The United States Department of Defense (DoD) announced the launch of a new group to study Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP).
The Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group (AOIMSG) will be the successor to the US Navy’s Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force, DoD announced on November 23, 2021.
“The AOIMSG will synchronize efforts across the Department and the broader U.S. government to detect, identify and attribute objects of interests in Special Use Airspace (SUA), and to assess and mitigate any associated threats to safety of flight and national security,” DoD revealed in the press release, indicating that the group will focus on the national security issues posed by UAPs.
According to the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Special use airspace (SUA) “consists of that airspace wherein activities must be confined because of their nature, or wherein limitations are imposed upon aircraft operations that are not a part of those activities, or both” Most prominently, this includes military training ranges and other installations.
The original UAP Task Force was set up in 2020, following numerous high-profile reports about unidentified objects. Most notably, this included several videos captured by the Navy personnel.
In June 2021, the task force issued a report that highlighted major challenges connected to studying the phenomena. Among other findings, the report emphasized that some UAPs can be linked to foreign activity.
The new group is just one of the US government’s recent attempts to raise awareness about and study UAPs. They have also included directions to refer to the objects by the new name, instead of the often-misunderstood acronym ‘UFO’ (unidentified flying object). They have also published previously classified material and provided the public with access to information about new sightings.