Documents / Analysis
This is a case resolution report from the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office of the U.S. Department of Defense, dated 8 May 2023. It covers a 2021 case in which military personnel in Western United States military airspace saw five equidistant lights on infrared and flagged them as a possible incursion into restricted airspace. AARO and its science and technology partners concluded that the objects were almost certainly commercial aircraft up to 300 nautical miles away. The report says sensor vibration and autofocus caused the apparent changes in shape.
UNCLASSIFIED 1 UNCLASSIFIED All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office U.S. Department of Defense (U) Case: “Western United States” Case Resolution | 8 May 2023 (U) Case Essentials (U) Military personnel reported this case due to the observed UAP presenting a potential incursion into restricted airspace. The UAP were described as equidistant lights that flew at a relatively constant pace (U) Location: Western United States military airspace (U) Date(s): 2021 (U) Altitude: Between 20,000 to 40,000 feet (U) Shape: Oblong dots/lights (U) Reporter: Military personnel (U) Sensor: Infrared (IR) (U) Behavior: Equidistant lights that flew at a relatively constant pace (U) Case Status: Resolved; the lights were aircraft up to 300NM away from the sensor (U) Case Overview (U) AARO assesses that the UAP in this case were almost certainly commercial aircraft travelling on well-established air corridors as far as 300 nautical miles from the platform, based on a thorough review of the data by multiple analytical and scientific entities. (U) Military personnel reported seeing five equidistant lights that they believed represented a potential incursion into restricted military airspace. (U) AARO’s Intelligence and Science and Technology (S&T) partners independently came to the same conclusion in accordance with AARO’s analytic framework. (U) The objects strongly correlated with specific commercial aircraft travelling on different air routes up to 300 nautical miles from the sensor. (U) Intelligence Assessment (U) Analysis of the objects’ positions and acquisition of additional data led AARO to the conclusion that the objects were significantly farther from the platform than originally estimated by the observers. (U) Apparent changes in the UAP shapes were the result of sensor vibration and autofocus. (U) Analysis of air-traffic control data suggested the objects were likely commercial aircraft transiting known flight corridors between major airports in the region.
Not linked to a story yet.
Analysis, from the aaro collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 2 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.