Three UFO Videos And Close Ups From Dept of War 5th Release, UAP Sighting News.

Three UFO Videos And Close Ups From Dept of War 5th Release, UAP Sighting News.
Glowing lights seen by fishermen in Colorado, USA Sep 17, 2026 UAP sighting news 👽
Date of sighting: Sept 17, 2026
Earth's centre of mass is MOVING, NASA warns – and it could wreak havoc on satellite positioning data and navigation systems
Earth's centre of mass is constantly moving in time with the seasons, experts have revealed.
A team of scientists at NASA said our planet is continually sloshing and sagging under the weight of water, ice and air.
These are all affected by winter freezes, springtime thaws, churning oceans and changing atmospheric pressure.
Because of this, Earth's centre of mass swivels around its geometric centre by as much as several millimetres, they revealed.
And it could be throwing off satellite data and navigation systems.
'While these movements might appear tiny, our modern world relies on extremely accurate positioning measurements,' co-author Felix Landerer, from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said.
'By unravelling and understanding the mechanisms that change reference systems, we can build better reference systems that ultimately benefit mapping and navigation – from global shipping logistics to precision agriculture.'

Earth's centre of mass is constantly moving thanks to springtime thaws, churning oceans and dense winter air, NASA revealed

Earth's centre of mass continually swivels around its geometric centre by as much as several millimetres as the seasons change
Driven by gravity, satellites naturally orbit Earth's centre of mass as if bound by invisible tethers.
Therefore, tiny changes in the distance between satellites and ground stations reflect Earth's shifting centre of mass.
Dense metal satellites resembling enormous disco balls are already orbiting Earth, and have done so for decades.
But they are limited by the uneven distribution of ground stations around Earth – which can make measurements slightly less accurate.
For the study, published in Geophysical Journal International, lead author Donald Argus and his team developed a new technique to track the size of Earth's swivel based on ultraprecise satellite tracking.
They added GPS tracking, as well as orbital data from several other satellites in low Earth orbit to provide a diverse array of 'targets'.
It also considers how the weight of water and ice can deform the Earth's crust – and how this can affect ground stations, too.
The scientists tracked Earth's centre of mass oscillating with the seasons, and said this is likely caused by changes to the oceans, atmosphere and continental water as the months go by.

A team of scientists at NASA said our planet is continually sloshing and sagging under the weight of water, ice and air

The scientists tracked Earth's centre of mass oscillating with the seasons, and said this is likely caused by changes to the oceans, atmosphere and continental water as the months go by
They found that snow accumulation in North America and Eurasia reaches a maximum in March and shifts Earth's centre of mass about three millimetres toward the North Pole.
A month later, in April, rainwater in the Amazon River basin peaks at 2,400 gigatons, swinging Earth's centre of mass 2.2 millimetres toward South America.
Monsoon water in southeast Asia attains a maximum of 600 gigatons seven months later in November, adding slightly to the annual oscillation.
Between August and October, the oceans swell with meltwater and rain, and Earth's centre of mass shifts toward the South Pacific Ocean.
They also found that cold, dense, winter air helps tip the scales over Arabia, Asia, and northern Africa around December 21 each year, and over South America and South Africa around June 21.
Overall, they discovered that the Earth's centre of mass is actually moving less than previously estimated.
'We're now estimating the size of the movement of Earth's mass centre back and forth each year to be about half of what we believed it to be eight years ago,' Dr Argus said. 'Our findings suggest that the mass of Earth's water and air moving between the hemispheres is smaller than previously thought.'
Alongside Earth's centre of mass, scientists have confirmed the geographical North Pole is also moving – and could shift nearly 90 feet (27 metres) by 2100.
As the planet's ice sheets and glaciers melt, this is causing a rapid redistribution of the Earth's mass, causing the pole to shift.
Researchers measured the movement of the poles between 1908 and 2000 and compared this with projections of ice melt to see how far they might move in the future.
In the worst-case scenario, in which greenhouse gas emissions are not reduced, the dramatic melting of the ice sheets will have moved the poles 89 feet between 1900 and 2100.
In a more optimistic scenario in which greenhouse gas emissions are reduced, the North Pole will still move as much as 39 feet (12 metres).
EXCLUSIVE - Pentagon releases stunning new UFO files showing 'flying saucers' and mysterious formations that baffled the military for decades
The sixth batch of UFO files has been released by the Pentagon, showing clusters of alleged spacecraft flying through the sky for decades.
The latest tranche was made public Friday morning, with the focus on a famous 1952 UFO sighting by a Navy photographer in Tremonton, Utah.
The newly released footage revealed ten to 14 bright objects in a clear blue sky. Newhouse, a Navy warrant officer who was on vacation with his family at the time, described them as looking like two discs stacked on top of each other - creating the classic 'flying saucer' shape.
He added in incident reports that the UFOs had a shiny metallic or gunmetal color and were moving around in a loose circle while generally heading west.
The US Air Force’s old UFO investigation office, Project Blue Book, studied the film for months and was never able to fully explain what Newhouse had filmed.
Over 70 years later, military aircraft over the Middle East captured another mysterious cluster of UFOs traveling in a highly organized formation.
The group of glowing orbs was seen traveling past an oil rig, flying at high speed next to each other in an almost perfect horizontal line before splitting up into groups of three.
The latest files also contained dozens of witness reports, videos of UFO sightings and newly declassified files documenting how a private company owned by billionaire Robert Bigelow was contracted by the Pentagon to study UFO sightings and futuristic technology.

Footage from a 1952 Navy photographer has been released, showing what the sailor described as a group of flying saucers

In 2025, another cluster of UFOs was seen by US military aircraft over the Middle East
Among the hundreds of pages of never-before-seen documents released on Friday were expense reports coming from the Defense Intelligence Agency - the Pentagon’s military intelligence service which studies foreign military technology and possible future threats.
The documents detailed how tens of millions of dollars were spent on a program called AAWSAP: Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program. It ran from 2008 to 2012.
Among the futuristic technology the group secretly contracted researchers to investigate were space-age materials including metallic glass, a faster-than-light method of travel known as warp drive, the ability to make objects invisible using a cloaking device and the creation of laser weapons for the military.
Among the files, were drawings of an experimental craft that would, in theory, be able to travel to distant planets by creating a 'warp bubble' that could allow the ship to travel faster than light by contracting spacetime in front of it and expanding spacetime behind it.
In simpler terms, defense officials were working on a way to move this wheel-shaped ship through space and time without the craft actually moving faster than light locally - like riding through an invisible expressway in the fabric of the universe.
The files on cloaking reviewed ideas for making an object harder to see by bending or hiding light, heat or radar signals around it.
Meanwhile, researchers also surveyed high-powered laser weapons and how that technology had developed over the years. The Department of War publicly revealed in May that 'directed energy weapons' were now a part of the military's arsenal.

Artist's concept of a warp drive spacecraft being researched by the Pentagon

The Pentagon also awarded millions of the dollars to study the ability to make people and objects invisible by creating a cloaking device
The group awarded the contract for this work was Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS).
BAASS was a subsidiary company set up by Robert Bigelow, the businessman behind Budget Suites of America and Bigelow Aerospace. He has also been known to have a strong personal interest in UFOs and government transparency.
In July, UFO researcher and documentary filmmaker Mark Christopher Lee alleged that Bigelow was part of President Trump's inner circle which convinced the president to prepare a speech which would announce the existence of UFOs and extraterrestrial life at some point in the future.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Bigelow for comment on the UFO files and the claims by Lee.

The sixth batch of UFO files contained multiple videos of alleged UFO encounters, including orbs traveling over land and sea at high speeds

Multiple videos released by the Pentagon on September 18 showed glowing orbs moving at high speed as US military aircraft followed them
In total, 71 files were released by the Pentagon on Friday, which can be seen by the public on their UFO disclosure website.
President Trump ordered that all information being held by the government related to UFOs and the search for extraterrestrial life be disclosed to the American people in February.
The first tranche of declassified reports began rolling out in May, however, the releases have been met by more criticism than praise, as no 'smoking gun' piece of evidence has materialized as of yet.
Members of Congress, government whistleblowers and UFO researchers have all claimed that more files are coming, with more definitive proof of some sort of non-human intelligence visiting Earth.
'We are getting more and more proof that we are not alone,' Lee claimed in a statement. 'Washington is not dumping the whole story in one go. It is drip-feeding it. File by file. Week by week. It feels like they are walking the public toward a bigger reveal.'
A former US Army Green Beret and a group of well-known Christian pastors who were briefed on the UFO disclosure campaign told the Daily Mail more evidence is expected to come - including possible physical evidence of extraterrestrials.
Bishop Alan DiDio, a pastor in North Carolina, revealed: 'There's gonna be some interesting things released, from what I hear, that there's much more clearer videos, possibly the talk of biologics.'
DiDio told the Daily Mail the timeline emerged from confidential sources in government agencies who contacted him after the publication of his book 'Summoning the Demon, about AI, aliens, and the Antichrist.'
'They just seem to all be pointing toward 27, and things are gonna be released in 27,' DiDio explained.
RELATED
Has Queen Nefertiti finally been found? New scans provide fresh evidence for a hidden chamber beyond Tutankhamun's tomb that could hold the remains of his long-lost stepmother
It is the most famous tomb in the world, extensively studied by Egyptologists since it was discovered by Howard Carter more than a century ago and visited by hundreds of thousands every year.
But archaeologists believe they may have uncovered a new secret hiding behind the walls of Tutankhamun’s tomb.
For scans have revealed tantalising evidence of a previously unknown network of corridors and chambers just metres from the young pharaoh’s burial chamber.
If the researchers are right, they could contain one of ancient Egypt’s greatest missing treasures – the long-lost burial place of his stepmother, Queen Nefertiti.
The study, first reported in Nature, involved a range of geophysical surveys and clues from ground-penetrating radar.
Analysis of the tomb structure, the ground around it and wall paintings indicate there is a 'hidden complex' of corridors and rooms.
They appear to pre-date the entombment of Tutankhamun, the experts said – suggesting they could hold the remains of his stepmother.
And, if confirmed, the discovery could 'rank among the most transformative archaeological discoveries of the modern era'.

New scans have revealed tantalising evidence of a previously unknown network of corridors and chambers (pictured in purple and yellow) just metres from the young pharaoh's burial chamber (in grey). KV 9 refers to the nearby tomb of the pharaohs Ramesses V and Ramesses VI

A room inside the tomb of King Tutankhamun, who died at the age of 18 or 19, in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, Egypt. Analysis of the tomb structure, the ground around it and wall paintings indicate there is a 'hidden complex' of corridors and rooms
The idea that there could be a hidden chamber within the tomb containing Tutankhamun's predecessor, Nefertiti, was first proposed in 2015 by British Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves
He said lines and cracks in the north wall of the burial chamber, as well as alterations to the room's paintings, made him believe the structure was a false wall.
The tomb itself is unexpectedly small for a royal burial, leading some to think it is part of a larger network of chambers.
Mr Reeves proposed that when Tutankhamun died unexpectedly, as a teenager, a much larger royal tomb was adapted for his burial, with the deeper sections blocked off.
For the new study, archaeologists at Egypt's National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics used powerful ground-penetrating radar to probe the interior walls of the tomb.
Their analysis indicates a 6.5 foot (two metre) wide corridor leading away from the burial chamber.
George Ballard, co-author of the study, said previous teams may have missed it because they were searching for a large void immediately behind the wall.
Further investigations involving a microgravity survey – a technique that can measure density through tiny variations in the Earth's gravitational field – pointed to a series of hidden chambers tucked into the rock behind.

Further investigations involving a microgravity survey – a technique that can measure density through tiny variations in the Earth's magnetic field – pointed to a series of hidden chambers tucked into the rock behind (depicted with dashed yellow lines)

The proposed opening to the corridor, in what experts believe could be a 'false wall' in the side of Tutankhamun's tomb
The study, published in Occasional Papers of the Amarna Royal Tombs Project, compares the layout of Tutankhamun's tomb to others, including that of Hatshepsut – one of ancient Egypt's most powerful female pharaohs.
The team point out that the exit in Tutankhamun's tomb is left-turning – identical to the layout of Hatshepsut's resting place.
However, tombs for kings during this period all have right-turning exits.
'The implication of this leftwards turn is clear,' the team wrote. 'KV 62 [Tutankhamun's tomb] conforms to the architectural grammar of neither a private nor a kingly monument.
'The plan Tutankhamun's tomb follows is that of an Eighteenth Dynasty Queen.'
The researchers add that Tutankhamun's burial chamber may have initially served as an intermediary space separating the tomb's visible outer apartments from an original burial suite further back.
This adds to the theory that the tomb was originally for Queen Nefertiti, before being adapted for the early death of her stepson.
The walls of Tutankhamun's burial chamber may contain another clue. Experts believe some of the paintings were originally created for an earlier royal – and that images of Nefertiti may have been altered to portray her stepson after his unexpected death.

Experts believe some of the paintings were originally created for an earlier royal – and that images of Nefertiti may have been altered to portray her son after his unexpected death

View of the proposed funerary complex, showing how it cuts deep into the rock in the Valley of the Kings
Close analysis confirms that the space employed as a burial chamber for Tutankhamun had not been conceived as such,' the researchers wrote.
'It had originally played a very different, median role within a larger, ultimately regal tomb.
'The identification of the owner and original occupant of this larger tomb is dependent on satisfying a tightly constrained set of conditions: to have been female, as tomb type indicates… to have enjoyed full pharaonic status, and to have been Tutankhamun's immediate predecessor.
'With none but Nefertiti… meeting these criteria, it comes as no surprise to find the north wall's ownership imagery replicating the precise profile of this very lady.'
The team suggest that Tutankhamun's death – barely a decade after his stepmother passed away – prompted the reopening of Nefertiti's tomb and for the outermost rooms to be repurposed as his burial chamber.
'[This room] was now redesigned as a burial chamber for Tutankhamun, with satellite side-rooms newly quarried,' the team wrote.
'[The] single, north wall scene was then revised to suit its new ownership and role.
'By the time these changes had been fully implemented, KV 62 presented the appearance of ownership by Tutankhamun alone – which, for more than a century, is how it has been completely misunderstood.'
One chamber in particular appears to be closed off, with no link to other entrances.
The researchers said there's a chance it could be filled with objects – which may not have been touched since they were first put there more than 3,000 years ago.
The decision to enter the supposed chambers is in the hands of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities.
If approved, careful drilling to deploy tiny tractors equipped with cameras could start in the next two months.
China’s human-like robots could transform the future of warfare©The Daily Digest
The future of war?
Yesterday's science fiction is increasingly becoming today's reality, with progress in technology, such as drones or AI, changing every aspect of the human existence, including war.
©The Daily Digest
A more literal type of killing machine
United24Media highlights that the Chinese military is advancing research on the use of humanoid robots for security and defense.
©The Daily Digest
Sound investment?
Official records indicate that the Chinese military has allocated the equivalent of 300,000 US dollars to collect and label data from cameras and robot movements across varied terrain.
©The Daily Digest
The wars of tomorrow
Experts believe that the ultimate goal of the People's Liberation Army is the eventual wartime deployment of these machines on the battlefield.
©The Daily Digest
The Robot Olympics
Last August, China unveiled some of its state-of-the-art robot technology at the Humanoid Robot Games, where androids ran, boxed, danced, and jumped around to showcase their mechanical improvements.
©The Daily Digest
From the laboratory to the training grounds
Reuters reports that, after the exhibit, the People's Liberation Army made a call to transfer these technological advances from laboratories to military training grounds.
©Provided by The Daily Digest
Still in the testing stage
This is hardly a fringe, far-fetched idea, with Beijing's military institutions beginning to test humanoids in battlefield conditions, working alongside human troops.
©The Daily Digest
China's robot monopoly
According to Reuters, Chinese manufacturers represented 95% of global humanoid shipments in 2025.
©The Daily Digest
Privileged access
This local industry provides the People's Liberation Army with privileged access to a rapidly growing technological sector.
©The Daily Digest
Where nobody has ever wanted to go
“Going where we don’t want humans to go is one of the most compelling reasons to develop robots in the first place,” said Dennis Hong, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at UCLA, to Reuters
©The Daily Digest
Better a robot than a human life
“If losing a robot means avoiding the loss of a human life, then the robot can become expendable,” added Hong.
©The Daily Digest
Not the only interested party
However, Beijing is hardly the only one interested in having its robot army fight on the front line.
©The Daily Digest
Made in the US of A
According to United24Media, the US Army launched a competition in 2025 for militarized humanoid capabilities aimed at urban assault, reconnaissance, and handling hazardous material.
©The Daily Digest
East vs. West
However, the US robots manufacturing industry is lagging behind China, despite attempts to catch up.
©The Daily Digest
Five to ten years
Robotics engineer Yang Kun told CBS News that he believes Chinese companies are only five to 10 years away from achieving functional and reliable robot soldiers.
©The Daily Digest
Pax Sinica or Pax Silica?
“We will use the robots to show the power of a country like China that will ensure no other country attacks. This will prevent war,” remarked Yang.
©The Daily Digest
Robot revolution?
The robotics engineer, who works for the Shanghai-based humanoid robot company AG BOT, argues that the possibility of a robot uprising is unlikely.
©The Daily Digest
Who is pulling the strings?
“No, I don't think so. Robots don't have emotions, only humans,” Yang said. “ }}all depends on who controls them and who makes them.”
Why AI consciousness could become the next great societal divide

As AI systems grow more human-like, the question of whether they can be conscious is becoming unavoidable and could become as divisive as abortion or climate change.
Surveys already show sharp public disagreement, while experts clash over whether consciousness requires biology.
The stakes are moral, legal and political, with risks on both overprotecting and neglecting potential AI minds.
The debate about AI consciousness is growing, in academic articles, newspaper opinion pieces, and even among AI bots themselves. I doubt this is a passing wave of interest.
As AI systems become more capable and human-like, and more involved in our lives, the question will become harder to avoid. Many people may come to regard AI bots as conscious beings whose feelings matter. Others will strongly disagree.

I think this debate could split societies. In my chapter of the new book Perspectives on Machine Consciousness, I argue that the issue could become as divisive as abortion or climate change. Uncertainty, high stakes and competing interests are a dangerous combination.
Empirical research with my colleague Ali Ladak, currently under review, shows people are divided on this issue. When we asked 1,202 US participants whether future AI could ever become conscious, 45 per cent considered it impossible while 23 per cent thought it possible, with the rest unsure.
This widespread disagreement is also visible in social media posts and comments on articles. What strikes me is how confident so many people sound — whichever conclusion they are reaching.
It is not surprising people have such strong views. Creating conscious beings through computing would be a transformative event.
We would be creating a new kind of being whose experiences matter morally — potentially in enormous numbers. We could speak and work with them, and form friendships. But these beings may eventually become more intelligent and powerful than us.
We should therefore expect people to care deeply, especially when so many emotions and incentives are involved. Some people may form close emotional bonds with their AI companions and become convinced these are digital people who deserve rights. They might see it as slavery to force AI to work without pay.
Others would find this absurd. They may be convinced that consciousness requires biology, and that people are reading human feelings into machines.
Neuroscientist Anil Seth discusses his reservations about AI ‘consciousness’. Video: TED.
There could also be financial reasons for businesses and governments to resist recognising AI consciousness. Protecting AI welfare could limit how these organisations train and use their systems — and the costs would spread to consumers, investors and the wider economy.
Others may worry about human safety. If we give powerful AI systems rights and freedom, what happens if they act against our interests?
Figuring out whether an AI is conscious is particularly difficult because seeming conscious and being conscious can come apart. AI systems learn from human writing, which means they can talk convincingly about feelings whether or not they have any. How an AI comes across is weak evidence of what is going on inside.
Ideally, experts should guide this debate. But unfortunately, they disagree too.
Neuroscientist Anil Seth (a fellow contributor to the new book) argues that consciousness might require biology and is unlikely to emerge from computation. Philosopher David Chalmers, by contrast, believes conscious AI is possible in principle — and thinks there’s a small chance that current systems already are.
With so many competing theories and no agreed way to resolve the question, I doubt experts will reach agreement any time soon. And if experts disagree, what is the public supposed to believe?
Philosopher David Chalmers believes conscious AI is possible. Video: Union College.
Furthermore, even if we all agreed on the consciousness question, we could still disagree about the moral and legal questions. People generally agree that pigs can feel pain, but still disagree strongly about their treatment. With AI, we could face disputes at every stage: whether it can feel, how much its experiences matter, and what protections should follow.
AI consciousness is not yet tied to a specific political or ideological group. But this could change if political parties or religious leaders start to take strong positions.
The debate could get even worse if people start to see one answer as belonging to “our side” and the other to “their side”. A politicised debate would make it very hard to make informed decisions about how to develop and treat AI systems.
The stakes are high. Getting this question wrong, in either direction, could have serious consequences: either wrongly treating AI as conscious when it is not, or failing to protect AI that can suffer.
Getting it right requires a nuanced and well-informed debate. Each of us can contribute by staying open-minded and open to evidence, while resisting being too sure that we know the answers. Above all, we still don’t know whether AI can be conscious, and we should be honest about that.
Lucius Caviola, Assistant Professor in the Social Science of AI, Institute for Technology and Humanity, University of Cambridge
China is exploring humanoid robots for war — but what role could they play?

At the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, a humanoid robot named Tiangong Ultra ran the 100-metre sprint in a staggering 8.64 seconds, shattering Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt’s legendary human world record of 9.58 seconds.
The internet laughed at the robots’ awkward, lurching finishes and spectacular falls — but the laughter masked a chilling reality.
Just two days after the games concluded the official newspaper of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) called for researchers to accelerate moving these cutting-edge machines from the laboratory to military training grounds. They referred to them not as experiments, but as “combatants”.
As a robotics researcher myself, working daily with robot simulation, reinforcement learning, and the foundational software and simulation tools that power them (such as ROS 2 and Gazebo), I watch these developments with a mix of awe and deep concern.
The public often views humanoid robots as clunky sci-fi novelties. The reality is far different: The hardware is already highly capable, and the software is advancing at an unprecedented pace.
But the real story is not just that a robot can beat a human on a running track. It’s what that performance reveals: China’s ability to integrate motors, reducers (gears used in precise joint movement), sensors, control software, testing infrastructure and manufacturing capacity into one unified industrial system.
A sprinting humanoid is not just a stunt. At high speeds, every foot strike creates violent ground reaction forces. Balance corrections must happen in milliseconds, as a single small error can send the machine crashing into the barrier.
For decades, the physical mechanics of humanoid robots, including the actuators (a component, such as a motor, that converts energy into physical movement), sensors, and the sheer physics of bipedal balance, were the main hurdles. Today, those mechanical problems are largely solved.
Carbon fibre and aluminium bodies keep mass and inertia (how a robot’s mass resists change) low. Advancements in actuator technology deliver torque capacities of up to 400Nm (Newton-metres — a unit of torque, or twisting force) in humanoid joints, providing the ultimate combination of power and agility.
What you saw on the track in Beijing was not just a triumph of motors, but a triumph of coding. A real breakthrough is happening in software.
Robots are trained in virtual simulation environments, running millions of trial-and-error scenarios through reinforcement learning before the robot ever takes a physical step. Reinforcement learning is an area of artificial intelligence (AI) where robots make decisions based on the results of their actions.
This allows them to learn how to recover from trips, adjust to uneven ground, and process chaotic environments in real time. Humanoid robots are rapidly bridging the gap between controlled laboratory conditions and the unpredictable real world.
But all this leads to an inevitable question: why would a military want a complex, expensive humanoid when they could use vastly cheaper, rugged, tracked or wheeled drones? In open-field combat, tracked vehicles are absolutely superior. They heave bigger payloads, carry thick ballistic armour, and are far more energy efficient.
However, the nature of conflict is changing – and urban environments play an increasing role in military thinking. Cities are built exclusively for humans. A tracked robot cannot easily climb a vertical fire escape ladder, turn a standard door handle, squeeze through a narrow, debris filled stairwell, or sit in the driver’s seat of a captured supply truck.
A humanoid robot acts as a “drop-in replacement” for a human soldier. If a building is designed for a human to navigate, a humanoid robot can navigate it without requiring custom redesigns or specialised ramps.
This brings us to a profound ethical crossroads. Many of us in the robotics field do not endorse offensive warfare. But these machines have an undeniable utility in defensive scenarios and those concerned with neutralising threats to military personnel and civilians.
Sending a humanoid into a building to rescue hostages, neutralising an active threat such as hostage-takers, or clearing a booby trapped room saves human lives.
In fact, the modern surge in humanoid robotics was largely kickstarted by the US government’s Darpa Robotics Challenge, which funded bipedal robots specifically to respond to disasters such as the Fukushima nuclear meltdown where human responders could not survive.
The dilemma is that the technology is agnostic to intent. The baseline capabilities required to navigate a ruined building and extract a casualty are the same capabilities needed to enter a building and kill enemy soldiers. If the technology is ready for defence, it is also ready for offensive use.
Perhaps the most alarming aspect of this rapid advancement is how accessible it is. Unlike nuclear technology or stealth aircraft, modern robotics thrives on open-source frameworks. For example, a military specific software ecosystem (a network of apps and other services that work together) known as ROS-M, along with simulation tools and training datasets, are largely public and shared across global academic communities.
With enough skill, a dedicated adversary can replicate advanced robotic behaviour with relative ease. We can no longer afford to treat humanoid robotics purely as an academic pursuit or a commercial novelty. We need an urgent international conversation about how to control these advances.
Just as we regulate the export of certain microchips and aerospace components, we must begin protecting the software architecture and training pipelines that give these machines their minds. The hardware is walking out of the lab — it is time our policies caught up.
RELATED
NASA Spacecraft Spots Something on the Moon Surrounded by a Mysterious Cold Spot That Wasn’t There Before

A research team led by Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory scientists, examining images captured by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC), has identified a new impact crater on the Moon’s surface surrounded by a huge, mysterious cold spot that likely formed in the Spring of 2024.
The research team, which also includes scientists from UCLA, Intuitive Machines, and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), said that the new lunar surface feature, dubbed McGetchin crater, offers scientists a unique opportunity to study its formation and shed new light on unexplained lunar cold spots that surround fresh impact craters.
According to a study detailing the newly discovered lunar impact crater, initial estimates suggest it is about 222 meters in diameter. The study authors said crater production models predict that craters of McGetchin’s size occur on the Moon once every 132 years on average, “making it an event of century-scale rarity.”
Midnight temperature maps before and after the impact reveal a ~7-km-wide “cold spot” around McGetchin crater. NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter measured temperatures with the Diviner Lunar Radiometer. Pre-impact temperatures are from the Diviner Global High-Resolution Mosaics (GHRM).
Image Credit: NASA/GSFC/UCLA/JHU APL.
The research team said the new crater is the largest since NASA’s LRO mission began in 2009. The previous record holder was 70 meters smaller than McGetchin
The research team said the crater’s exceptional size and pristine state “make it an exceptional natural experiment” for measuring the lunar surface’s reaction to a relatively fresh impact. They also noted that the crater’s recent formation offers researchers a chance to study it before it is permanently changed by “space weathering, impact gardening, and other surface processes.”
“Discovered in repeat Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera images, it provides a unique opportunity to study surface modification by a pristine impact, prior to subsequent fading,” they explained.
Beyond fresh surface details, the researchers said the newly formed crater “provides the best opportunity yet to observe a large, virtually unaltered cold spot with well-characterized pre-impact conditions.”
First discovered in nighttime temperature data from the LRO’s Diviner Lunar Radiometer, cold spots are mysterious regions around fresh impact craters that are cooler than the surrounding regolith.
“Cold spots are extensive regions of reduced nighttime temperature relative to surrounding terrain that have been observed around young impact craters between ∼30 m and ∼2 km in diameter,” the research team explained.

This combination of photos made by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter shows the same area on the surface of the moon before and after a newly-discovered crater in May 2024.
(NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Intuitive Machines via AP)
These lunar cold spots are also much larger than the actual craters they encompass. According to the study authors, some cold spots extend “tens to, in some cases, hundreds of crater radii.”
While more research is needed to explain their existence, the research team said most theories suggest that lunar cold spots result from a “decompaction” of the upper layer of regolith during the impact event.

“Thermal modeling shows that the observed nighttime cooling is consistent with reduced density in the upper centimeters of the regolith, resulting in lower thermal inertia,” they explained.
The team notes that the Apollo 16 mission landed on a ‘faint’ cold spot associated with the South Bay crater, and measurements taken there by that mission’s astronauts support the decompaction theory. For example, Astronauts’ footprints left in the South Bay cold spot were measurably deeper than similar prints at other lunar landing sites.
When measuring the temperature around the newly formed McGetchin crater, the researchers found it was 8 to 9 kelvin cooler than its surrounding area. The team said this measurement is “consistent with decompaction of the upper centimeters to decimeters of regolith.”
The team also found that cold spot anomalies increased with crater size. This supports the idea that larger impacts result in more regolith decompaction.

When discussing the significance of their findings, the Johns Hopkins-led research team noted that cold spots fade extremely slowly, “on ∼100 ka to ∼2 Ma timescales.” This makes these natural formations reliable dating markers of some of the Moon’s youngest impact craters.
For example, when investigating all newly formed craters over 20 meters in diameter, the team found that all those that were larger than 30 meters produced detectable cold spots. The team said this suggests that cold spot formation is a “common consequence of fresh lunar impacts.”
The study authors said that finding relatively young lunar impact craters “has enabled their use in investigations of regolith thickness, the recent impact cratering rate, and as potential source craters for lunar meteorites.”
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
“This will improve our understanding of cold spot formation and provide a calibration for the fading timescale of cold spots, potentially enabling age estimates for some of the youngest craters on the Moon using cold spot properties,” they explained.
The study “New lunar crater reveals extensive distal regolith modification” was published in Science Advances.
U.S. Space Force Reveals It Has Space Weapons in Orbit for “Defending the Joint Force Against Hostile Adversary Action”

The United States Space Force officially acknowledged that it has weapons in space this week, which it says were launched to defend U.S. forces against hostile action from any country, organization, or group, including threats related to artificial intelligence.
Speaking at the 2026 Air, Space & Cyber Conference, Meink described a rapidly changing national security environment driven by emerging technologies and increasingly capable adversaries.
“Today, we face a mix of rapidly changing technologies, adversaries moving aggressively to employ them, and a budget process for a different pace of warfare,” Meink said, while emphasizing the need to “defend the homeland, deter all adversaries, and … if necessary … win in combat.”
Meink added that “the threat is changing actually faster than I thought possible when I took this job 18 months ago.” Meink also highlighted the growing influence of artificial intelligence, cyber capabilities, and autonomous systems, noting that U.S. forces increasingly face adversaries equipped with advanced technological capabilities.
These technologies, Meink said, are “revolutionizing the battlefield” and allowing countries that previously lacked the necessary resources to rapidly adapt and expand their combat capabilities.
“We are increasing readiness against existing threats, and the United States has on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the Joint Force against hostile adversary action,” Meink added.
The September 14 statement represents the most direct public acknowledgment to date by a senior U.S. defense official that American space-control weapons are already deployed in orbit. Meink did not provide details about their number, location, capabilities, or specific systems involved.
The acknowledgment comes as the U.S. military increasingly treats space as a contested operational domain. That shift became institutionalized on December 20, 2019, when the U.S. Space Force was established as a separate military service. However, the United States had relied on space-based military capabilities for decades before the Space Force’s creation.
Satellites provide critical communications, navigation, intelligence, surveillance, and missile-warning capabilities, making their protection increasingly important as potential adversaries develop systems capable of disrupting or disabling space-based infrastructure.
“Because of the steps we’re taking today, we’ll have a radically different-looking Air Force by 2032,” Meink said.
Meink also discussed lessons from recent conflicts that have placed renewed emphasis on point defense—the protection of military bases, airfields, and other critical assets from incoming threats.
The Department of the Air Force is also increasingly focused on combining crewed aircraft with lower-cost autonomous systems as it seeks to expand combat capacity.
“When we pair manned aircraft with low-cost autonomous systems, we will be able to unlock combat power at scale,” Meink said during this week’s address.
“We will dramatically increase our combat power by adding large numbers of highly autonomous systems. We’re using concepts such as Open Systems Architecture to accelerate procurement, which has also increased competition from industry, resulting in better choices, better prices, and more combat power.
Looking toward 2032, Meink outlined an Air Force increasingly reliant on autonomous and uncrewed systems.
“Our special operators will be able to employ thousands of autonomous one-way attack weapons. And we will have autonomous fighters, like the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, or CCAs. We intend to have at least 500 of these in service by 2032,” Meink said.
Meink also said the Department is developing a new uncrewed, multipurpose aircraft called the Mass Modular Aircraft (MMA).
“MMAs will provide affordable, attritable, long-range combat power. And we’ll field them at scale. With budget support, we will field 100 MMA by 2029 at half the cost of a CCA and 1/10 the cost of a fifth-gen. fighters. So, that by 2032, 500 of these platforms will join our Air Force’s operational fleet,” Meink said.
The acceleration of proliferated space constellations is another major focus. Meink highlighted the Space-Based Interceptor program, which he said progressed from an initial contract to flight-ready hardware in less than a year. The Space Data Network is also advancing, while launches of an Air Moving Target Indication constellation are scheduled to begin this month.
Meink said the Department has established 26 Portfolio Acquisition Executives with increased authority to accelerate acquisition decisions as it attempts to field new technologies more quickly.
“We need that to change to maintain our military advantage and economic security,” Meink said.
Strange 'centaur' object between Saturn and Uranus has mysterious, changing rings, James Webb telescope study hints
James Webb Space Telescope observations of Chariklo, one of the smallest ringed worlds in the solar system, reveal some inexplicable changes.

The rings around a strange small body orbiting between Saturn and Uranus look mysteriously different from previous views, new observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) suggest.
The rings encircle Chariklo, which is a centaur, a strange type of object that shows characteristics of both asteroids and comets. Chariklo is only about 400 miles (250 kilometers) in diameter and is part of a large group of tiny objects in the distant solar system.
Scientists first discovered Chariklo's rings in 2013 — making it the first small solar system body found to have rings — and studied them with ground-based telescopes again in 2014 and 2017. When JWST took another look at Chariklo in 2022, a decade had brought a lot of difference, according to a study published Sept. 9 in the journal Science Advances.
"By comparing JWST observations with those obtained … over the last decade, we discovered opposite changes in the two rings: while the inner ring shows significantly higher opacity, the outer ring shows lower opacity, " Pablo Santos-Sanz, a researcher at the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia and first author of the study, said in a statement.
Researchers don't know exactly how the changes took place, but the study authors offered three suggestions. The first is that JWST, which has a fine resolution, was able to see both denser and sparser zones of the rings than previous observations showed. The second is that there were changes in the rings' material or in the grains themselves. Finally, a third possibility is that JWST could see "grains with wavelength-dependent optical properties," meaning the telescope saw effects in composition and grain size that explain the variability.
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Santos-Sanz said the research suggests that small bodies with rings — even those orbiting far away from the gravitational influences of planets — may have more changes in their systems than scientists previously thought. "Our results force us to rethink how they form, how they evolve, and what mechanisms maintain their stability," he said.
A theoretical follow-up observation, taken the next time Chariklo passes in front of a star, would help to confirm the new JWST results, the researchers added — especially the apparent decreased opacity of one of the rings and the increased opacity of the other.
"These observations would help disentangle temporal evolution from wavelength-dependent scattering effects, and clarify the physical processes shaping Chariklo’s rings," the researchers stated in the study.
The new observations of Chariklo also mark the first time that scientists have planned a JWST viewing campaign specifically around a stellar occultation — that is, the researchers timed the viewing precisely to when Chariklo passed in front of a distant star from the telescope's point of view.
All observations of Chariklo's rings, on the ground and in space, have used stellar occultations. That's because the rings are too faint to be imaged directly, so astronomers must instead learn more about the rings by measuring the dips and increases in brightness as Chariklo passes in front of the background star. Scientists use a similar method to study the atmospheres of alien planets with JWST's infrared instruments.
Chariklo's speed relative to JWST was low, at 1.5 miles per second (2.5 kilometers per second), allowing for fine imaging of the rings. To time the occultation, the researchers used info from the European Space Agency's Gaia mission, which precisely charts the locations and movements of more than 2 billion stars, as well as calculated the orbit of JWST at a location roughly 930,000 miles (1.5 million km) from Earth in the opposite direction of the sun. According to the researchers, the planning and execution of the mission required "extreme precision."
Article Sources
Santos-Sanz, P., Gomes-Júnior, A. R., Morgado, B. E., Kilic, Y., Kalup, C., Kiss, C., Pereira, C. L., Holler, B. J., Morales, N., Ortiz, J. L., Sicardy, B., Rizos, J. L., Stansberry, J., French, R. G., Hammel, H. B., Lin, Z., Souami, D., Desmars, J., Milam, S. N., . . . Vara-Lubiano, M. (2026). JWST stellar occultation reveals unexpected changes in Chariklo’s ring system. Science Advances, 12(37), eaeh4794. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aeh4794
The UK’s G20 Presidency and the machinery of UAP disclosure
By Helen McCaw

On 27 August the Sol Foundation released an hour-long interviewwith Clive Lewis, MP for Norwich South, conducted by the Foundation’s co-founder Dr Peter Skafish. Lewis comes to the UAP topic as a self-described sceptic and is careful to rank UAP below his constituents’ material concerns. But in 2025, Lewis used the ordinary machinery of parliamentary scrutiny to ask the Ministry of Defence (MOD) a seriesof questions about UAP, including whether it had participated in any meetings such as the Five Eyes UAP Caucus. The MOD’s answer: it “has not participated in any international groupings specifically focused on [UAP] since May 2023.” Yet in 2024, the US Department of Defense had confirmed the Caucus’s inaugural meeting in May 2023, with the UK on the agenda, and continuing discussions between the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) and Five Eyes partners. Lewis contrasts the response from the MOD with information coming from the US government: “Have I been lied to? I’ve definitely been misled.”
Skafish reports being told by people who “worked on this in an intelligence capacity” that they were “coordinating with other Five Eyes countries” and that the UAP topic falls under the domain of the intelligence community in the US, rather than defence. This aligns with what senior former official Lue Elizondo stated in the 2025 documentary The Age of Disclosure: “The CIA is responsible for the oversight of the overall effort.” Skafish suggests: “It may very well be… that it has been MI6 that’s dealt with this much more than your Ministry of Defence.” Lewis replies: “Yeah, I think so.”
Asked what happens if a US president states that some UAP are non-human technology, Lewis says this would “open the door for countries like the UK.” Lewis’s own position: “I think the British public have a right to know” and “in a democracy, trust is critical.”
The American record on UAP is statutory, annual and ramping up. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) published its first report on UAP in June 2021, in which UAP were treated as a matter of national security and flight safety. Congress has enacted UAP legislation every year since. Its statutory investigatory body, AARO, reports to Congress each year. Two details in AARO’s latest annual report, published in July, bear directly on the UK: (i) AARO’s published definition of a “UAP incursion” extends beyond the US, to include Five Eyes partners; and (ii) AARO’s deputy director presented “a mission briefing to the Defense Geospatial Intelligence conference in London.”
The UAP Disclosure Act, first introduced in July 2023, has failed in every subsequent year to pass into law. But the Act was adopted by the House in July as an amendment to the FY2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and has moved to the Senate for consideration. The Act defines “non-human intelligence” as “any sentient intelligent non-human lifeform regardless of nature or ultimate origin that may be presumed responsible for unidentified anomalous phenomena.”
The Act’s language tracks whistleblower testimony given under oath before Congress in July 2023, November 2024 and September 2025. In these hearings, retired US Navy pilots and military personnel testified about UAP encounters, and senior former officials David Grusch and Lue Elizondo testified to the existence of a non-human intelligence responsible for UAP, and a multi-decade UAP crash retrieval and reverse engineering programme kept secret from Congress and the American public. Elizondo testified that US adversaries are in possession of UAP technology, and that there exists a “multi-decade secretive arms race.” Grusch testified that “biologics came with some of these recoveries” and, asked whether they were human or non-human, replied “non-human.”
Since May, the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE) Task Force has published five tranches of declassified UAP records. It intends to continue releasing files on a rolling basis. The released files are officially designated unresolved, and nothing yet constitutes confirmation of a non-human origin. In June, Professor Avi Loeb was tasked by the White House and the US intelligence community to establish the UAP Science Advisory Council. The Council provides scientific advice and reports to the UAP Governing Board, which includes representatives from the US intelligence community. In July, the ODNI issued an unclassified memorandum to the heads of the eighteen US intelligence agencies, including the Treasury’s, directing that prior UAP non-disclosure agreements be waived for government employees and contractors when speaking to authorised bodies. In response, the law firm DLA Piper issued a client alert – the private sector is engaging.
In my Sol Foundation publication, I wrote that international collaboration – through, for example, the United Nations – would be required if UAP are non-human in origin. I raised the potential need for “new treaties to prevent the weaponization of UAP technology” and for an interfaith dialogue and, eventually, a council of religious leaders. I also recommended UAP be raised with the Standing Committee on Assessment of Vulnerabilities of the Financial Stability Board (FSB).
One absence
Across the current US architecture, no advisory body with an economic or financial remit has been publicly identified. And no central bank or finance ministry has yet published a word on the subject. The UAP Disclosure Act specifies one economist for a seat on the proposed nine-person Records Review Board, but this legislation has yet to be enacted.
The calendar
In December, the UK assumes the presidency of the G20 through to the 2027 summit. The FSB, which reports to the G20, is chaired by Governor of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey. And the UK has convened on a novel, contested risk before – on AI safety, at Bletchley Park in 2023. The G20 also has engagement machinery for the sociological dimension: a Religion Forum (R20) and an Interfaith Forum (IF20) that interfaith coalitions are actively pressing to keep beside the leaders’ summit. Strategic stability belongs to the same calendar. The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty expired in February without a successor. If a sub rosa UAP arms race does exist among the major powers, then strategic stability is a grave dimension of the topic. The UK is about to hold, for one year, most of the world’s convening instruments for the kinds of risk that US government transparency on UAP now raises – financial, strategic and sociological, all at once.
The question the interview leaves
A British MP has now asked, in public, what his own country’s machinery would be for receiving official US government confirmation that UAP are non-human in origin. The year in which the UK holds the G20 chair is a reasonable year in which to have an answer.
How did that get there? 1,700–year–old fragment of Homer's Odyssey is discovered hidden between the pages of a Dutch library book
A rare 1,700–year–old fragment of Homer's Odyssey has been found tucked between the pages of a Dutch library book.
A researcher was looking through a collection of old Egyptian texts at Utrecht University Library when he came across a torn piece of parchment.
Closer inspection revealed the fragment, which measures just 2.6 by 3 inches (6.6 by 7.7cm), includes verses from Book 12 of the epic Greek poem.
It describes what happened when Odysseus's crew ate the immortal cattle of the sun god Helios – despite his express prohibition.
Helios is so furious, he asks the other gods for revenge – and Zeus sends a terrible storm to rob Odysseus of his ship and companions.
This marked a 'tipping point' in the poem, experts said.
And, since there are only around 30 similar fragments of the Odyssey found so far, this is a remarkable discovery.
They explained: 'This page, written on both sides, will have been a part of a pocket edition of the complete Odyssey – about the size of a Kindle – owned by a fan of Homer living in around 300AD.'

The fragment, which measures just 2.6 by 3 inches (6.6 by 7.7cm), includes verses from Book 12 of the epic Greek poem
The parchment was discovered by Dr Mark de Kreij, a Greek literature expert and professor at Radboud University in the Netherlands.
He found the parchment while studying early Christian manuscripts at the Utrecht University Library.
The majority of these texts were written on parchment in Coptic – the Egyptian language written using the Greek alphabet – but the set included a few Egyptian and Greek papyri.
Hidden among these, first regarded as an unremarkable 7th–century fragment, was a damaged and discoloured fragment with very small, neat letters.
De Kreij soon recognised a few words typical of the Homer epics.
'Book 12 is the final book in Odysseus' nested narrative, before his actual return to Ithaca,' Utrecht University said in a statement.
'In book six, he arrived at the island of Scheria, home to the Phaeacians, after a storm wrecked his ship and killed all of his companions.
'After his arrival, Odysseus tells his hosts in books nine to 12 about the journey that brought him from Troy to Scheria.'

A fresco painted by Pellegrino Tibaldi in 1556, depicting the moment Odysseus' men steal the sacred cattle

The downfall of Odysseus and his men comes when they arrive at Thrinacia, the island of Helios.
Pictured: A scene from the latest film, with Matt Damon playing Odysseus
The journey includes encounters with Cyclops and the powerful goddess Circe, which both Odysseus and most of his crew escape from.
But their downfall comes when the men arrive at Thrinacia, the island of Helios.
The poem tells how Odysseus' right–hand–man begs him to let them land and find food. Odysseus agrees but forbids them from harming any cattle.
When food supplies run low, the crew kill and eat the sacred beasts – leading to the wrath of Helios and the revenge of Zeus, which destroys their ship and all the crew, except for Odysseus.
'The verses (found within the library book) describe exactly the moment Helios finds out what Odysseus' companions have done,' the university said.
'This leads to the lowest point of Odysseus' 10–year journey, but also the start of his mission of revenge against the men who are trying to take charge of his wife Penelope and his palace on Ithaca.
'This is a crucial tipping point in the Odyssey, and not by chance roughly halfway through the 24 books.'
Earlier this year, a fragment from another of Homer's epics – the Iliad – was found inside the gut of an Egyptian mummy dating back 1,600 years.
This marked the first time a Greek literary text had been found incorporated into the preservation process.
It was found in a Roman–era tomb in the ancient Egyptian city of Oxyrhynchus, situated 118 miles (190km) south of Cairo in an area now known as Al–Bahnasa.
The researchers say the papyrus was placed in the abdomen as part of the embalming ritual, which involved dehydrating the body and wrapping it for protection.
Excavations have already uncovered examples of Greek writing included in the mummification process, but all contained magical or ritualistic content.
The Iliad, which dates back to 800BC, is divided into 24 books.
It mainly focuses on the Trojan War and the heroic deeds and tragic fate of Achilles, the greatest warrior of the Greek army.
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EXCLUSIVE - Mysterious sightings at 'China's Area 51' spark major warnings to America over top secret weapons
A secretive Chinese base that has been compared to America's Area 51 is believed to be testing the next generation of stealth warfare, with one expert warning that China has likely taken a clear lead in this new arms race.
In recent months, the first images of a mysterious new aircraft were captured at Malan Air Base, a remote facility in the northwestern province of Xinjiang.
Aviation researcher Andreas Rupprecht, a specialist on Chinese military aircraft who has published multiple books on the topic, told the Daily Mail Malan has become China's most important testing center for drones of all kinds.
Rupprecht and other experts looking at satellite images taken of the base have concluded that the giant, flying-wing design seen at the facility was the WZ-X, a twin-engine drone believed to be capable of reaching any city in the US.
The so-called 'Monster of Malan' is expected to be used by the Chinese Air Force for high-altitude, long-endurance intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (HALE ISR). It is believed to have a range of 12,000 miles, at heights over 60,000 feet.
However, what concerned Rupprecht even more was the fact that this unmanned stealth aircraft was already taking test flights – something defense contractors for the next generation of US aircraft say is still up to two years away.
Rupprecht warned: 'China already has at least six CCAs [Collaborative Combat Aircraft] in testing - not just in one to two years. At least two of them are significantly larger, heavier, use much more powerful engines and are likely also carrying more armament and sensors.'
While Malan has become China's main testing site for experimental aircraft, just like the infamous US base in the Nevada desert, Rupprecht revealed that even more terrifying weapons systems were being readied for use at five secret bases scattered throughout the communist nation.

The giant craft seen in satellite pictures of Malan Air Base in China is believed to be the WZ-X, a drone capable of reaching any US city

China's secret drone base has been compared to Area 51 (Pictured), located at the Nevada Test and Training Range
'The PLAAF [People's Liberation Army Air Force] is now evidently developing another state-of-the-art, specialized base at Lop Nur, in addition to its existing test sites – Yanliang (CFTE), followed by Dingxin, Malan and Cangzhou,' Rupprecht detailed.
Lop Nur sits in a remote desert east of Korla in the province of Xinjiang. The base has already been linked to secret nuclear testing in 2020 as the US believes Lop Nur plays a major role in the building of China's growing nuclear arsenal. It was also where China detonated its first nuclear bomb in October 1964.
As the base now expands its operations, potentially also adding drone development as well, Rupprecht revealed that China's state-of-the-art military warplanes were believed to be training here, alongside combat drone prototypes which would act like robot wingmen.
'Testing in Lop Nur or Dingxin is already being conducted with the J-20 and there are many indications it's also already being conducted with the J-36 [and] J-XDS.'
Dingxin is believed to be China's big tactics and training base in the Gobi Desert in northwest China's Gansu province.
Yanliang Chinese Flight Test Establishment is allegedly the nation's main factory flight-test center in Shaanxi province, while Cangzhou Air Base near Beijing serves as a flight test and training base for the PLAAF.
As for Malan, satellite photos dating back to 2022 have shown that the base has undergone a massive expansion, adding new hangars, runways and other buildings likely connected to the building of large spy planes like the WZ-X and its armed counterpart, the GJ-X.
These alleged programs have sparked concerning comparisons to America's Area 51, which the US intelligence community admitted was real and not just a myth in 2013.

Multiple drones and experimental aircraft have been seen at the Chinese testing facility known as Malan Air Base
Rupprecht did not consider Malan to be the 'super secret' base that Area 51 has been over the years, noting that its intentionally hard-to-reach location was the main reason so little is known about what happens there.
'Malan is the PLAAF's test center for drones of all kinds,' he said, adding that it serves as the home for China's 180th Air Brigade and 178th unmanned aerial vehicle brigade, the country's most important operational brigade for drones.
'The fact that the WZ-X is already there is a clear indication of its importance and function, and [it's] actually quite surprising, as no basic testing had previously been observed anywhere else.'
The WZ-X is estimated to be the same size as an American B-2 stealth bomber, a plane which can carry both nuclear weapons and more conventional 'bunker buster' bombs.
Although Rupprecht does not believe this massive spy plane will carry any weapons on its long-range missions, he warned that the GJ-X would have weapons, and may serve as a robot companion for Chinese fighter aircraft.
'The GJ-X - which is also currently being tested in Malan - is a genuine combat drone, which may even accompany the H-20 as a CCA, just as the J-36 and J-XDS is guiding the CCAs, unveiled at the parade in September 2025. Other drones, such as the Navy's GJ-11 and GJ-21, are most certainly armed.'
Despite the massive military buildup at Malan and the other facilities, Rupprecht cautioned that there were no signs that a major conflict was about to erupt.
Instead, he noted that the rapid advancement in Chinese military breakthroughs was the real worry for both the US and its allies in NATO in the future.
'What we certainly ought to be concerned about is what is being tested there,' he said.

The Lop Nur base (pictured) sits in a remote desert east of Korla in the province of Xinjiang

Satellite images have spotted a giant, unmanned aircraft called the WZ-X being developed and test flown at a secret Chinese military facility

Another large drone, called the GJ-X, is believed to carry weapons and reach targets thousands of miles away from China

Andreas Rupprecht is an aviation researcher who has specialized on Chinese military aircraft and published multiple books on the topic
Rupprecht pushed back on the messaging coming from US defense giants, such as Lockheed Martin, who recently unveiled their own version of a remote-controlled stealth plane expected to fight alongside military pilots.
On September 14, Lockheed revealed the unmanned combat drone called Vectis, a tailless, flying-wing design with enhanced stealth abilities and weapons payloads.
However, the full-size drone was just a model, shown at a major US Air Force conference in Washington.
The first full-scale prototype is expected to be delivered to the military by the end of 2027.
The defense expert claimed Lockheed's representative at last year's conference gave a speech saying 'we are the greatest,' 'we are leading by a wide margin,' 'no one comes close, even in the next few years,' but then ended the presentation by admitting 'in one or two years it will fly!'

Lockheed Martin revealed the new aircraft at a major Air Force conference in Washington

Sightings from China's Malan Air Base in the ghobi desert have given cause for concern
'After that grandiose presentation, I wandered over to [Lockheed Martin's] booth, asked for information here and there about the engine, dimensions, range, payload and so on,' Rupprecht recalled.
'It quickly became clear that it's significantly smaller, has a less powerful engine, and falls short in range, payload, sensor systems, and so on, compared to what we'd expect from at least the newly revealed Chinese CCAs.'
On top of China's apparent lead in the arms race to build next generation drones, the expert noted that America's futuristic fighter plane, the F-47, is also still in the research and development phase.
'I therefore consider the statement in the presentation to be somewhat risky, if not downright incorrect!'
Area 51 mystery deepens as discovery exposes who is really behind secret flights
One person may soon get the opportunity to go where no conspiracy theorist has gone before - Area 51.
A job posting online has been spotted by eagle-eyed viewers who claim the position is directly tied to the US government flights which bring supplies and military personnel to the top-secret base in the Nevada desert.
The 'help wanted' ad was posted by Amentum, a government contractor which provides technical and support work for the US military, who is searching for a first officer and co-pilot based in Las Vegas.
Amentum is believed to be the company which holds the current government contract to crew and operate the flights which regularly travel between Area 51 and Harry Reid International Airport, roughly 85 miles away.
Although the US Air Force has not publicly confirmed that Amentum operates the top-secret jets, known as the Janet fleet, aviation news outlets have identified Amentum as the current contractor flying the Air Force’s unmarked Las Vegas-based 737 shuttle.
That shuttle has been publicly documented as carrying military, government and contractor personnel to restricted sites, including Area 51.
Moreover, the new job post matched previous Las Vegas pilot jobs for the 737-600 jet, which requires a top-secret government clearance.
While the Pentagon and the White House have both maintained that there is no evidence UFOs have ever been recovered, Area 51 has become an infamous location where many believe top-secret research tied to extraterrestrials has been taking place for decades.

The Janet, designed by Boeing, is a white jet with a single red strip from front to back. The fleet flies contractor employees and military personnel to secure bases housing classified material
For alien conspiracy theorists looking to finally get a glimpse of the secret facility, the checklist to qualify for the airline job will not be easy to meet.
On job-posting website Indeed, Amentum requires applicants to have an Airline Transport Pilot certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration, with a rating to fly 737 jets.
The new co-pilot must also have around 1,500 hours of in-seat flight experience, an active US Department of War Top Secret (SCI) clearance and a current Las Vegas airport badge to fly out of Harry Reid International.
For the pilot chosen, they will be paid $52.11 an hour under a union contract. However, the listing does not say anything about the mysterious Janet fleet or any of the job's destinations - including Area 51.
The listing also warned that the co-pilot: 'May be subjected to physical and mental stress caused by in-flight emergencies, inclement weather, exposure to high levels of noise, vibration/turbulence or other environmental discomforts, and visual/audio/tactile sensory bombardment.'
There is also no guarantee that the person chosen for this assignment will ever see the inside of Area 51, as Amentum added the job: 'is performed primarily in the cockpit of a jet aircraft, which is a small, cramped space subject to high noise levels, extreme temperatures, and low humidity.'
Area 51 sits on the Nevada Test and Training Range, a military location that dates back to World War II. UFO researchers and conspiracy theorists have claimed that secret government projects have been conducted there since the end of the war.
Government whistleblowers and UFO researchers have also claimed to have seen and photographed unidentified objects flying over Area 51 for decades, including many which do not look like normal aircraft or behave like human-made technology.

A job listing has been connected to the secret Air Force Janet fleet which flies to the top-secret base Area 51

UFO enthusiasts have been fixated on Area 51 (Pictured) and entering the secret base for years in the hopes of finding extraterrestrial life inside
Area 51 has again become a major talking point during the ongoing push to declassify all knowledge regarding UFOs and the search for alien life.
In February, US Congressman Eric Burlison of Missouri revealed that he requested and was granted access to secure locations, including Area 51, as part of Congress's investigation into UFO-related government secrets.
That
same month, President Trump ordered that all information the federal government, intelligence community and military has accumulated on UFOs and alien life must be released to the public.
The order came right after Trump claimed former President Barack Obama had revealed classified information by saying aliens 'are real' but they do not live at Area 51.
Obama later clarified his comments to interviewer Brian Tyler Cohen, claiming he was making a generalization about the size of the universe.
'Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there,' the 44th president wrote on social media on February 15.
'I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really!' Obama added.
Rise of the Frankenmice! Scientists create mice with half-human BRAINS
The idea of a mouse with a half-human brain might sound like something created in Dr Frankenstein's lab.
But it has become a reality in California, where scientists from Stanford University have transplanted lab-grown human brain tissue into bioengineered mice.
The human tissue replicates key features of brain development – including the formation of functional neural networks.
This is significant because living human brain tissue is essentially inaccessible for research purposes for ethical reasons.
According to the researchers, the breakthrough could speed up research into the causes and mechanisms of devastating disorders such as profound autism, epilepsy, cerebral palsy and schizophrenia.
'This gives us a way to study human neural tissue across several levels, from genes and individual cell types to circuits and functional consequences in an animal,' said senior author Professor Sergiu Pasca.
'We can begin to ask how disease-associated human genetic changes alter neural development and circuitry and whether potential treatments can prevent or correct those changes.'

A map of estimated nerve-fibre pathways in the brain of an experimental 'xenocortical' mouse that was bioengineered with lab-grown human brain tissue

The human tissue replicates key features of brain development – including the formation of functional neural networks
In the study, the team used stem cells to create mini, 3D organoids that can reproduce features of the human cerebral cortex.
This is the part of the brain that controls cognition, language, attention and decision–making.
Next, the team used a genetic strategy in mice to block the development of most of the cells that normally give rise to the cerebral cortex.
Professor Pasca explained: 'The space normally occupied by the mouse cortex allowed us to transplant human cortical organoids shortly after birth and gave the human tissue room to grow extensively.
'In these mice, the human grafts generated a broad diversity of cortical cell types and established functional connections throughout the mouse nervous system.'
The researchers call the resulting mice 'xenocortical', rather than 'humanised'.
'These animals retain a mouse nervous system, but they contain a larger volume of human cortical tissue that develops, integrates and forms connections within it,' Professor Pasca said.
'Cortical organoids give us an experimental window into human brain development and disease.
'They are not miniature brains and do not reproduce the full complexity of the human brain, but they allow us to study human neural cell types and developmental processes that would otherwise be extremely difficult to access.'

A cross-section MRI scan through a xenocortical mouse brain showing a map of estimated nerve-fibre pathways and directions
In the future, the mice could help scientists to investigate disorders such as autism, epilepsy and schizophrenia.
However, as a first application, the researchers used the mice to understand what happens during oxygen deprivation – something that can have major neurological consequences when it occurs during pregnancy or birth.
The results revealed that the bioengineered mice looked like ordinary laboratory mice as they moved around and explored their environment.
However, they had deficits in fine motor coordination and differences in memory abilities.
Professor Pasca said: 'In the xenocortical mice, a period of low oxygen caused substantial injury to human cortical cells and was accompanied by abnormalities in gait and motor coordination.'
The researchers said the experiments adhered to ethical guidelines focused on two issues in particular.
'The first is animal welfare: the scientific question has to justify the use of animals, suffering must be minimized and experiments should only be performed when the information cannot adequately be obtained with alternative approaches,' Professor Pasca said.
'The second is whether introducing increasingly complex human neural tissue into an animal nervous system could lead to unexpected, emergent or novel properties that would require additional ethical consideration.'
The expert added: 'We also have to weigh the cost of not doing this work,' noting that neurological and psychiatric disorders affect nearly one in five people even as scientific understanding remains limited and effective treatments remain lacking for many of these conditions.
Democratic Allies Must Join Forces in the Race for UAP Disclosure

Since February 2026, the United States Department of War (DOW), under the direction of President Donald Trump, has released an unprecedented number of documents, videos, and firsthand witness accounts detailing the United States’ extensive history of encounters with unidentified anomalous phenomena, or “UAP.”
Despite the questions that remain, this initiative under the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE) has been nothing short of historic. For more than 75 years, Americans pleading for the truth on the issue have been routinely ridiculed and even misled by their own government. It’s difficult to imagine the nation’s posture being anything other than one of obfuscation, secrecy, and resistance to transparency.
Documents, particularly those detailing reports from senior intelligence officials encountering “orbs”, are a stark departure from the U.S. government’s nearly century-long position of secrecy.
Lawmakers, however, have been left with more questions than answers. Who or what flies with such impunity over our sensitive military installations? Who owns this technology? Are they a threat to national security?
Across the Pacific, members of Japan’s National Diet are confronting the same questions. The May 2026 file releases from the U.S. DOW disclosed two unresolved UAP incidents from the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. Japanese legislators only learned the details of these cases near their own territory after the American file release—not through any internal channels.
Democratic allies, it seems, face a shared challenge. For too long, elected officials in our respective nations have been denied adequate information about the phenomena operating in our common security environment. And in the U.S., whenever we are informed, it’s only through the preferred methods and timing of unelected bureaucrats deeply entrenched in our national security apparatus. In Japan, by contrast, the Ministry of Defense has stated that information may be made public when something arises that it determines should be explained.
But this raises a fundamental question: should the government alone decide what should be explained to the public?
If a grave national security threat truly exists, then elected representatives have been left with little choice but to entrust the security of their nations to the very institutions that have obscured the truth from us and even each other.
It is therefore incumbent upon us—Representatives solely accountable to the citizens of our respective nations—to work together and to seek the truth wherever we may find it; both for the good of our people and to defend against whatever threats we face from strategic competitors.
As mentioned above, among the files released by the U.S. DOW were highly significant firsthand reports from high-ranking officials in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The documents detail a search operation at a classified missile testing site in the Western United States, explicitly for aerial phenomena:
Indeed, if our tools are limited in scope, perhaps new revelations made by democratic allies provide a unique leverage point. After all, it was the Trump administration’s disclosure under the PURSUE program that significantly increased pressure on Japan’s Defense Ministry to acknowledge its own previously undisclosed UAP-related activities.
This is why we, as elected representatives of our nations, have engaged the Emerging Technologies Interparliamentary Caucus (ETIC) as a platform for international dialogue regarding emerging technologies and the security threats presented by UAP. Comprised of representatives from across the globe, the ETIC presents a rare opportunity to ensure elected representatives are equipped to assess potential threats, safeguard our nations, and prepare for the realities of emerging technologies in the 21st century.
Whether the phenomena we are encountering originate from an adversary or something else entirely, democratic nations cannot afford to be complacent.
The people of our nations deserve answers, and we intend to find them.
Pentagon Opens New Pathway for Government Insiders to Disclose UAP Information

A new legal waiver allows current and former U.S. government personnel to disclose information related to unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) to representatives of the government’s Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE) initiative.
The waiver “establishes an authorized, legally protected disclosure mechanism for current and former personnel to provide UAP-related National Defense Information (NDI) to designated representatives of the PURSUE effort,” the U.S. Department of War announced on Monday.
The PURSUE initiative, initiated earlier this year by the Trump administration, is not a UAP investigative office like the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), but rather an effort to identify, review, declassify, and publicly release UAP-related records held by U.S. federal agencies.
According to the Department of War, the waiver supports President Donald Trump’s mandate for greater transparency surrounding UAP by creating a protected channel for military and government personnel to provide UAP-related National Defense Information (NDI) to designated PURSUE representatives. The directive applies to current and former Department of War service members, veterans, civilian employees, and contractors who currently have or previously had access to UAP-related NDI.
For covered disclosures made to designated PURSUE representatives, the waiver provides targeted relief from certain civil and administrative enforcement provisions contained in Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) and Special Access Program Indoctrination Agreements (SAPIAs). The waiver applies specifically to authorized communications with PURSUE representatives.
Michael Gold, President of Civil and International Space Business Development at Redwire and a former NASA official who supported the efforts of AARO’s predecessor office, the UAP Task Force, and NASA’s UAP Independent Study Team, told The Debrief the move was “unprecedented.”
“To the best of my knowledge, this action by the Department of War is nearly, if not entirely, unprecedented,” Gold said. “I have never seen anything like this before on any topic, and it demonstrates the seriousness with which the Department of War and the Trump administration are treating UAP transparency.”
“This administration’s handling of UAP transparency has been extraordinary and should be applauded by all of those who care about the issue and good government generally,” Gold added.
The new PURSUE order comes after several UAP whistleblowers have come forward with allegations that the government possesses more information about UAP than has been publicly disclosed. Individuals who have claimed knowledge of UAP-related programs have also cited legal and professional risks as barriers to publicly discussing what they say they know. Those concerns have included potential violations of nondisclosure agreements, loss of security clearances, and administrative or legal consequences for revealing protected information.
The Department of War says the new waiver is designed to address some of those barriers. Importantly, however, the waiver does not mean that previously classified UAP information has been declassified or cleared for public release. Instead, it creates an authorized pathway for individuals with relevant information to provide it to PURSUE for review.
The Department of War says information submitted through PURSUE will undergo security review and, where appropriate, potential declassification before it can be publicly released.
“Disclosures of any kind made to PURSUE would need to be reviewed and classified information redacted before such information could be released publicly,” Gold told The Debrief. “The administration, through the National Archives and other executive branch agencies and departments, has already gone through this process to release information in the various tranches, and the same could be done for information disclosed via this waiver,” Gold said.
Gold said he was “optimistic that some very significant information could be publicly released through this process,” says Gold.
Gold also argued that members of Congress involved in UAP oversight should eventually be given access to information provided under the waiver.
“In addition to select representatives of PURSUE, I think it would be very beneficial if Members of the House UAP caucus and other select Representatives and Senators would be granted access to whatever information is provided under the waiver. For example, Representatives Burlison, Luna, Burchett, and others have been fearless champions for UAP transparency, and including them in this process would substantially bolster the credibility and efficacy of the overall effort.”
The change could provide former government personnel with an authorized route to disclose UAP-related information to PURSUE without triggering certain civil or administrative enforcement provisions that might otherwise apply under NDAs or Special Access Program agreements.
However, the waiver is specifically directed at authorized disclosures to PURSUE representatives. It does not provide blanket authorization for individuals to publicly reveal protected or classified information.
The potential implications for the commercial and private sectors also remain unclear. Gold, however, believes greater UAP transparency could have consequences for aerospace and aviation.
“UAP transparency could have tremendous beneficial impacts on the aerospace sector,” Gold said in an email to The Debrief.
“Understanding what the phenomenon is could lead to new scientific discoveries and technologies,” he said, adding that a better understanding of UAP “will benefit the safety of air traffic and space operations.”
Fundamentally, Gold says that any new information whistleblowers may now be willing to provide could also help reduce stigmas surrounding the topic that have impeded U.S. progress in the past, and which may even have aided foreign adversaries.
“By diluting the stigma surrounding UAP, it will close a loophole that I suspect is being used by adversary nations to hide advanced drone activity around critical American national security and civil infrastructure and facilities.”
Whether this new pathway produces substantive new information and opens the door for legitimate whistleblowers remains to be seen. As with previous UAP disclosure efforts, distinguishing well-supported testimony and documentation from misinformation, disinformation, or unsubstantiated claims will remain an important part of that process.
If the waiver results in significant new information reaching the public, it will depend on what is submitted to PURSUE, how that information is evaluated, and what can ultimately be cleared for public release following the security review process.