Unidentified flying objects, things that used to be rarely spotted and normally disregarded, have recently become a point of contention and investigation. Within the first two weeks of February, the U.S. shot down four UFOs. Not only were there numerous shoot downs, but there have been over 1000 sightings of them around the country. These UFOs have created so many questions and many have yet to be answered. 

For decades, people have seen different things in the sky that they claim to be “UFOs”. However, it wasn’t until recently that the U.S. had an actual way to identify these objects. Many fighter jets have caught footage showing different floating objects moving in mysterious ways. Soon after, Congress issued a report on unidentified flying objects that detailed actual accounts of UFOs sightings and detections. From there, the government has put a greater focus on finding an explanation. 

Although UFO’s are usually associated with aliens and extraterrestrial activity, The White House doesn’t believe the recent takedowns are related to any of this. According to NPR, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, “There is no – again, no- indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these takedowns.” The National Security Council also believes that these UFOs present no actual threat to citizens. So what exactly might they be?

Well, there are few explanations for what these mystery objects might be. They have been given an umbrella term – clutter – which could be a number of things including birds, balloons, drones, or even ice crystals. However, one of the most likely explanations are balloons sent from other countries. It is possible that countries like China have been sending in balloons to gather sensitive data they wouldn’t otherwise be able to collect. The U.S. Military has recently shot one of these down, making this an even more plausible explanation.

The government and Military have been working hard to figure out what to do with these objects and how they can better identify them. As more of these unidentified flying objects are found, there is a greater national focus on them and hopefully more questions will get answered soon.