The Pentagon‘s UFO office former chief has revealed unexplained objects were detected in space – and that some performed maneuvers defying anything in America’s known aerospace arsenal.
Lieutenant Colonel Tim Phillips, who was acting director of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) until last April, told the Daily Mail that while most cases involved objects in the air, some detections extended beyond the atmosphere.
‘I would say probably 90 percent of our cases, if not higher, were always in the air domain,’ Phillips said.
‘Most of these were in the atmosphere, but there were things in space.’
AARO, a team within the Department of War, is tasked with collecting and investigating UFO cases, with a focus on data-backed reports from skilled military members like fighter pilots or radar operators.
Phillips described reports from ‘highly qualified observers’ who witnessed these objects displaying capabilities beyond anything the US government is known to have.
He said the object had the ‘ability to stop very, very quickly, accelerate quickly, right angle turns – the things that aircraft and spacecraft we know don’t behave that way.’
Out of thousands of reports reviewed by AARO, fewer than 50 remained completely unresolved, even after examination by some of the world’s leading experts, he said.
Lieutenant Colonel Tim Phillips, former acting director of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) until last April, said that ‘highly qualified observers’ reported unexplained objects in space performing maneuvers beyond the capabilities of known US aircraft or spacecraft
Of thousands of reports reviewed by AARO, fewer than 50 remain completely unresolved, even after scrutiny by some of the world’s leading experts
The lieutenant colonel also told the Daily Mail that while most cases involved objects in the air, some sightings extended beyond the atmosphere
But those few dozen reports kept the experts scratching their heads.
‘We’re talking some of the best and brightest in the world couldn’t explain what it is,’ Phillips said.
His office was also able to rule out the possibility that the objects belonged to any known US or foreign program.
‘We were able to conclusively prove it wasn’t a known system, either adversary or friendly,’ he said.
Despite the extraordinary nature of some sightings, Phillips told the Daily Mail that the objects never appeared to pose a direct threat.
‘We never saw any hostile behavior,’ he said. ‘I couldn’t speak to the intent, but we saw them in sensitive locations sometimes.’
He also noted that some objects appeared to actively avoid detection.
‘We saw their attempt not to be surveyed, and in other cases they didn’t seem to care,’ Phillips said.
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Phillips was quick to stress that many dramatic sightings turn out to be misidentified classified US programs or objects mistaken for balloons, satellites, aircraft and birds
That language echoes the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s landmark 2021 UFO assessment, which noted data appearing to show objects demonstrating ‘acceleration or a degree of signature management’, a term used to describe active attempts to avoid detection.
Phillips was also quick to stress that many dramatic sightings turn out to be misidentified classified US programs.
In one striking case, he described a witness who accurately reported what they saw – but drew the wrong conclusion entirely.
‘We looked into it and there was a spaceship being tested, but it wasn’t an alien spaceship. It’s one of ours,’ he said.
Phillips has publicly thrown cold water on expectations of any dramatic revelations.
In a LinkedIn post, he wrote: ‘UFO believers will be disappointed by what is disclosed; there is no US Government evidence for beings or their craft visiting earth.’
But his statements on space detections, extraordinary flight performance, and dozens of unexplained cases despite analysis by top experts, are sure to stoke the debate.
He spoke to the Daily Mail in the wake of a shock announcement by President Donald Trump that he had directed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to release any government UFO files still kept secret.
President Donald Trump shockingly announced on Truth Social that he had directed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to release any remaining government UFO files
‘I will be directing the Secretary of War, and other relevant departments and agencies, to begin the process of identifying and releasing government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs), and any and all other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters,’ Trump posted on Truth Social on February 19.
‘We’ve got our people working on it right now,’ Hegseth told reporters Monday. ‘I don’t want to oversell how much time it will take, but we’re digging in.’
Former President Barack Obama also weighed in on the topic this month, telling podcast host Brian Tyler Cohen that he believes aliens are real.
‘They’re real, but I haven’t seen them, and they’re not being kept in Area 51,’ Obama said.
President Trump, asked about Obama’s remarks aboard Air Force One on February 19, said his predecessor had made ‘a big mistake’.
‘He took it out of classified information… He’s not supposed to be doing that,’ Trump said.