Pentagon Report Reveals Over 150 Unexplained UFOs Were Seen Since 2021

A new report released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence reveals details behind more than 150 previously unexplained UFO sightings among the 366 reported to the Pentagon since March 2021, NBC News reports.

The unclassified report from states that 163 sightings were balloons or "balloon-like entities," 26 reports were unmanned aircrafts or vessels similar to drones and six were either birds, plastic bags or the results of weather events.

The report did, however, specify that “initial characterization does not mean positively resolved or unidentified" in relation to the findings.

Nearly half of the 366 new cases were unexplainable and “appear to have demonstrated unusual flight characteristics or performance capabilities, and require further analysis,” according to the report.

A classified version of the report was sent to lawmakers in Washington, D.C., in adherence with a defense spending bill recently passed by Congress.

The majority of new UFO sightings were reported by Navy and Air Force aviators and operators, which brought the total to 510.

The increase in sightings is believed to be "partially due to a better understanding of the possible threats that UAP may represent, either as safety of flight hazards or as potential adversary collection platforms," as well as the "reduced stigma surrounding UAP reporting."

Additionally, the increase in reporting sightings "allows more opportunities to apply rigorous analysis and resolve events," according to the report.

In November 2021, the U.S. Pentagon announced plans to launch a new office aimed to track and assess unidentified flying objects spotted in military training airspace.

The Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group (AOIMSG) was launched to work alongside other federal agencies to “detect, identify and attribute” UFOs and "assess, and as appropriate, mitigate any associated threats to safety of flight and national security,” Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks confirmed in a memo obtained by DefenseOne.com.

In June 2021, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a preliminary assessment on unidentified aerial phenomena.

In the report, the UAP Task Force admitted to receiving reports of 144 unexplained encounters between the U.S. military and UFOs and didn't rule out the possibility of alien connections, though still not explicitly selling the theory either.

In November 2021, a bipartisan amendment was introduced in Congress by New York senator and former Democratic presidential candidate Kirsten Gillibrand, which aimed to create a more expansive military and intelligence program to study numerous reported UFO sightings of unidentified flying objects by the U.S. Navy and Air Force.

The amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act establishing an "Anomaly Surveillance and Resolution Office" with the approval to pursue "any resource, capability, asset, or process of the Department and the intelligence community" to investigate sightings of UFOs or UAPs within the U.S. Department of Defense was being discussed in Congress, Politico reported.

“We’ve not had oversight into this area for a very long time,” Gillibrand said via Politico. “I can count on one hand the number of hearings I had in 10 years on this topic. That's fairly concerning given the experience our service members have had over the last decade.”

The amendment expanded beyond a previous change made to the House version of the bill, as well as other previous public efforts to study UAPs and UFOs.