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UAP Task Force

The UAP Task Force (UAPTF) was a working group of the U.S. Department of Defense, established in 2020 and operating within naval intelligence, that collected and analyzed data on unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP). In November 2021 it was replaced by the AOIMSG.

The UAP Task Force (UAPTF) was a working group of the U.S. Department of Defense. Its establishment was approved by Deputy Secretary of Defense David L. Norquist on August 4, 2020, and the Navy announced it on August 14. The task force was led by the Navy, under the oversight of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security. Its mission was to detect, analyze and catalog unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP – Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) that could pose a threat to U.S. national security.

Background

In June 2020, the Senate Intelligence Committee voted to have the Department of Defense and the intelligence agencies prepare a report on what they know about unidentified aerial phenomena and how they collect data on them. The request was included in the committee report accompanying the Intelligence Authorization Act for fiscal year 2021, at the initiative of Senator Marco Rubio.

The preliminary assessment

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) released the preliminary assessment titled "Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena" on June 25, 2021. It examined 144 incidents reported between November 2004 and March 2021, mainly by Navy pilots. Of these, one could be identified with certainty: a large, deflating balloon. The rest remained unexplained.

According to the report, unusual movement was observed in 18 incidents, for example objects remaining stationary in the wind or moving against the wind, and in 11 incidents pilots had near misses with a UAP. The possible explanations were sorted into five categories: airborne "clutter," natural atmospheric phenomena, U.S. government or industry developmental programs, foreign adversary systems, and an "other" category. According to the report, there was no data indicating that any UAP was part of a foreign intelligence collection program, and it also found no evidence pointing to extraterrestrial life. At that point the Navy had been collecting UAP reports in a standardized format for only two years.

Aftermath

On November 23, 2021, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks established a group called the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group (AOIMSG), which took over the coordination of UAP matters across the entire department, extending beyond the Navy's purview. A July 15, 2022 department memorandum assigned the AOIMSG's duties to a new office called the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) and directed the Navy to disestablish the UAP Task Force no later than the establishment of AARO. The Department of Defense announced the establishment of AARO on July 20, 2022.

Sources

  1. Establishment of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (U.S. Navy, 2020. augusztus 14.)
  2. Senate Intel Committee Wants to Know What the US Knows About UFOs (Aviation Pros, 2020. június 30.)
  3. Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (ODNI, 2021. június 25.)
  4. The US government just released its long-awaited report on UFOs (Mother Jones, 2021)
  5. ODNI 2021 Report: The Preliminary Assessment of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (New Space Economy, 2025)
  6. 5 explanations for 144 mysterious flying objects in the government UFO report (Popular Science)
  7. Pentagon creates new organization to investigate mysterious objects in the sky (Military Times, 2021. november 23.)
  8. Establishment of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (U.S. Department of Defense, 2022. július 15.)

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