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This is the written testimony that former Navy F/A-18 pilot Ryan Graves gave to the House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs at its first public hearing on UAP. Graves says that UAP are routinely seen but underreported, and that stigma and heavy classification hide what the government knows. He describes the encounters his squadron had in Warning Area W-72 off Virginia Beach. He also calls for commercial pilot reporting, empowered investigation and declassification of UAP data.
Chairman Grothman, Ranking Member Garcia, distinguished Members of the House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs, Representatives Burchett and Luna, thank you for holding the first public hearing on UAP to hear from military pilots and whistleblowers. My name is Ryan “FOBS” Graves and I am a former F-18 pilot with over a decade of service in the U.S. Navy, including two deployments in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Inherent Resolve. I have witnessed advanced UAP on multiple sensor systems firsthand, and I'm here to voice the concerns of countless commercial aircrew and military veterans who have confided their similar encounters with me. I can tell you that advanced UAP are a national security and an aviation safety problem. It has been more than a decade since my squadron began witnessing advanced UAP demonstrating complex maneuvers on a regular basis, and we still don’t have answers. I founded Americans for Safe Aerospace to create a center of support, research, and public education for aircrew impacted by UAP encounters. We now have nearly 5,000 members and are actively working with more than 30 UAP witnesses who have approached us. I am also the Chair of the UAP Integration & Outreach Committee for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, where we have assembled a volunteer team of almost 80 PhDs and aerospace engineers dedicated to tackling the science around this issue. Today, I would like to center our discussion around three critical issues that demand our immediate attention and concerted action: 1. As we convene here, UAP are in our airspace, but they are grossly underreported. These sightings are not rare or isolated; they are routine. Military aircrews and commercial pilots, trained observers whose lives depend on accurate identification, are frequently witnessing these phenomena. 2. The stigma attached to UAP is real and powerful and challenges national security. It silences commercial pilots who fear professional repercussions, discourages witnesses, and is only compounded by recent government claims questioning the credibility of eyewitness testimony. 3. The government knows more about UAP than shared publicly, and excessive classification practices keep crucial information hidden. There's a lack of transparency around UAP that's unsettling. Since 2021, all UAP videos are classified as secret or above. This level of secrecy not only impedes our understanding but fuels speculation and mistrust. My experience: UAP encounters in W-72 I joined the U.S. Navy in 2009. As a pilot, I was trained to be an expert observer, tasked with identifying any aircraft within our operating area. In 2014, I was near Virginia Beach as part of VFA-11, a Navy Fighter/Attack Squadron made up of F/A-18F Super Hornets. Upon an upgrade
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