessarily correct. An example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
The selection bias in these cases is extremely strong. Pilots fly a lot of hours for every split second of "WTF was that?"
Re: Isn't it odd... (Score:4, Insightful)
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So you are telling us that this person went straight from surfing instructor (with no pilot experience) straight into the aviation program? I think I am going to have to call bullsh!t on this one.
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What has the former job to do with brighness?
For some bright people surfing instructor is a dream job ...
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" They are officers, with college degrees"
There was a program about training fighter pilots for the F35 program here in the UK only a few weeks back. One of the trainees - who passed - was a former surfing instructor. So no, they're not always the brightest. They're just racing drivers with wings.
We have teenage NASCAR drivers because we don't require any advanced education to do that job. I doubt there's even a GED requirement.
Compare and contrast that with fighter pilots, who are all college-degree holding officers. I'm not going to delve into stereotypes here, but it's rather obvious that the minimum requirements to become a fighter pilot are NOT all brawn and no brain. I've yet to come across a fighter pilot who comes across as an utter moron. Go ahead and watch a few NASCAR interviews to se
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and pilots arn't generally chosen for their knoweldge of newtonian mechanics anyway. ... it gets even more weird when you have thrust vector stearing ...
Actually they are chosen for that knowledge, as every plane flights slightly or even significantly different.
That leads to very different usage of rudders depending on the plane
Re:Isn't it odd... (Score:5, Insightful)
There has never been an object that defies Physics. Anywhere.
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"2) ion thrusters (these actually exist)"
Only used on spacecraft at the moment (as far as we know obv), but the potential is there for some really interesting drives in the future.
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Perhaps the US Government should stop wondering why concepts like Storm Area 51; They Can't Stop All of Us! comes on strong.
I don't think the government wonders about things like this at all, and I certainly wouldn't characterize that concept as "coming on strong". After all, millions of people believe that Elvis is still alive and hiding from the Mafia, and we all know those folks are just nuts.
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those folks are just nuts.
Of course. Everyone sensible knows Elvis is alive and hiding from the aliens.
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Another thing that I was thinking, did anywhere they say if the pilots were looking at the objects via the infrared camera the same way we see in the video or they saw it through the canopy? because if it is via the IR, it is more likely to be a d
Re: Isn't it odd... (Score:2)
The gimbal titled video shows the pilot cycling through the spectrum the gun camera could see in..
What I took away from this video was how crappy the gun cameras are, would have thought the military would have had better resolution cameras in the early 2000's..
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would have thought the military would have had better resolution cameras in the early 2000's..
There is a good reason why "UFO" are only ever spotted on bad quality cameras. If they were spotted on high quality cameras they wouldn't be UFOs. We could see what the objects were and easily identify them. Most of these "UFO"s are identifiable if we can see them clearly.
Same with cryptozoological beasts. If we ever captured them in high quality we could see what they really are (and they're not crypto organisms, they're just regular animals taken from a weird perspective most of the time).
Yes, mod parent up! (Score:2)
Many things produce indecipherable images besides an old camera. Don't assume the cameras are always poor quality. Simply zoom too far, add some distance (air pollution) and some bug splats to the lens... wiggle a bit.
If Aliens made contact today we'd find out because Trump would fuck it up beyond imagination - if he didn't tweet things to protect his ego then the Alien invasion would certainly be proof enough (unless they are sending warning shots of asteroids already...)
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Yup, and its not hard to work out which famous military base these where being tested at.
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... how reports of triangle shaped UFOs have almost disappeared since the F-117 and B-2 became public knowledge.
A lot of the shiny UFOs from the 50-60s can be explained as the US government testing captured Soviet jet aircraft, which often had unpainted bare metal skin. The silhouettes were different than propeller driven American aircraft that people would have been more familiar with and could easily have looked like discs from a distance.
How many decades will it take (Score:2)
To disassociate 'UFOs' from 'Aliens' in people's minds? I mean it's been a while since shit like ET and we've had it drummed into our heads for ages now that UFO simply means an airborne object that wasn't identified but people still see it as "ooh aliens!"
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So basically you are saying it is the aliens.
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To disassociate 'UFOs' from 'Aliens' in people's minds? I mean it's been a while since shit like ET and we've had it drummed into our heads for ages now that UFO simply means an airborne object that wasn't identified but people still see it as "ooh aliens!"
You're missing the point. These alien conspiracy folks WANT to believe. Its a religion to them. You will never, with any amount of narrative changes or education convince them otherwise. It's like trying to get a Southern Baptist to admit the Earth is older than 6 thousand years. They have all of the information needed. They are not dumb people by and large and can even function at high levels. They simply choose to believe this crap for any number of reasons.
It doesn't make them bad people. It makes them f
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It will never happen, which is why it's probably a good idea to use the term UAP, or unidentified aerial phenomena, which the article mentions.
Because truth be told, we don't even know if they are necessarily even "objects".
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It would mean a change to the status quo. People are sick of how the world works right now, that's why certain people were elected not long ago. Imagine what meeting *actual* intelligent aliens would do for society. Whichever way it would go, at least it would be different than our modern day clusterfuck of a civilization.
Uh oh (Score:2)
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I knew I should have been more discreet with my tests...
You forgot to post as anonymous coward, now the MIB know who you are and where to find you!
Not saying it's aliens, but (Score:5, Insightful)
I can write a lot of it off with the "usual" mundane explanations. But when I read about pilots/co-pilots aligning data from radar and IR to identify an object they can't see visually (helmet cam), I start getting curious. And when that object then does stuff that seems impossible (again cross checked with radar and IR), I get even more curious.
Not saying it's aliens....just saying...
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Stupidity (Score:2)
It was the ... (Score:2)
Navy officials were stunned to discover that another defense department branch existed which operated aircraft.
Proof of alienz!! (Score:2)
'UFO' does not equate to 'Alien spacecraft', folks (Score:2)
Don't get me wrong, UFO Fans: I'd like nothing better than for starfaring aliens to openly visit us. Aside from the technological advances we might get from the advent of that, it would be a socio-political game-changer like nobody has ever imagined. But at the same time being part of the "I Want To Believe" crowd does not mean I, or anyone else, should automatically assume every strange thing caught on camera (or that appea
It's not aliens just because it is unexplained (Score:4, Interesting)
During freshmen initiation week in 1961 the frats were playing capture the flag at a rural lake. I was guarding our flag when I spotted what appeared to be a 50-100' long and about 10- 15' in diameter. It had a few portals near the front that had a reddish glow. It flew silently overhead at about 350' and disappeared to the south. Initiation ended suddenly as we jumped in our cars and made a dash back to the college.
Twenty two years later my flight instructor was doing dual instruction with me when we passed near that lake. I told him my UFO story and he pulled out the Jeppesen charts binder and showed me a route near that lake called the "Olive Branch" (slang: "Oil Burner") route. It was one of many flight paths around the country taken by B-52 bombers practicing the below-the-radar flying tactics. They used orange lights in the cockpit and the turbines were muffled. For years I thought it was my one and only UFO sighting.
BTW, what are the odds that an F35 pilot would land in Arkansas, pick up a RedNeck and give him a quick ride to NYC to see the sights? Zero. Ditto for UFO pilots, IF they exist, which I doubt.
This entire thread (Score:3)
Is like watching monkeys argue about what a car is.
The only thing more terrifying than aliens existing is if they *don't* exist and the responsibility for sentience is ours and ours alone. One thing is for sure, if intelligent life exists off Earth they're obviously smart enough to stay away from us, considering the way we treat each other.
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If you were building some new weapon system, would you say it's a new weapon system or would you go "Yeah. Aliens. Definitely aliens."?
One means that foreign intelligence agencies are interested. One means that crackpots wanting to run into blazing guns with their arms stretched behind them are interested. Who do you think are harder to deal with?
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"Yeah. Aliens. Definitely aliens."?
Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon != aliens, and he specifically pointed out that it's NOT likely aliens, but commercial drones.
Re:yes, that's right (Score:5, Insightful)
it can't possibly be out-of-context videos showing a new Boeing drone.
They aren't saying that. In fact, they are saying the opposite. The point is, they want their pilots and technicians to be willing to speak up and report when they seeing objects that appear to be flying that they can't identify out of safety. If you have large objects flying around in what is supposed to be a cleared training area that is a risk to any aircraft on training flights.
Either that or it's a good way to test the stealth capabilities of experimental aircraft. If you're testing against your own people you want them to be able to report if they see something so you know how visible you are.
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They aren't saying that. In fact, they are saying the opposite. The point is, they want their pilots and technicians to be willing to speak up and report when they seeing objects that appear to be flying that they can't identify out of safety. If you have large objects flying around in what is supposed to be a cleared training area that is a risk to any aircraft on training flights.
Um, no.
If you have large objects flying around in what is supposed to be a cleared training area then they're clearly not yours. What you want is for foreign powers to believe you can't see them, that their stealth technology is working. That means silence - the exact opposite of this.
Re:yes, that's right - No, that's wrong (Score:5, Interesting)
If you have large objects flying around in what is supposed to be a cleared training area then they're clearly not yours.
Respectfully, you are very wrong. This is exactly the kind of environment where you test new capability. You want to see the reaction of a well trained force when they encounter new capability, but you don't want them to inadvertently destroy the test article.
Ideally, if your intel and new capability is good enough, you'd also test new capability in the training exercise of an 'enemy'.
Game Theory reigns supreme. Use it or lose.
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My exact thoughts on the Nimitz encounter [youtu.be].
I have no thoughts on who made these things or where they came from. However, the entire setup seemed to be bait to test the reaction of a naive but well trained force as well as a test of this new tech as well.
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Looks like a Goodyear Blimp to me.
Re:yes, that's right (Score:5, Insightful)
I see UFOs all the time. I don't expect them to be aliens, I just have other things I need to do then Identifying everything I see in the sky. Heck earlier this week while driving home I saw something in the sky and I didn't know if it was a high flying helicopter, or an airplane that was even higher that was just reflecting the sunset.
There was a time earlier this week I saw something flying above my house, I couldn't tell if it was a hawk or an eagle.
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Same as the bird, is it your JOB to identify and classify birds? Do you run around on weekends bird spotting? Well then I am not surprised (nor do I expect) you to be able to tell the difference between a hawk or an eagle.
And when I say UFO I mean the actually acronym, I don't mean ALIENS!
Although, they may actually BE aliens, who knows, because they
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The reality is that we are alone.
That's why I have cats!
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Also, if I were an alien wanting to visit Earth without causing confusion I would certainly do everything possible to not be seen, rigth?
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They can't stop all of us etc. etc.
No, but the aliens can!
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The UFOs could be false images produced by software or by hardware glitches, or hot, cold or density anomalies in the upper atmosphere.
The UFOs could also be cats that were launched unwittingly into the atmosphere by an ice cream truck that exploded in just the right fashion. But, since we're engaging in pure speculation, I guess we'll never know.