US military developing UFO detection kits as Pentagon says no evidence of alien tech found
(CNN) — The US military is developing portable UFO detection kits to collect better data on reports of sightings as the Pentagon says there is no evidence of alien technology found in any government investigation.
The new portable detection kits, consisting of an array of sensors that fit inside a protective case, are currently being tested at a range in Texas, said Timothy Phillips, the acting director of AARO, the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, which was set up in 2022 to catalog and investigate reports of unknown objects.
“If we have a national security site and there are objects being reported that [are] within restricted airspace or within a maritime range or within the proximity of one of our spaceships, we need to understand what that is,” Phillips told reporters Wednesday. “And so that’s why we’re developing sensor capability that we can deploy in reaction to reports.”
The sensor and detection system is called Gremlin, Phillips said, and his office is looking to deploy it to a site with many reports of UAPs, or unidentified anomalous phenomena, which is the Pentagon’s term for what are commonly referred to as UFOs.
But none of the reports reviewed or previous government investigations found extra-terrestrial technology or alien life.
“All investigative efforts, at all levels of classification, concluded that most sightings were ordinary objects and phenomena and the result of misidentification,” according to AARO’s newly released Historical Record Report.
The AARO office looked at US government investigations and efforts related to UFOs dating back to 1945. But these reports did not contain any evidence of the US possessing alien bodies or technology.
Some of the reported sightings of UFOs were people who unknowingly witnessed the testing or use of classified US technology. For example, the claims of seeing alien spacecraft near Roswell, New Mexico, in the late-1940s were consistent with a balloon launched under a classified program called Project Mogul.
“The aggregate findings of all [United States Government] investigations to date have not found even one case of UAP representing off-world technology,” the report said.
The AARO office is also collecting and investigating new reports and sightings of unidentified objects. Phillips said approximately 1,200 cases have been reported to his office. On average, the office receives about 100 new cases each month and clears roughly the same number.
In February, the office closed 122 cases, Phillips said, most of which was debris in the atmosphere. He said 68% of the cases consisted of balloons or airborne garbage that advanced sensors were able to detect.
Asked if they had detected any adversary’s technologies, Phillips said, “As far as advanced technologies, there’s been some cases, but we can’t discuss that here.”
Last October, Sean Kirkpatrick, the former director of AARO, told CNN, “There are some indicators that are concerning that may be attributed to foreign activity and we are investigating those very hard.”
Phillips went on to say that his office had played a part in detecting a Chinese spy balloon that floated across the continental United States before it was shot down last February.
“I can discuss that AARO assisted and helping identify the high-altitude balloon that came from China,” said Phillips. “We were involved in that case.”