WASHINGTON (AP) — A brand new Pentagon workplace set as much as monitor experiences of unidentified flying objects has obtained “a number of lots of” of recent experiences, however no proof to this point of alien life, the company’s management instructed reporters Friday.

The All-domain Anomaly Decision Workplace (AARO) was arrange in July and is chargeable for not solely monitoring unidentified objects within the sky, but additionally underwater or in area — or probably an object that has the flexibility to maneuver from one area to the subsequent.

The workplace was established following greater than a yr of consideration on unidentified flying objects that navy pilots have noticed however have generally been reluctant to report as a consequence of concern of stigma.

In June 2021 the Workplace of the Director of Nationwide Intelligence reported that between 2004 and 2021, there have been 144 such encounters, 80 of which had been captured on a number of sensors.

Since then, “we’ve had heaps extra reporting,” mentioned anomaly workplace director Sean Kirkpatrick. When requested to quantify the quantity, Kirkpatrick mentioned “a number of lots of.”

An up to date report from the Director of Nationwide Intelligence that can present particular figures on new experiences obtained since 2021 is anticipated by the tip of the yr, the officers mentioned.

The workplace was arrange not solely to look at the query of whether or not there’s extraterrestrial life, but additionally due to the safety threat posed by so many encounters with unknown flying objects by navy installations or navy plane.

This Could, Congress held its first listening to in additional than half a century on the subject, with a number of members expressing concern that whether or not or not the objects are alien or probably new, unknown know-how being flown by China, Russia or one other potential adversary, the unknown creates a safety threat.

To this point, “we’ve got not seen something, and we’re nonetheless very early on, that might lead us to consider that any of the objects that we’ve got seen are of alien origin,” mentioned Ronald Moultrie, below secretary of protection for intelligence and safety. “Any unauthorized system in our airspace we deem as a risk to security.”

The workplace can also be engaged on methods to enhance its capability to determine unknown objects, corresponding to by recalibrating sensors that could be centered simply on recognized adversary plane or drone signatures, Moultrie mentioned.

One purpose for the lots of of extra experiences coming in could be the outreach the division has executed to destigmatize reporting potential encounters. Every service has additionally established its personal reporting processes, Kirkpatrick mentioned.

Past unidentifiable objects, there’s lots of new know-how — corresponding to future stealth bombers and stealth fighters, drones and hypersonic missiles being fielded by each the U.S. and China — that may very well be mistaken for a UFO. Kirkpatrick mentioned the brand new workplace has been coordinating with the Pentagon and the U.S. intelligence neighborhood to get the signatures of U.S. know-how so as to rule out these plane or drones.

“We’re organising very clear mechanisms with our blue packages, each our DOD and IC packages, to deconflict any observations that are available in with blue actions, and be certain that we weed these out and determine these pretty early on,” Kirkpatrick mentioned, referring to the “blue” U.S. plane packages in operation by the Pentagon or intelligence businesses.