Why the US leads in UFO sightings; here's the surprising truth behind the numbers revealed
For decades, the United States has been the epicenter of global UFO discussions, recording more sightings than any other country. Since 1947, over 100,000 incidents have been logged, according to the
National UFO Reporting Center
. Although the UK briefly surpassed the US in annual reports in 2025, America still holds the highest cumulative count. This persistent trend has puzzled both skeptics and enthusiasts. However, a recent government report now offers a surprising explanation which suggests that many of these sightings may be linked to misinformation campaigns and military operations rather than genuine extraterrestrial encounters.
UFO sightings in the US linked to the decades of military disinformation: Report
A new report from the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) which is a Pentagon-backed investigative unit launched in 2022. This has revealed many of the so-called UFO sightings may stem not from extraterrestrial activity but from deliberate human-made disinformation.
According to the ET reports, AARO, led by physicist Sean Kirkpatrick, has been tasked with examining Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs) across air, sea, space, and land. Stretching back to the 1940s, the team reviewed military archives and conducted interviews with former and active personnel uncovering the surprising strategies which shaped the modern UFO narrative.
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Secret military strategies behind UFO reports
One of the most revealing insights was that several UFO conspiracy theories were purposefully created and circulated by the US military during the Cold War. These fabrications served as cover stories for secret weapons development and testing. According to the Wall Street Journal, these disinformation campaigns were decentralized, making it nearly impossible to assess their full extent.
Among the most infamous myths examined was that of Area 51, which, according to the report, became a focal point of UFO lore largely due to intentional leaks and staged evidence designed to obscure classified aircraft programs.
When military briefings turned into elaborate UFO pranks
The report highlights a little-known but fascinating aspect of military culture: classified induction prank aimed at new Air Force commanders. In this hoax, officers were presented with forged documents and doctored images about a fictional secret program called 'Yankee Blue', which supposedly involved the reverse engineering of alien spacecraft.
New recruits were sternly warned never to speak of the program, reinforcing its illusion. Some officers remained unaware for years that the entire briefing was a fabrication. In one notable case, a retired colonel, following orders, handed fake UFO photos to a bar owner near Area 51, igniting public speculation and helping mask the development of the F-117 Nighthawk stealth jet.
Misidentified objects and secret tests behind UFO sightings
Some sightings were part of deliberate misinformation but others resulted from the misinterpretations of ordinary objects or covert operations. The AARO's findings indicate that many UFOs were:
High-altitude balloons
Birds and drones
Light reflections
Starlink satellites
One widely cited incident involved a former Air Force captain who claimed a UFO interfered with a nuclear missile launch. However, AARO concluded that the event was a classified electromagnetic pulse (EMP) test, and the officer was intentionally kept uninformed to maintain operational secrecy.
Why some people still believe in UFOs
AARO report points to pop culture as a key driver of UFO sightings in addition to covert military operations. Significantly how people interpret the unexplained visuals in the sky such as the explosion of alien-themed movies, TV Shows, and online content. AARO publicly confirmed that no verified evidence of alien materials has been found in March 2024. The rise in public reports is largely attributed to cultural influence and misidentified military activities.
Although the reports regarding the existence of the alien materials were verified, the fascination with UFOs persists. The former Navy Navy pilot Ryan Graves described a mysterious object that appeared to be a 'dark gray or black cube inside a clear sphere,' flying dangerously close between two military jets and an account still under review. As per current reports, AARO receives 50 to 100 reports each month where the majority of which are resolved very quickly. However, still some remain unexplained keeping the debates still alive, The Department of Defense has committed to publishing a second volume of its historical UFO analysis. This upcoming report is expected to dive deeper into the use of falsified evidence, misleading briefings, and military pranks, further demystifying decades of UFO lore.
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