WASHINGTON - U.S. Navy pilots and sailors won't be considered crazy for reporting unidentified flying objects, under new rules meant to encourage them to keep track of what they see. Yet just a few years ago, the Pentagon reportedly shut down another official program that investigated UFO sightings. What has changed? Is the U.S. military finally coming around to the idea that alien spacecraft are visiting our planet? The answer to that question is almost certainly no, writes Iain Boyd for Phys.org. Continue reading original article
The Intelligent Aerospace take:
May 17, 2019-Â No, little green men aren't likely after the conquest of humanity. Boyd's piece for Phys.org highlights the reason why the Pentagon wants to identify UFOs: they're unidentified. If a warfighter on the ground or in the sky can't ID an object, that creates a issue since they don't know if it's friendly, adversarial, or neutral. Last year, the Department of Defense released footage captured from a U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet using the Raytheon ATFLIR Pod that was being operated by a trained aerial observer and weapons system operator that showed an object traveling below them that has not yet been identified. With improved technology, Boyd argues that the DoD can reduce UFO sightings simply by providing enabling technologies to identify what people and equipment are observing.
Related: What it takes to keep the B-2 bomber flying
Related: Lockheed Martin celebrates new F-16 production line in South Carolina
Jamie Whitney, Associate Editor
Intelligent Aerospace
