South Asian Object 2
In an open hearing on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena before the Senate Armed Services Committee on April 19, Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, director of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), shared videos depicting an unidentified object with an apparent atmospheric wake or cavitation trailing it as it moved across the sensor’s field of view from left to right. An MQ-9 forward-looking infrared video sensor captured this footage in South Asia as it was recording another MQ-9. After analysis of the full motion video, inclusion of additional footage with a longer focal length, and analysis of commercial flight data in the region, AARO assesses that the object likely is a commercial aircraft and that the trailing cavitation is a sensor artifact resultant of video compression. Case resolution is pending final review. This video is the additional footage with a longer focal length. The apparent back and forth motion is an artifact of the longer focal length and the sensor attempting to zoom in on the fast moving UAP, rather than the MQ-9.