If it's not aliens...What were those UFOs?

U.S. Jet passing by the suspected Chinese spy balloon. Source for photo: ABC News

Earlier this month, the United States military shot down three unidentified flying objects (UFOs). The arrival of these unidentified crafts follows the invasion of a Chinese spy balloon, which the United States shot down on February 4th. However, while the White House claims that the Chinese balloon was sent to conduct surveillance, it has not clearly identified the purpose of the other three objects.

Although one U.S. Air Force general said he would “not rule out” the possibility that the three UFOs were extraterrestrial in nature, the White House’s current position seems to be that these were not aliens. Multiple top U.S. officials, including White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and White House Spokesperson John Kirby, have said that there is no indication of the UFOs being related to aliens in any way. 

Four days after the downing of the last object, President Joe Biden made his first comments regarding the situation. Biden stated that the balloons are believed to have most likely been owned by “private companies, recreation or research institutions studying weather or conducting other scientific research.” However, the White House does not believe there is any evidence to suggest that they are linked to the Chinese surveillance attempt. 

But if these objects were simply the property of some private company or research organization, why are so many showing up all of the sudden? One explanation is that rather than there being an increase in the amount of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (or UAPs, the government’s rebranded term for UFOs), the United States has simply been more vigilant in detecting and responding to the presence of these objects recently. 

In fact, the Pentagon has increased military investigation of UAPs in the last few years. Last July, the United States established the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) with the intention of expanding the already existing Airborne Object Identification and Management Group. The agency aims to coordinate with the Department of Defense and other relevant U.S. federal agencies to detect and identify “objects of interest” that could pose a threat to national security. According to a government report, the Pentagon got hundreds of reports of UAPs in 2022. U.S. Intelligence has been able to explain more than half of these sightings, but the nature of many of these cases remain ambiguous. In fact, the U.S. government claims that 171 of the reported objects "appear to have demonstrated unusual flight characteristics or performance capabilities, and require further analysis." 

Still, if so many of these objects are being reported, why has the military not taken action until now? The 2022 government report on UAPs states that the majority of the objects the AARO detected were not of any interest, with many of these objects being harmless balloons, drones, or simple “clutter.” It is possible that the arrival of the Chinese spy balloon and the media scrutiny that came with it has caused the U.S. military to be on unusually high alert. This development could explain the increased response from the United States. Still, the classified version of the UAP report remains inaccessible to the public. However, the situation could be the other way around. With much of the information on UAPs being withheld by the government, perhaps there is something going on here that the government would rather keep secret. Though aliens are probably not the ones responsible for the incursion of these classified objects, one possibility is that foreign powers have already been sending flying crafts into US airspace, before it came to the public’s attention with the Chinese spy balloon. The government's increased effort to detect and respond to the threat of UAPs could signal concerns in the realm of foreign affairs, but for now the public can only speculate.