WASHINGTON — In the $600 billion annual Defense Department budgets, the $22 million spent on the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program was almost impossible to find.Which was how the Pentagon wanted it.For years, the program investigated reports of unidentified flying objects, according to Defense Department officials, interviews with program participants and records obtained by The New York Times. It was run by a military intelligence official, Luis Elizondo, on the fifth floor of the Pentagon’s C Ring, deep within the building’s maze.The Defense Department has never before acknowledged the existence of the program, which it says it shut down in 2012. But its backers say that, while the Pentagon ended funding for the effort at that time, the program remains in existence. For the past five years, they say, officials with the program have continued to investigate episodes brought to them by service members, while also carrying out their other Defense Department duties.
According to the article, this incident is from 2004. So 2017 is... 13 years later. Why are they talking about this incident now?
I wonder if the creation of this so-called "Advance Aviation Threat Identification" program was merited based real experiences of military pilots or if this was simply a pet project by powerful lawmakers who have a passion for UFOs. In any case, I imagine these Politico and NYT stories will make many UFO enthusiasts feel somewhat vindicate.
One of the various articles on this subject mentioned 22 million in contracts over several years. That's peanuts in the aerospace world.
Quote from: Markstark on 12/17/2017 02:51 pmOne of the various articles on this subject mentioned 22 million in contracts over several years. That's peanuts in the aerospace world.not the point. And that it is peanuts? problematic... what NewSpace is trying to change I think.
Yet according to its backers, the program remains in existence and officials continue to investigate UFO episodes brought to their attention by service members, the newspaper said.
The recent revelation that a secret U.S. Defense Department program has investigated reports of UFOs has sparked a flurry of conversation in social and mainstream media. But it’s hardly a new topic: debate about whether the UFOs existed – and the Pentagon was covering up their existence -- was covered extensively in Aviation Week & Space Technology more than 50 years ago. And our reporting had a decidedly anti-extra-terrestrial bent.Philip J. Klass, Aviation Week’s legendary avionics editor, published an in-depth analysis in the summer of 1966 suggesting that some reported sightings of UFOs were actually “luminous plasmas of ionized air, a special form of ‘ball lightning’ generated by electric corona that occurs on high-tension power lines under certain conditions.”