http://www.philly.com/news/nation-wo...-20190424.html
"A recent uptick in sightings of unidentified flying objects — or, as the military calls them, 'unexplained aerial phenomena' — prompted the U.S. Navy to draft formal procedures for pilots to document encounters, a corrective measure that former officials say is long overdue. . .
“'Since 2014, these intrusions have been happening on a regular basis,' Joseph Gradisher, spokesman for the deputy chief of naval operations for information warfare, told the
Washington Post on Wednesday. Recently, unidentified aircraft entered military-designated airspace as often as multiple times per month. 'We want to get to the bottom of this. We need to determine who’s doing it, where it’s coming from, and what their intent is. We need to try to find ways to prevent it from happening again.'
"Citing safety and security concerns, Gradisher vowed to 'investigate each and every report. . . '
"According to [Chris] Mellon [a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for intelligence and a staffer on the Senate Intelligence Committee], awestruck and baffled pilots, concerned that reporting unidentified flying aircraft would adversely affect their careers, tended not to speak up. And when they did, he said there was little interest in investigating their reports."
No "woo woo" stuff here--this is just talking about gathering solid data and withholding judgment until enough info is available (if ever) to make some hypotheses about just what is going on. However I doubt that the Navy or anybody could "prevent it from happening again." Kudos to the Navy for moving toward being up-front about this (e.g. the Nimitz sighting). In the past, the Air Force both initiated its own and sponsored reports on the UFO phenomenon (Project Bluebook and the [witless] Condon Report), but has largely been dismissive of it. I wonder if the Navy is more open-minded about the subject than the Air Force. Any thoughts from those with experience in this matter, who reported sightings up the chain-of-command--and did you encounter a backlash?