I am fascinated with the subject of UFO’s.  Since I was a kid I have read everything I could get my hands on concerning them.  As video technology has increased in recent years, more and more “clips” of UFO’s are available for study on the net.  Do I believe UFO’s exist?  At the risk of sounding trite, let me define:

Flying Saucer

A Flying saucer is the commonly accepted term used to describe any extraterrestrial vehicle that does not originate from our planet.  This term is relative since many of the shapes in the sky that are called Saucers are not saucer shaped at all. 

UFO

This term has been misused and abused over the years to also define an extraterrestrial vehicle.  It would be an incorrect definition however, since the Initialism defines itself.  A UFO is an unidentified flying object.  This encompasses any object that is flying that cannot be identified and catalogued into any known earthly endeavor to fly (whether natural or man-made).  The key to understanding this definition is the two words “any known”.  Since what we are looking at could be anything, it can’t be classified as a flying saucer.  In fact, until there is solid evidence of an actual flying saucer, they simply don’t exist.

UFO’s, however, exist in abundance.  The majority of them have been explained away by various authorities as swamp gas, the planet Venus, weather balloons, etc.  But some remain unexplained.  Here is a famous example that remains unexplained to this day.  It is known as “The Battle of L.A.”  Watch this fascinating video.

As you can see, this object did exist. This is a documented event.  The spotlights are trained on it and 1,500 rounds of ammunition were fired at it over a 90 minute period.  Since the army failed to bring it down, it drifted slowly off to the west and was lost from sight.  What was this thing?  We know it was there in spite of the later naysayers that complained that the army was shooting at nothing at all.  This is, of course, a ridiculous assertion.  You can see the object plainly in the lighting.  Why couldn’t an army on a wartime footing bring this ship down?  It can’t be explained away as a weather balloon or a blimp since the object took direct hits. 

Now, let’s watch a video that is fairly popular on the internet.

Pretty creepy, huh? This event was supposed to have been captured on film on September 10^th, 2001. And while the events of 9/11 are real, this video is not. It is a computer generated image, but it sure looks real doesn’t it? Sifting through the videos and stills on the net can be a daunting task for those of you looking for real footage. The only real way to do it is one video at a time and then research the hell out of it. One way to do this is to go to the MUFON website. MUFON is the Mutual UFO Network. They are the accepted standard for investigating all things related to UFO’s. Some in the UFO community consider MUFON to be a puppet of the US government, especially since they tend to come up with viable explanations for most sightings. But these individuals seem sincere enough to me in their dedication to explaining UFO activity. The site is worth a look and it even includes a real time tracking map of recent sightings.

So, what do I think UFO’s are? Well, many things actually. But if we are talking about the unexplained such as the Battle for LA type vehicles, then I have an idea.

Groom Lake (also known as Area 51) is a top secret facility 83 miles North West of Las Vegas, Nevada. It was an artillery sight until April of 1955 when the Skunkworks division of Lockheed contracted the sight for development and testing of the U-2 Spy plane. The base is largely unacknowledged by the Air Force and security around it is very tight. The perimeter is guarded by private security with orders to shoot any intruders that fail to heed a warning to halt. Any cameras pointed at it, even from public lands, will earn you a hefty fine and a possible visit from the FBI. The airspace over this is known to pilots as “The Box” because it is restricted from both commercial and military flights as well. The lore of the Roswell saucer and attendant aliens being brought here is well known. What is less known is the type of aircraft that are being tested and developed here. Let me list the characteristics of just one such plane. I can speak from limited experience because I have seen it with my own two eyes.

Some of this planes characteristics are:

· This plane is 107’5” long with a wingspan of 55’7”. In spite of this, its radar signature is no larger than the door you use to enter your house.

· This plane uses 2 Pratt and Whitney J-58 engines to cruise at Mach 3.2 at 80,000 ft. The Concorde could make the New York to London run in 2 hours and 52 minutes while this plane can do it in an hour less. The only reason it cannot go faster is the engine intakes are only functional to 800 degrees F. When this baby lands you cannot go near the canopy because its temperature is 572 degrees F (300C).

· The Evasive Operating Procedure in the event that a surface to air missile is fired at this craft is for it to simply accelerate.

· The frame is made of Titanium.

· The craft is computer controlled but its flying capability outstrips the computer’s ability to handle it.

· It can survey 100,000 square miles of ground with its cameras in just one hour and can read your license plate at 85,000 feet.

Pretty amazing plane huh? Ya’ think? Now what would you think if I told you this plane was first flown in 1962 and put into operational service full time in 1964? That’s right; I’m talking about the SR-71 Blackbird. The only reason we know of its existence is due to the 1964 Presidential campaign. Sen. Barry Goldwater, Republican Candidate, had been accusing President Lyndon Johnson of not keeping up with the Soviets technologically speaking. Johnson unveiled the SR-71 in a speech on July 25^th, 1964. Apparently, this surprised even the Air Force!

While a Radio operator in the Marines, I used to call in air strikes in Wild Horse Canyon in the Phillipines. These were live ammunition bombing runs by A-4 and A-6 fighters. Our team of 5 would jump out of a helicopter and set up on the side of the canyon and so our view was of the fighters at eye level or below us as they released their ordinance. Every once in awhile, a pilot would surprise us with a low pass. This is when you can see the capability of a fighter jet up close and personal. They wouldn’t tell us they were coming so it was a total shock when they flew overhead. Watch this:

As you can see, the Harrier can get out of town when it needs to and it probably was moving at about 500 MPH.  Now imagine a plane capable of 2000 mph on demand and you can see where people would think they saw a UFO, especially at night.

So, this plane by itself begs the question: Are some UFOs Air Force technology that is 45 years ahead of what we can see in the air today? I think it’s a safe bet. This would also account for the secrecy that surrounds unexplainable events and the lame explanations that the government usually proffers for our edification. The Battle for LA is a good model for this theory. We saw an object no doubt. We fired 1500 rounds at the object over 90 minutes. We did not shoot it down or even appear to put a dent in it. It remains unexplained to this day.

As the technology we know increases, so does the apparent technology of the UFOs. Craft that were seen as far back as 1890 had many of the characteristics of blimps used in WW1. Yet craft seen since WW2 began were pretty much saucer shaped and have progressed in design to Delta wings. We have been flying Delta winged craft since the 1950’s, but recent sightings define these ships as “enormous”; some are several football fields in wingspan. Here is arguably the most famous sighting. It was known as the “Phoenix Lights” and the craft was over a mile wide. It was seen by thousands of people. This is a trailer for a documentary of the event that gives you an idea of the scope of the sighting:

Here is a clip of three sightings in 2008, one of them is by the Space Shuttle:

 And here is a video of a rare “Ring-type” over Los Angeles:

Whatever these are, I think it’s a safe bet that some of the unexplained craft can be explained by modern technology we just don’t know about.