Politico | US Navy drafting new guidelines for reporting UFOs

Video grab shows a 2004 encounter near San Diego between two Navy F/A-18F fighter jets and an unknown object. Photo: US Department of Defence

The US Navy is drafting new guidelines for pilots and other personnel to report encounters with “unidentified aircraft”, a significant new step in creating a formal process to collect and analyse the unexplained sightings – and destigmatise them.

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The previously unreported move is in response to a series of sightings of unknown, highly advanced aircraft intruding on US Navy strike groups and other sensitive military formations and facilities, the service says.

“There have been a number of reports of unauthorised and/or unidentified aircraft entering various military-controlled ranges and designated air space in recent years,” the US Navy said in a statement in response to questions from POLITICO.

“For safety and security concerns, the US Navy and the [US Air Force] takes these reports very seriously and investigates each and every report.