All those UFO sightings? They weren't aliens just experimental aircraft, says the Pentagon

There's no verifiable evidence thatany UFO sighting in the U.S. was actually extraterrestrial,according to a new Pentagon report that addresses a long-held belief thatthe U.S. government is covering up the existence of aliens.

The report on the historical record of U.S. government involvement with Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP),releasedFriday, also said that a spike in supposed UFO-sightingssince 1945 were actually U.S. experimental technologies in space, rocket and air systems, "including stealth technologies and the proliferation of drone platforms."

"All investigative efforts, at all levels of classification, concluded that most sightings were ordinary objects and phenomena and the result of misidentification," Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a media statement Friday.

"From the 1940s to the 1960s especially, the United States witnessed a boom in experimental technologies driven by World War II and the Cold War," the report noted by way of explanation.

To compile the63-page report, the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO)within the Department of Defencereviewedall official U.S. government investigation efforts since 1945, researched classified and unclassified archives, conducted approximately 30 interviews, and partnered with intelligence community and Department of Defenceofficials responsible for controlled and special access program oversight.

WATCH | NASA says there's no evidence that UAPs are aliens:

No evidence UAPs are aliens but NASA doesn't know what they are

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NASA has released a much-anticipated report on UAPs formerly known as UFOs. A 16-person panel determined there's no evidence that connects the sightings to extraterrestrial life, but it remains unclear what they are and NASA says more evidence is needed to understand them.

U.S. officials have endeavoured to find answers to legions of reported UFO sightings over the years, but so far have not identified any actual evidence of extraterrestrial life.

A 2021 government report that reviewed 144 sightings of aircraft or other devices apparently flying at mysterious speeds or trajectories found no extraterrestrial links, but drew few other conclusions and called for better data collection.

The issue received fresh attention last summer whenretired Air Force intelligence officer David Gruschtestified to Congress that the U.S. was concealing a longstanding program that retrieves and reverse engineers unidentified flying objects.

The Pentagon has denied his claims, and said in late 2022 that a new Pentagon office set up to track reports of unidentified flying objects the same one that released Friday's report had received "several hundreds" of new reports, but had found no evidence so far of alien life.

Flying saucer reports as cultural phenomenon

The Pentagon's report saidthat there is a "persistentnarrative" in popular culture that the U.S. government, or a secretive organization within it,recovered "off-world spacecraft" and biological extraterrestrial remains, that it operates a program to reverse engineer the recovered technology,and that it has "conspiredsince the 1940s to keep this effort hidden from the United States Congress and the American public."

Reports of "flying saucers" became a cultural phenomenon in the U.S. in the 1940s and 50s,notes the Library of Congress,and fears were amplified by the Cold War.

"Fear of the possibilities for destruction in the Cold War-era proved fertile ground for terrestrial anxieties to manifest visions of flying saucers and visitors from other worlds who might be hidden among us in plain sight."

Posters for movies such asEarth vs. the Flying Saucersfrom 1956 that scream "Flying Saucers Attack!" illustrate these fears, the Library of Congress writes on its website.

Movies likeStar WarsandClose Encounters of the Third Kindin the 1970s, and E.T.,Alien, Flight of the Navigator and Predator in the 1980s took the interest in extraterrestriallife to a fever pitch. In the 1990s, television shows like The X-Filesfeatured plotswhere FBI agents investigated claims of UFO sightings and alien abductions as well asgovernment conspiracies meantto cover them up.

The authors of Friday's report said the purpose was to apply a rigorous scientific analysis to a subject that has long captured the American public's imagination.

"AARO recognizes that many people sincerely hold versions of these beliefs which are based on their perception of past experiences, the experiences of others whom they trust, or media and online outlets they believe to be sources of credible and verifiable information," the report said.

"The proliferation of television programs, books, movies, and the vast amount of internet and social media content centred on UAP-related topics most likely has influenced the public conversation on this topic, and reinforced these beliefs within some sections of the population," it said.