Is the truth out there? Defence does not want to know

Artist's impression of a UFO. | Newsreel
The Australian Air Force stopped investigating reports of UFOs in 1996. | Photo: Phonlamail Photo (IStock)

Are Australian skies being buzzed by UFOs? We will never know, based on the current stance of the Defence Department.

In response to a recent Freedom of Information request, Defence has released a 10-page dossier on their communications about Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) and Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) between July and October last year.

Bottom line is they don’t care, with the documents stating the Air Force stopped handling reports of UAPs in 1996 stating: “There was no scientific or other compelling reason to continue to devote resources to the recording and investigation of unidentified aerial phenomena”.

The documents state that under Air Force Aviation Reporting protocols “there had been no records of observations or sightings of unidentified aircraft over the past 10 years”.

Defence said they were aware of the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) in the United States Department of Defense and “continue to monitor their reports”.

They also noted they were aware of interest sparked in the topic last year due to activity in the United States.

Last January, the United State Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in its annual report that “UAP reporting has increased, however it could be attributed to a concentrated effort to destigmatise the topic”.

Following that report, in April, US Senator and AARO Director Sean Kilpatrick testified to a Senate Committee on emerging threats to the United States.

In the FOI papers Defence summarised the Senator’s testimony saying only a very small percentage of UAP reports displayed “signatures that could reasonably be described as anomalous”.

It pointed to the fact Senator Kilpatrick said the AARO had found “no credible evidence thus far of extra-terrestrial activity, off world technology, or objects that defy the known laws of physics”.

Read the Defence Department response to the FOI request.