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What Is Going on with UFOs and the Department of Defense?

thedrive.com

61–70 of 173 posts

Re: What Is Going on with UFOs and the Department of Defense?

#61
My favorite conspiracy theory (emphasis on theory, this is pure speculation) is they're Chinese drones.

The logic basically goes that 3M accidentally created a force field[1] in a factory[2], factories are mostly in China now, so if "running a factory" leads to antigravity tech, China would be the ones to develop it.

As much as "I want to believe", if it's true they're not American, it's quite possible they're not alien, just foreign.

I've noticed a weird kind of racism in some folks who talk about China: they simultaneously think they'll conquer the world and that they can't invent technology on their own.

It's certainly interesting logic to conclude "If it's not American, it must be alien".

[1] https://www.wired.com/story/the-physics-of-plastic-sheets-an...

[2] http://amasci.com/weird/unusual/e-wall.html

Re: What Is Going on with UFOs and the Department of Defense?

#62
post #6

"Let me underline this again for you, the Nimitz encounter with the Tic Tac proved that exotic technology that is widely thought of as the domain of science fiction actually exists. It is real." Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. A blurry video and some eyewitness reports are not extraordinary evidence. Humans lie all the time, but very rarely discover new physics.

The Tic Tac thing is insane. As far as I understand, its evidence was: - At least two radar systems (boat and then plane) registering it - At least two IR/thermal imaging systems (the two planes') registering it - At least four eye-witnesses registering something when looking for it (two people on each plane, seeing something large near the water's surface with the Tic Tac coming out and flying around) - The ship rad…

from the article, a description of "Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC)" system:

>What most don't realize is that the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group wasn't just equipped with some of the most advanced sensors the world had to offer, but that it also had hands-down the most advanced networking and computer processing capability of any such system. Dubbed Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC), this integrated air defense system architecture was just being fielded on a Strike Group level for the first time aboard Nimitz and the rest of its flotilla.

>Our readers are familiar with CEC and the follow-on iterations that have come since, as we talk about the concepts behind them often. At its very basic level, it uses the Strike Group's diverse and powerful surveillance sensors, including the SPY-1 radars on Aegis Combat System-equipped cruisers and destroyers, as well as the E-2C Hawkeye's radar picture from on high, and fuses that information into a common 'picture' via data-links and advanced computer processing. This, in turn, provides very high fidelity 'tracks' of targets thanks to telemetry from various sensors operating at different bands and looking at the same target from different aspects and at different ranges.

>Whereas a stealthy aircraft or one employing electronic warfare may start to disappear on a cruiser's radar as it is viewing the aircraft from the surface of the Earth and from one angle, it may still be very solid on the E-2 Hawkeye's radar that is orbiting at 25,000 feet and a hundred miles away from the cruiser. With CEC, the target will remain steady on both platform's CEC enabled screens as they are seeing fused data from both sources and likely many others as well.

So these 3 paragraphs state:

1. Instead of each platform (plane, boat, ...) relying on only it's own sensors, the platform sensors (radar, IR ...) are automatically sharing their observations across platforms by data links, fusing them into one scene, such that each platform has the eyes and ears of all platforms combined. Obviously only 1 sensor needs to malfunction or misinterpret signals such that they are gossiped across platforms where the operators seemingly "independently" observe the imagination, i.e. data fusion potentially triggers common hallucinations. Regarding the pilots, navigators: I speculate for example this could have been the augmented reality HUD overlay showing the IR feed...

2. the system was "just being fielded", increasing the odds of initial wrinkles in the data fusion system.

3. again the system was "just being fielded", increasing the odds of human operators misinterpreting their display systems as depicting what the sensors of their platform are sensing, since before introduction of sensor fusion this would have always been the case. Human operators would thus more easily fail to realize that their "independent observations" were not in fact independent at all.

Re: What Is Going on with UFOs and the Department of Defense?

#63

My favorite conspiracy theory (emphasis on theory, this is pure speculation) is they're Chinese drones. The logic basically goes that 3M accidentally created a force field[1] in a factory[2], factories are mostly in China now, so if "running a factory" leads to antigravity tech, China would be the ones to develop it. As much as "I want to believe", if it's true they're not American, it's quite possible they're not al…

> I've noticed a weird kind of racism in some folks who talk about China: they simultaneously think they'll conquer the world and that they can't invent technology on their own.

China is the new USSR :)

Re: What Is Going on with UFOs and the Department of Defense?

#64

My guess is it's the US military projecting. They've almost certainly got covert flying vehicles cruising around so naturally they'd want to know about any sightings of their own craft, or an enemy doing the same thing in the airspace. What better way to gauge how well the tech is working than by crowdsourcing the sightings?

There have been reports of UFO sightings for 50+ years. This is not a new phenomenon. There were reports of UFOs during WW2 (so called Foo Fighters).

If this existed during WW2 it means it started development way before that. The implications that such level of technological advancement was available at that time, and is still under active funding and development today doesn't add up.

Re: What Is Going on with UFOs and the Department of Defense?

#65
why does this article keep returning anew on hacker news?

The military wants people to feel no stigma for reporting observations they fail to explain on their own? Good, no problem with that, it is their duty to watch out for such contingencies. And they probably don't see it as their duty to explain and share footage of each and every incident, and the internal conclusions, ... because they don't want others to know their level of alertness, the resolution and sensitivity of their systems, ...

Why is thedrive.com so intent on portraying such events as "unexplainable" by a collection of humans? They are re-creating the stigma by conflating UFO's with the seemingly impossible.

I.e. even if it is "just a sensor malfunction" or "just an optical effect", it is important to the military that the human operators report these deficiencies up the chain of command: if accidental situations can fool the systems and operators (UFO sightings) into seeing things that don't exist, or misinterpreting things that do exist, then obviously:

1. such hallucinations could be artificially induced (think chaff, camouflage, ...) and hence it is important to take note of spontaneously arising confusing observations

2. such hallucinations increase the noise floor and distract from potential true invasions of air space: if you can address and learn from UFO sightings to improve sensor systems, then a true violation of air space requires less work to detect than if it is hiding in a stack of illusory UFO reports

Re: What Is Going on with UFOs and the Department of Defense?

#66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Soon they’ll be A/B testing stealth designs. “Model AST—12-7 flying over NYC generated 23 reports of UFO sightings, whereas model TYR-X3 generated 5 along the same route; moving forward, we should adopt TYR-X3 for all chemtrail operations...”

With everyone glued to smart phones it is getting easier and easier to be "stealthy"

It's also a lot easier to get evidence.

Re: What Is Going on with UFOs and the Department of Defense?

#67

My favorite conspiracy theory (emphasis on theory, this is pure speculation) is they're Chinese drones. The logic basically goes that 3M accidentally created a force field[1] in a factory[2], factories are mostly in China now, so if "running a factory" leads to antigravity tech, China would be the ones to develop it. As much as "I want to believe", if it's true they're not American, it's quite possible they're not al…

“I've noticed a weird kind of racism in some folks who talk about China: they simultaneously think they'll conquer the world and that they can't invent technology on their own.”

That’s just normal racism. Mexicans are too lazy to work, but come here and steal our jobs. Muslims come here to force Sharia Law on everyone, but fail to integrate and keep to themselves. Illegals are using public services for free, but pay taxes using fake information and are criminals. Obama was incompetent, but also managed to build complex shadow government. You can just keep going.

By using a dichotomous framework of stereotypes you can easily make a case against an entire population because if one negative stereotype doesn’t fit a given individual you simple apply the other one.

Re: What Is Going on with UFOs and the Department of Defense?

#68
Having dealt with some of these systems, let me tell you up front, its entirely possible it's nothing. I've seen tracks like those suggested in the article pass directly overhead support vessels during maneuvers, and theres nothing there. It can happen a few times a day or even hour, and just means your sensor fusion is a bit janky.

tfa: "This, in turn, provides very high fidelity 'tracks' of targets thanks to telemetry from various sensors operating at different bands and looking at the same target from different aspects and at different ranges."

My take from last article: Let me tell you: fast tracks moving at insane speeds with sometimes-faint signatures are the norm. a perfectly calm sea, esp near shore, can create 100s or a 1000 spurious tracks if automated tools are trusted. The incorrect association of signatures to hypothesized contacts can produce "jumps" in their location, altitude that makes it look like inhuman maneuverability.

Second, the proliferation of small aircraft does bias operators (and algorithms) to assume a real contact from small signatures, esp at low altitudes where noise is greatest.

In a well integrated, multi-vehilce sensor network, a small false positive rate for each individual recognition and classication module produces enough bullshit to trick automated trackers into labelling targets. If we cant assume common sense filtering like "aircraft cant go from hover to mach 3 in one sweep", then the possible associations of sensor data to hypotheses is astronomical, and bullshit propegates.

Its a mess when you integrate so many sensors and systems and try to make sense of the resulting noise.

Re: What Is Going on with UFOs and the Department of Defense?

#69

My favorite conspiracy theory (emphasis on theory, this is pure speculation) is they're Chinese drones. The logic basically goes that 3M accidentally created a force field[1] in a factory[2], factories are mostly in China now, so if "running a factory" leads to antigravity tech, China would be the ones to develop it. As much as "I want to believe", if it's true they're not American, it's quite possible they're not al…

Assumption: the military is in control of this narrative and the narrative is meant for the consumption of our adversaries. Conclusion: the intended narrative is that we are testing advanced systems against our own battle groups. Beware. I don’t know what the tech is or if it’s as sensational as being reported by the “witnesses” but the intent is to give the impression that we have highly sophisticated tech waiting in the wings

Re: What Is Going on with UFOs and the Department of Defense?

#70
Since this is recirculating in the public consciousness, I'm going to repeat my pet theory: they're automated Von Neumann probes that have been in the solar system (and probably ~all star systems in the galaxy) for longer than humanity has existed, and are performing reconnaissance now that there are signs of intelligent life on the planet.

I like this theory because it obviates large problems with other theories, ie crossing interstellar distances just to visit us (they were already here), the lack of observed Von Neumann probes when they should be common (now they've been observed), the idea that some earthly nation has managed to develop technology so far beyond all others and keep it secret (nope), etc.

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