UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN - DE ALLERLAATSTE NIEUWTJES

The subject of UFOs has undergone a bit of a renaissance in recent weeks, following a landmark New York Times report that detailed the Pentagon’s ongoing interest in the phenomenon. However, these recent revelations are not the only government information that has been released on the subject in the last few years, nor are they by any means the most perplexing.

And to wit, neither is the United States the only country to have revealed documents that detail its interest in UFOs. Among the most unusual UFO disclosures that have occurred since the new millennium were the release of a series of Russian Navy files in 2009, detailing a number of bizarre underwater encounters with the strange objects.

“At last!” exclaimed Phil Ewing, writing at Navy Times‘ Scoop Deck blog. “Some post-Soviet documents the world can really sink its teeth into! Enough of this people-who-the-KGB-tried-to-assassinate nonsense: The Russian Navy has declassified its records of encounters with UFOs.” According to one naval intelligence officer quoted after the release, “[The objects] are most often seen in the deepest part of the Atlantic Ocean, in the southern part of the Bermuda Triangle, and also in the Caribbean Sea,” prompting former Russian navy officer Vladimir Azhazha to claim the documents “are of great value.”

So looking back, just what did the documents have to say on the subject, and how does it contrast with more recent dialogue on the subject of UFOs, following the release of information about a (possibly ongoing) Pentagon UFO program?

“On several occasions the instruments gave reading of material objects moving at incredible speed,” one sub commander was quoted by Wired. “Calculations showed speeds of about 230 knots, or 400 kph. Speeding so fast is a challenge even on the surface. But water resistance is much higher. It was like the objects defied the laws of physics. There’s only one explanation: the creatures who built them far surpass us in development.”

Russian language users on the popular Above Top Secret forum also managed to post translations of some of the relevant portions of the document, which included reports of strange lights that appeared to emanate from deep below the lake, which some observers had likened to light produced by electric welding:

(There is) very impressive data on the observation of a UFO in Baikal lake. (Within) the depths of the lake sailors repeatedly observed luminescence resembling searchlights and flashes similar to electric welding, as well as in the lake radius in the form of unexplained bright luminous silver discs and cylinders.

However, the most tantalizing incident that the report detailed, and one that was widely reported coinciding with the release of the Russian documents, involved an alleged incident that occurred in 1982, during which several divers were killed during a training exercise under mysterious circumstances:

In summer 1982 military divers, during their training, dived in the water of Lake Baikal several times and almost came face-to-face with underwater swimmers in their body-fitting silver jumpsuits. They looked similar to normal people, only about three meters tall. In addition, at a depth of 50 meters, (the beings) had neither an aqualung, or any other devices, but their heads were concealed in spherical helmets. Attempting to catch (the) unidentified divers ended tragically. From seven people trying to do this using a net, four became disabled and three died.

Laik Baikal as seen from satellite imagery, featuring an unusual circular area of think ice believed to have been caused by convection.

These incidents, and in particular the 1982 account involving divers that were injured or killed, are very unusual, to say the least. In truth, they have perplexed many of us for years; are they an early instance of Russian “fake news” and propaganda, which media in different countries–America in particular–bought hook, line, and sinker? Or, to the contrary, had the odd nature of the Russian releases been due to the fact that the tone of the information differed from the way U.S. government agencies might have dealt with similar disclosures (which have traditionally maintained secrecy toward the UFO subject)?

On an interesting side note, Lake Baikal has long been associated with strange phenomena and, yes, even UFOs. In 1946, Russian science fiction writer Alexander Kazantsev wrote a fiction short story titled “A Visitor From Outer Space” which offered an imaginative explanation for the 1908 Tunguska Blast: it was caused by the explosion of a Martian spacecraft’s nuclear engine, as it attempted to gather water from the lake.

The U.S. Navy has also disclosed information pertaining to incidents that seem to have involved UFOs. One widely reported case involved the USS Princeton, which according to a 2004 report had been tracking mysterious objects for several weeks. Popular Mechanics reported of the incident that “two F/A-18F (twin seater) Super Hornets from the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz were flying 100 miles off the coast of San Diego when a nearby U.S. Navy guided missile cruiser, the USS Princeton, contacted them and asked what weapons they were carrying.”

Still image from footage of one of the responding Super Hornets during the famous 2004 USS Princeton incident.

At the time, the Super Hornets were carrying unfirable AIM-9 Sidewinder “dummies,” to which the USS Princeton responded by saying, “Well, we’ve got a real-world vector for you,” which led to an interception attempt with a pair of objects, one of which had been located directly below an area of churning water, the other hovering approximately 50 feet above the surface. Neither of the unusual objects, detailed in the Popular Mechanics article, were able to be intercepted or identified. The fighters from the Nimitz were able to document parts of this interception on film, parts of which were publicly disclosed last year coinciding with the December 2017 New York Times article.

For many who ignored UFO reports such as these, and dismissed them as being far-fetched, the December 2017 New York Times article on Luis Elizondo and the Pentagon’s Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program. program (along with accompanying video purporting to show the objects) was indeed revelatory. However, as such naval records obtained from both U.S. and Russian sources listed above have shown, the Times article was only the most recent installment in a long, confusing narrative involving unusual phenomenon in our skies–and our seas–for which no conclusive explanation has yet been offered.

Last November, an unusual incident over Oregon made headlines after a mystery aircraft–resembling a jet by some descriptions–was tracked by various aviation authorities. The incident produced no results in terms of who had been piloting the aircraft, and for what reason, although attempts to communicate with and track the aircraft ultimately proved unsuccessful, as it had reportedly been “invisible” on radar at the time.

However, new details about the case have now emerged, following a new Freedom of Information Act request which provides further details on the unusual incident.

Tyler Rogoway, a writer for The Drive‘s “The Warzone,” first heard about the story from associates of his in aviation, as well as via a Reddit thread that appeared seemingly in relation to the incident. This information was later confirmed through dialogue with the FAA, NORAD, and USAF officials.

Along with a summary Rogoway penned for The Warzone, a series of Freedom of Information Act appeals were made in relation to the incident. Now, several months after the incident took place, FOIA data released to The Drive helps to further corroborate the incident, and according to Rogoway, represents what “could be one of the most insightful instances of official documentation surrounding such an encounter that had already been confirmed to have occurred by both the FAA and the USAF.”

Included with the release were a number of audio recordings of telephone conversations between officials, discussing the incident and the actions that were taken by official agencies in response to it.

According to the newly released data, the object was described as being a large aircraft by the pilots who saw it, who most commonly referred to it as a jet. Its coloration appeared to be white, or at least light-colored, and the aircraft was flying at an altitude of approximately 37,000 feet. It was also reported that the object was “moving at a clip” (fast, in other words) and that it was neither responding to attempts at radio communication nor was it being detected on radar or by traffic collision avoidance systems on the nearby aircraft.

What can we determine from this, and do any observations come to mind immediately? One thing that seems clear is that the object was probably not an experimental drone, as some suggested previously since it is unlikely that any unmanned remote-controlled aircraft would have to be as large as the aircraft seen over Oregon. Also, while it may be tempting to treat the object as an “unknown,” most descriptions did indicate that the object most closely resembled a jet (although distance had been a prime factor in making further details about its appearance less easily determinable).

Altogether, Rogoway has done a fine job reporting on the incident and gathering additional information about it. Also, he acknowledged what the circumstances here seem to entail, in light of the New York Times report on the Pentagon’s “secret” UFO program, noting that, “after recent reports unmasking how the Pentagon remains highly interested in encounters just like this one, it holds even more weight than it did three months ago.”

As to the origins of the aircraft that was observed over the northwest last fall, there is still a lot that remains unclear. Despite reports that likened the object’s appearance to that of a large jet, we can’t be certain as to what kind of plane the incident involved. Equally perplexing is the question of what it was doing flying at this altitude, and in broad daylight, while remaining unresponsive to queries from the FAA and other agencies (and let us not forget that concern over the aircraft’s presence prompted the scrambling of a group of F-15s, with the mission of intercepting the object).

As with the more esoteric incidents involving unexplained aerial phenomenon, this one leaves a lot to the imagination and even more questions than answers with the release of the new FOIA data. Pending further data in the future, this UFO “cold case” will for now remain one of the many mysteries of the skies that occasionally still transpire in modern times.