The US MQ-9 Reaper drone has detected a “metallic sphere” without thermal emissions in the skies over the Middle East.
The MQ-9 Reaper drone captured footage during an encounter with an unidentified flying object in the Middle East. (Illustration: Getty Images).
On April 19, the Pentagon declassified a video captured by the MQ-9 Reaper drone showcasing an encounter with an unidentified flying object (UFO) in the Middle East. This incident, which occurred last year, marks the first encounter between a drone and a UFO. The US military has since reclassified unidentified flying objects as Unexplained Aerial Phenomena (UAP).
During a Senate hearing, Sean Kirkpatrick, Director of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) at the Pentagon, described the bright “metallic sphere” as a “spherical UAP.”
“It is silver in color, somewhat opaque, metallic, flying at altitudes of 3,000 to 10,000 meters with variable speed and no thermal emissions,” he stated. The behavior of this metallic sphere is similar to other UAPs previously detected in the area.
Kirkpatrick did not dismiss the possibility that the sphere could be a breakthrough technology from an adversary, but he acknowledged that its speed and design are quite impressive. He also noted that it could be classified under “known objects or phenomena” or even “extraterrestrial.”
AARO was established in July of last year to consolidate all Department of Defense and other federal agency projects aimed at detecting, identifying, and classifying unusual aerial, underwater, and environmental phenomena.
The Pentagon officially released the UFO video that appeared in the Middle East.
