Another interesting detail that I forgot to point out: the one that was recorded by a Navy fighter's FLIR (public record, you can find it easily) had virtually no heat coming off of it, while simultaneously being unaffected by the wind and gravity. Which is reason enough for raising eyebrows on its own. Again, I'm not immediately jumping to aliens or anything. I just want it explained adequately, because it seems to defy current capabilities.
I've noticed that the people who think the alleged Navy sightings are genuine seem to generally believe that Navy pilots are beyond reproach, all work no play, never perpetrate hoaxes, never misread their instruments, never get deceived by their own senses, etc etc. From listening to them, you'd get the impression that the testimony of Navy pilots is the firmest sort of scientific evidence.
Well I've met a small number of Naval aviators, and I can tell you that although they were professionals, they were also human. Punking the public for shits and giggles is a real possibility with them.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidhambling/2020/05/11/us-nav...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsEjV8DdSbs
Ultimately, it remains an unidentified flying object, but between West’s conclusion and a physics defying anomaly, I’d lean squarely towards the former.
Which they might not be as inclined to, if they felt that they'd be considered a lunatic.
ETA: the balloons are designed to reflect radar beams from surface ships/submarines that make them appear to be performing all sorts of incredible maneuvers on radar, which is pretty much exactly what you describe here.
[] https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidhambling/2020/05/11/us-nav...
It is possible the people who have made statements don't know about this technology or didn't know it was being used. It would also explain why the higher ups don't seem to really care to find answers.
[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidhambling/2020/05/11/us-nav...
Congress seems very interested in finding out. There is legislation in both the 2022 and 2023 Nation Defense Authorization Acts (NDAA) that mandates government investigation of UAP. An unclassified report was supposed to be delivered to Congress last October but for unknown reasons it has been delayed.
Bennewitz detailed his assertions to the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, who regarded him as a deluded paranoid. UFOlogist William Moore claims that he tried to push Bennewitz, who had been in a mental health facility on three occasions after suffering severe delusional paranoia, into a mental breakdown by feeding him false information about aliens.[1] In 1988, his family checked him into a psychiatric facility.[3] Former special agent for the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations Richard Doty claimed that in the 1980s he was tasked with hoaxing documents and feeding false information to UFO researchers, including Bennewitz.[4] Richard Doty is featured in the 2013 documentary "Mirage Men", a film alleging "how the U.S. government created a myth that took over the world. UFOs, and weapons of mass deception."[5]
> That's why it's actually interesting.
No, what grabbed you attention is that their is some governmental authority behind this. If that wasn't the case, your comment reading as someone whose interest in UFO emerged from the Navy stories, you wouldn't bat an eyelid.
Only a few have been seen with the human eye. The majority are seen via instruments. They know they're the same type of aircraft because their flight styles (or rather, the lack thereof) are identical to the ones seen in person.
They were largely undetected until the Navy rolled out some more advanced sensors/instruments relatively recently, and now they see "flocks" of them flying in formation, or sometimes individuals stationary and unaffected by wind patterns.
Is it aliens? Birds? Foreign drones? Experimental drones from higher echelons of our own government? Nobody knows. That's why it's actually interesting. Because even the Navy can't say it has an answer. But almost nobody seems to be interested in finding out, for some reason, despite them routinely flying in our restricted airspace without permission.