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The latest events on the record: hearings, official reports, releases and reported encounters. Each one links to its sources.
Government9 Feb 2023
A senior U.S. official said Chinese balloons had passed over more than 40 countries, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the balloon downed off South Carolina was part of a surveillance program spanning five continents, run by a PLA reconnaissance unit.
Photo: U.S. Department of State, Public domain
Military6 Feb 2023
Gen. Glen VanHerck, head of NORAD and Northern Command, told reporters that earlier Chinese balloon flights over the U.S. had not been detected in real time, calling it a domain awareness gap; intelligence found them afterward. A U.S. official said the UAP review helped identify the program.
Photo: U.S. Northern Command, Public domain
Military4 Feb 2023
An F-22 from Langley AFB downed a Chinese high-altitude surveillance balloon about six miles off South Carolina after it crossed the continental U.S. The episode preceded the shootdowns of three more objects later that month.
Photo: U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Tyler Thompson, Public domain
Government3 Feb 2023
China's Foreign Ministry said the object over the U.S. was a civilian airship for mainly meteorological research, blown off course by westerly winds, and expressed regret over its unintended entry. The Pentagon rejected this, saying it was a surveillance balloon.
Photo: Jeanne, Public domain
Military3 Feb 2023
Colombia's Air Force said it detected an object with balloon-like features above 55,000 feet, moving about 25 knots, and tracked it out of the country's airspace, judging it no threat. The Pentagon had reported a Chinese balloon over Latin America; China called it a stray civilian craft.
Photo: Fuerza Aerea Colombiana, CC0
Government2 Feb 2023
As the Chinese balloon crossed North America, Canada's Department of National Defence said NORAD was tracking a high-altitude surveillance balloon and that Canada was monitoring a possible second incident. It did not say where either object was.
Photo: Chase Doak, CC BY-SA 4.0
Military1 Feb 2023
A high-altitude balloon seen over Billings halted flights at the city's airport for about two hours. The Pentagon said it was tracking a Chinese surveillance balloon over sensitive sites in Montana, home to Malmstrom AFB's ICBM fields, and chose not to shoot it down over land.
Photo: Department of Defense, Public domain
GovernmentFeb 2023
After an F-22 downed the Chinese balloon off South Carolina, recovered debris went to the FBI laboratory at Quantico, where officials said specialists in 20-plus forensic disciplines focused on its electronics. The White House said the debris included electronics and optics from the payload.
Photo: U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Public domain
SightingsFeb 2023
In early February 2023 drone reports suspended operations at Dublin Airport on several days, diverting flights to Belfast and Shannon; on one day the airport later said no drone was present. Irish ministers met aviation officials and police, and a man was charged over an earlier January incident.
Photo: Skullical, CC0
Sightings31 Jan 2023
Private company Enigma Labs opened an invite-only app for reporting unidentified aerial phenomena, guiding witnesses through standard questions, screening uploaded media for manipulation and scoring each report's credibility. It also loaded historical records such as Project Blue Book cases.
Sightings18 Jan 2023
A livestream camera at the Subaru Telescope recorded a glowing spiral over Maunakea before dawn. Japan's national observatory linked it to the deployment of a satellite SpaceX had launched that day, sunlit high above; a similar spiral was seen in April 2022.
Photo: NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/T. Matsopoulos, CC BY 4.0
Media15 Jan 2023
Three-Body, a live-action adaptation of Liu Cixin's first-contact novel, premiered on CCTV-8, the drama channel of China's state broadcaster, and on Tencent Video. CCTV-8 announced the date with a trailer days earlier.
Photo: Henry Soderlund, CC BY 4.0
Government12 Jan 2023
ODNI's first annual UAP report, written with the new AARO, counted 366 reports beyond the 2021 preliminary assessment, for 510 in total. Initial review characterized 163 as balloon-like, 26 as drone-like and 6 as clutter, leaving 171 uncharacterized.
Photo: Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Public domain
Government2023
The Office of Canada's Chief Science Advisor began a review of how the federal government handles public UAP reports, its first such look in decades. Its 2025 report recommended naming a federal body to collect, investigate and publish UAP data.
Photo: Phillip Jeffrey, CC BY-SA 2.0
Military2023
At the July 2023 House Oversight UAP hearing, Rep. Matt Gaetz said a member of an Eglin AFB flight crew showed him a photo of an orb a pilot saw near four craft in a diamond formation over the Gulf of Mexico. He asked that the image and radar data be given to the committee.
Photo: Ike Hayman, U.S. House Office of Photography/House Creative Services, Public domain
Media2023
Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb published 'Interstellar' (HarperCollins), a popular book following his earlier 'Extraterrestrial' and tied to his search for interstellar objects and possible alien technology.
Photo: Aviloeb, CC BY-SA 4.0
Skinwalker Ranch2023
AAWSAP program manager James Lacatski, deputy Colm Kelleher and journalist George Knapp published Inside the US Government Covert UFO Program: Initial Revelations, an insider account of the DIA-funded AAWSAP program. Its claims are the authors' own and have not been officially confirmed.
Photo: Peabody Awards, CC BY 2.0
Whistleblowers2023
Former Navy F/A-18F pilot Ryan Graves founded Americans for Safe Aerospace, a nonprofit that says it supports pilots who report UAP and pushes for better reporting. Graves says pilots began sending reports to the group because they lacked another channel.
Photo: U.S. House Committee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs, Public domain
Military26 Dec 2022
Five North Korean drones crossed into South Korea and the military failed to bring any down. After first denying it, the Joint Chiefs of Staff admitted on January 5, 2023 that one had flown into the no-fly zone around the presidential office in Seoul.
Media25 Dec 2022
Crazy Pictures' adventure film UFO Sweden opened in Swedish cinemas. It follows a teenager who believes her father was taken by a UFO and turns to a small UFO club for help. The filmmakers drew on the real UFO-Sweden association and its UFO archive in Norrkoping.
