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UFOs, the Channel Islands and the Navy's 'drone swarm' mystery
https://thehill.com ^ | January 05, 2022 - 08:00 AM EST | BY MARIK VON RENNENKAMPFF, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR

Posted on 01/06/2022 6:42:26 AM PST by Red Badger

The Navy has a perplexing mystery on its hands. For several weeks in 2019, unknown objects stalked U.S. warships off the coast of southern California. While the bizarre "drone" encounters remain unsolved, the incidents occurred in an area with a long history of UFO sightings, including two of the most credible encounters on record.

According to documents reviewed by The Drive, the first reports of unidentified objects hovering and flying near Navy vessels sparked a sweeping, high-level investigation. The Navy, working with the FBI and Coast Guard, now appears to have ruled out civilian activity or U.S. military operations as plausible explanations for the encounters. This leaves two possibilities, each with extraordinary implications.

Either a foreign adversary is spying on Navy ships around the Channel Islands (which lie just west of Los Angeles and San Diego), or devices of truly unknown origin are operating with impunity around U.S. (and allied) vessels.

The implications of a foreign power deploying drones to spy on American warships just off the California coast are immense. For starters, this scenario suggests a monumental U.S. counterintelligence failure.

Moreover, such a brazen and technically complex intelligence operation amounts to an enormous gamble for a hostile nation. Any shoot-down - as the Navy reportedly attempted - of a foreign surveillance drone so close to U.S. shores would invite sweeping geopolitical repercussions.

Importantly, if the UFOs that stalked the Navy warships were part of an adversarial intelligence collection effort, the objects' operators made little effort to conceal their presence. Videos taken aboard one U.S. vessel show the mysterious craft displaying bright and flashing lights. At the same time, Navy radar operators tracked the objects with apparent ease, even expressing surprise as the craft engaged in anomalous maneuvers. In another video, a spherical object (which has noteworthy parallels to UFOs observed by fighter pilots off the U.S. east coast) appears to descend slowly into the ocean.

To be sure, investigators and intelligence analysts must take seriously the possibility that a foreign power is spying on U.S. warships a stone's throw from two major American cities. But based on what is known publicly about these bizarre incidents, investigators should also consider the long history of UFO sightings around the Channel Islands. Decades of anecdotal reports are bolstered by two of the most credible encounters on record.

In a notable 2004 incident, air controllers aboard a Navy guided missile cruiser watched as mysterious radar tracks suddenly appeared around San Clemente Island.

The radar operators grew increasingly uneasy as the UFOs moved south at bizarrely slow speeds. With U.S. planes slated to conduct an air defense exercise in the same area as the unknown objects, controllers directed two F/A-18 fighter jets to investigate the nearest radar contact.

As the jets approached, all four aviators aboard the two-seat fighters observed a "Tic Tac"-shaped craft hovering and moving in extraordinary ways just above the surface of the ocean. The object, which had no discernible engines, rotors, wings or other control surfaces, then mirrored the maneuvers of the lead fighter jet before accelerating instantaneously out of sight.

After descending tens of thousands of feet in less than a second, the object reappeared on radar 60 miles away, implying unimaginably fast velocities and g-forces. Most perplexingly, the UFO appeared at a pre-determined rendezvous point known only to the aircrew and radar operators.

U.S. intelligence analyses ruled out highly advanced Chinese or Russian aircraft as plausible explanations for the bizarre encounter. For their part, the four aviators who observed the object believe that it was "not from this world."

A half century earlier, one of the most talented and prolific aeronautical engineers in history observed a UFO over the Channel Islands. His account is corroborated by four of America's most experienced test pilots and aerospace engineers.

Among many noteworthy contributions to American aviation, Clarence "Kelly" Johnson designed the legendary U-2 and SR-71 spy planes as the first head of Lockheed Martin's famed "Skunk Works" division. On Dec. 16, 1953, Johnson and his wife watched as a UFO with no apparent control surfaces or engines hovered for several minutes in the vicinity of Santa Cruz Island. The object then accelerated rapidly out of sight.

Unknown to Johnson, a Lockheed flight test crew, which included the company's chief aerodynamics engineer, chief flight test engineer and two highly experienced test pilots, observed the same object while flying northwest along the Los Angeles coastline.

Unsurprisingly, Johnson and the flight crew's descriptions of the incident are meticulously detailed. Most importantly, Lockheed's engineers and pilots explicitly ruled out a cloud formation as a plausible explanation for the incident.

Nonetheless, the Air Force, freshly charged with discrediting and "debunking" all UFO sightings, concluded that five of America's most credible observers were fooled by a small cloud.

Largely unknown in aviation history, Johnson was a firm believer in the existence of "flying saucers." In a letter informing the Air Force of the Channel Islands encounter (and another UFO sighting two years earlier), Johnson writes that the incidents left him "more firmly convinced than ever that such devices exist." According to Johnson, the 1953 encounter helped him win "some highly technical converts in this belief."

Importantly, the Lockheed engineers' and pilots' descriptions of the December 1953 incident refer to another credible sighting over the Channel Islands. In 1951, one of the company's top test pilots, Roy Wimmer, "sighted some lights over Catalina [Island]" that reportedly "stood still for a while and moved around" before disappearing. The parallels to the movement of the "drones" that recently followed U.S. warships are noteworthy.

A decade after the Lockheed encounters of the 1950s, a Navy photographer captured video of a UFO moving slowly over Catalina Island. Digitally enhanced footage shows that the object appears to lack control surfaces or obvious means of propulsion, bearing an intriguing resemblance to the strange craft observed by naval aviators in 2004.

Now, with Congress forcing the government to take the UFO phenomenon seriously for the first time, investigators must consider whether the objects that followed Navy warships are linked to the long history of inexplicable - yet highly credible - encounters in the waters off southern California.

Marik von Rennenkampff served as an analyst with the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, as well as an Obama administration appointee at the U.S. Department of Defense. Follow him on Twitter @MvonRen.


TOPICS: History; Science; UFO's; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: ca; channelislands; drone; ufo
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To: GingisK

Except it is not just me...


101 posted on 01/06/2022 3:11:29 PM PST by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: Monkey Face

Sorry I missed this, I agree. I think there are multiple dimensions that defy time and space... :)


102 posted on 01/06/2022 3:13:44 PM PST by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: Openurmind

Nor just me. I’m Lutheran. We tend to avoid finding things in the Bible that really aren’t there.


103 posted on 01/06/2022 3:20:35 PM PST by GingisK
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To: jimmygrace

That’s what I think. Shoot it down and look inside.


104 posted on 01/06/2022 3:30:56 PM PST by wgmalabama (We will find out if the Vac or virus risk was the correct choice - can we put truth above narrative)
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To: GingisK

Oh I see... That explains it... Understandable... Selective interpretation. Personally I find that a problem with the book. A thousand interpretations of the same passage... It ruins the source altogether.

Ironic right?


105 posted on 01/06/2022 3:38:13 PM PST by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: PIF

Soviets used to spy on us from that Location—looking at Port Mugu testing site. Used subs. Some even came ashore (so the rumors say) at Mugu Rock. These Russians sailors were found at Neptune’s Net drinking beer and eating shrimp—Trading medals and Russian money for drink—until the Shore Patrol came and picked them up—for a free flight back to Mother Russia. That’s the story in any case. Now, its the Chinese doing the spy work and testing new weapons. BUT there are lots of Reports on Highway One of UFO’s and rumors of an undersea base.


106 posted on 01/06/2022 4:31:00 PM PST by Forward the Light Brigade ( ALWAYS GO FORWARD AND NEVER GO BACK.)
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To: Openurmind
It is ironic. Most of the trouble stems from people who want to use it as the Detailed System Design and Operations Manual of the Universe. It was never intended to answer questions in an infinite spectrum. Its purpose is targeted more tightly than some imagine.
107 posted on 01/06/2022 4:41:35 PM PST by GingisK
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To: allendale

What was that?

It seems that you might be agreeing that Einstein did conceive of a way to achieve interstellar travel.

-But there sure were lots of words.


108 posted on 01/06/2022 5:08:40 PM PST by Triple (Socialism denies people the right to the fruits of their labor, and is as abhorrent as slavery)
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To: allendale

You either believe Einstein or you believe in UFOs. It is virtually impossible for a physical or biological entity to travel the inconceivable distance of say 50 light years and visit earth. Of course despite all these sightings and encounters there is no physical or documentary evidence. - allendale

Since worm holes are consistent with Einstein/ you are walking this mocking statement back, right?


109 posted on 01/06/2022 5:15:21 PM PST by Triple (Socialism denies people the right to the fruits of their labor, and is as abhorrent as slavery)
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To: Triple

Einstein may have imagined wormholes but he never ever said that such entities actually exist and he definitely did not ruin his reputation by speculating about interstellar travel. Look have a good time with your imagination and enjoy science fiction for all its worth. However whether you’re dealing with philosophy or experimental physics defining the truth, if it is in fact definable, is difficult.


110 posted on 01/06/2022 5:18:10 PM PST by allendale
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To: allendale

Please, just forget our ever responded to you.

Thanks.


111 posted on 01/06/2022 7:31:27 PM PST by Triple (Socialism denies people the right to the fruits of their labor, and is as abhorrent as slavery)
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To: null and void

What about if I write Bill Birnes or Nick Pope and see if I can get a show on the History Chanel about the continued operations of project mocking bird? : )


112 posted on 01/06/2022 7:50:27 PM PST by dragonblustar (2 Peter 2:14,1 Corinthians 6:18-20)
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To: dragonblustar

To get onto The Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping List you must threaten to report me to the Mods if I don’t add you to the list...


113 posted on 01/07/2022 12:17:30 AM PST by null and void (81 million votes ≠ 81 million voters)
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To: Forward the Light Brigade

Interesting story! The rumored base is somewhere along the coast down by LA - are sonar images of something that could be one, very deep - looks like a flat roof above a pillared entrance as I recall


114 posted on 01/07/2022 3:29:38 AM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: PIF

You recall correctly.


115 posted on 01/07/2022 5:14:29 AM PST by null and void (81 million votes ≠ 81 million voters)
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To: dragonblustar

Did you ever notice that there are never any reports of any SONIC BOOMS related to these extraordinary crafts super speeds?

Regardless of size, they should produce sonic booms every time they speed away in an instant.........................


116 posted on 01/07/2022 5:36:59 AM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: Red Badger

Zechariah 5
1 I looked again, and there before me was a flying scroll.
2 He asked me, “What do you see?”
I answered, “I see a flying scroll, twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide.”
3 And he said to me, “This is the curse that is going out over the whole land; for according to what it says on one side, every thief will be banished, and according to what it says on the other, everyone who swears falsely will be banished.
4 The Lord Almighty declares, ‘I will send it out, and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of anyone who swears falsely by my name. It will remain in that house and destroy it completely, both its timbers and its stones.’”
5 Then the angel who was speaking to me came forward and said to me, “Look up and see what is appearing.”
6 I asked, “What is it?”
He replied, “It is a basket.” And he added, “This is the iniquity of the people throughout the land.”
7 Then the cover of lead was raised, and there in the basket sat a woman!
8 He said, “This is wickedness,” and he pushed her back into the basket and pushed its lead cover down on it.
9 Then I looked up—and there before me were two women, with the wind in their wings! They had wings like those of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between heaven and earth.
10 “Where are they taking the basket?” I asked the angel who was speaking to me.
11 He replied, “To the country of Babylonia to build a house for it. When the house is ready, the basket will be set there in its place.”


117 posted on 01/07/2022 8:19:00 AM PST by evets (beer)
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Wicked Babylonian stork winged women!

118 posted on 01/07/2022 8:25:50 AM PST by evets (beer)
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To: allendale

I agree


119 posted on 01/07/2022 11:09:48 AM PST by Mr. K (No consequence of repealing obamacare is worse than obamacare itself)
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To: null and void

you would never build a spaceship to accelerate to the speed of light. For the reasons you stated AND the fact that it would require massive amount of energy.

But you could warp space/time by using wormholes and arrive at your destination immediately.

It appears aliens have discovered how to do that. That is how they achieve instantaneous 90 degree turns. They are not setting things on fire and squirting it out the back, they are using some physics we don’t yet understand (here on earth) to jump to new locations


120 posted on 01/07/2022 11:13:00 AM PST by Mr. K (No consequence of repealing obamacare is worse than obamacare itself)
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