What if the so-called alien spacecraft the US military claimed to have sighted were nothing but enemy hypersonic jets?
Later this month, the Pentagon’s Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF) is scheduled to table its much-awaited report on UFOs, whose images have been captured by US Navy pilots on many occasions.
China, Russia Or Aliens: Why Is There A Sudden Surge In UFO Sightings Over US Military Bases?
A preview of the report, however, rules out the possibility of alien spacecraft or any of the US government aircraft, as seen in those images.
Nevertheless, the high speeds and the movements of these unidentified aircraft have left the US authorities surprised. With both Russia and China working on the development of their hypersonic jet technology, is the US finally finding itself left behind in this technology race?
The Pentagon is slated to release its report on June 25. This would shed some light on the origins of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), popularly known as unidentified flying objects (UFOs). A preview of the report was published by the New York Times last week. It mentions that the origin of the UAPs cannot be conclusively explained by the US military. Besides, the report neither confirms these UAPs as alien spacecraft nor as any military or civilian technology of the US government.
The Pentagon released three unclassified videos taken by Navy pilots of "unidentified aerial phenomena,” a step that comes after years of progress towards government transparency surrounding UFOs https://t.co/rwxWufwkj1 pic.twitter.com/01KrDMSDAW
— Forbes (@Forbes) April 29, 2020
The Search For ‘Alien Aircraft’
The UAPTF was established in August 2020 by the Department of Defence. According to a report published by Popular Mechanics, the aim of the task force was to gather information on the nature and origins of the UAPs and to see whether the national security of the US was threatened in any way.
“The mission of the task force is to detect, analyze, and catalog [UAP] that could potentially pose a threat to U.S. national security,” Pentagon spokesperson Sue Gough was quoted as saying.
Earlier in June 2020, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) had also authorized fiscal support to the UAPTF to look into the origins of the UAPs and the possible threat they may pose to US national security.
John Ratcliffe, former Director of National Intelligence mentioned that satellite imagery has captured the sightings of flying objects, whose actions have been found to be difficult to explain. According to Ratcliffe, the objects reportedly moved at speeds exceeding “the sound barrier without a sonic boom”.
Ratcliffe explained that the pressure from the increase in the speed of an aircraft merges into a shockwave. When the plane overtakes the shockwave, moving at a speed greater than that of the speed of sound, the resulting change in pressure causes the sonic boom.
Ratcliffe is of the view, it is highly improbable that the sound barrier can be disrupted by an aircraft, without the creation of the sonic boom in the process. While technological innovations are gearing up to reduce the sonic booms, further research on this subject indicates that removing the sonic boom completely may not be entirely possible.
Russian or Chinese Technology?
It is believed that the US’ arch-rivals Russia and China have been successfully developing hypersonic weapons. In October 2020, a video showed a Chinese Air force H-6N bomber landing at Neixiang Ma’ao air base in China, with what appeared to be a hypersonic weapon system.
Reportedly, China is also working on its Sodramjet engine (standing oblique detonation ramjet engine), which is capable of powering any aircraft to travel at many times the speed of sound, making it possible to reach faraway points on the earth within just two hours.
In October 2020, reports suggested that Russia tested a new hypersonic missile- the 3M22 Zircon. On its launch, traveling at a top speed of Mach 8, or 6,138 miles per hour, the Zircon struck its target which was 267 miles away.
The U.S. military takes UFOs seriously. Why doesn't Silicon Valley or academia?
The government wants to know if these unidentified objects pose a military threat. But they also present an opportunity to advance science and technology, writes @Rizstanfordhttps://t.co/xJ4GPx1w27
— NBC News THINK (@NBCNewsTHINK) April 16, 2021
Recently, Russia also announced that work is steadily progressing on its hypersonic fighter jet. According to reports, the Sukhoi Design Bureau of Russia is currently developing a fifth-generation fighter jet, which is expected to be faster than Mach 2.
For the US authorities, the new hypersonic jets being developed by Russia and China may be a real cause of worry. If the UAPs are indeed the versions of the Russian and Chinese hypersonic aircraft, it means that the two countries may have left the US military far behind in the field of advanced technology.
US Navy Videos
In April 2020, the US Navy had released three videos, taken by Navy pilots. In one of the videos dating back to 2004, off the coast of San Diego, two super hornets from the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, were asked to investigate mysterious aircraft flying in the area.
According to the operator of USS Princeton, which had been tracking these UAPs then, mysterious flying objects suddenly appeared at 80,000 ft. They then stopped at 20,000 ft and after hovering for some time, they disappeared from radar.
When the super hornets flew to the location of the UAPs, they found two hovering objects. The objects were found close to the surface of the water, one just below the surface, while the second was moving about 50 ft above the water surface. The unidentified object rose to the level of the super hornets but eventually moved away.
A similar unexplained sighting was reported in 2015. In the video, the super hornet fighter had a UAP flying just below it at an incredible speed, much to the surprise of the crew of the fighter jet.
An earlier report by The Eurasian Times said that the sudden surge in the “UFO” sightings over US military bases and naval assets could be attributed to deliberate incursions by enemy spy drones.
The report quoted defense Analyst Tyler Rogoway who established a connection between these so-called “extraterrestrial” phenomena and the military intelligence gathering and large-scale espionage by America’s adversaries.
