Fiscal Year 2023 Consolidated Annual Report on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena/UAP Reporting
III. UAP REPORTING IS INCREASING ACROSS THE U.S. GOVERNMENT (USG), AND THE IMPLEMENTATION OF IMPROVED ANALYTIC PROCESSES IS REVEALING TRENDS
A. Overall Trend Analysis
The report covers UAP reports from 31 August 2022 to 30 April 2023, and all UAP reports from any previous time periods that were not included in an earlier report. AARO received a total of 291 UAP reports during this period, consisting of 274 that occurred during this period and another 17 that occurred during previous reporting periods from 2019–2022 but had not been conveyed in previous submissions. Of these reports, 290 occurred within the air domain and one in the maritime domain. No transmedium or space domain UAP reports were submitted to AARO. The increase in reporting is, in part, due to deepening federal relationships and AARO's ability to incorporate new reports into its adjudication and research process. UAP mission partners continue to coordinate, collaborate, and streamline processes. With these new reports, as of 30 April 2023, AARO has received a total of 801 UAP reports.
B. Geographic and Safety Trends Coming into Focus
Reporting from this period continues to depict a strong but shifting collection bias. Most reports still reflect a bias towards restricted military airspace, a result of reporting from military personnel and sensors present in such areas. This bias has been lessened by reporting from commercial pilots showing a more diverse geographic distribution of UAP sightings across the United States. However, these reports mostly cover observations over U.S. airspace and littoral waters, and therefore, as these reports continue to come in, a U.S.-centric collection bias will grow significantly relative to the rest of the world.
Figure 1: Reported UAP Morphologies FY 2023
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Figure 2: Reported Lights FY 2023
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Figure 3: Reported UAP Altitudes FY 2023
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Figure 4: World Map Illustrating Geographic Distribution of UAP Reports FY 2023
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C. Increased FAA Reporting Shifting Geographic Collection Bias and Morphology Trend
AARO has received over 100 UAP incident reports from FAA that contribute to the trend analysis of activity over the United States and its adjacent waters. Of the incident reports FAA has shared with AARO, the vast majority concern sightings of unidentified lights without specific shape at widely varying estimated altitudes (from less than 5,000 feet up to 60,000 feet). None of these reports suggest the UAP were exhibiting anomalous characteristics, maneuvered to an unsafe proximity to civil aircraft, or posed a threat to flight safety to the observing aircraft. AARO will continue to add these reports, as appropriate, to the active archive where they will be used in the overall trend analysis.
D. No Health/Physiological Impacts from UAP Incidents Reported
To date, no encounters with UAP have been confirmed to have directly contributed to adverse health-related effects to the observer(s). ODNI and DoD acknowledge that health-related effects may appear at any time after an event occurs, therefore any reported health implications related to UAP will be tracked and examined if and when they emerge.
E. Data and Intelligence Sources Received Through Various Intelligence Channels
AARO's new integrated analysis process ensures that raw intelligence related to UAP from various intelligence disciplines are assimilated into all-source data packages analyzed by teams of scientists and intelligence analysts. AARO's analysts scour multiple classified and unclassified databases to identify any existing data on each UAP case, prioritizing technical sensor information that yields the highest quantity of pertinent, valuable data for review. As the office employs more sensors specifically tailored for UAP detection, the amount and variety of technical data produced will increase, facilitating more and better analytic fidelity.