The Pentagon has a new office dedicated to investigating and tracking UFOs—or unidentified aerial phenomena as they’re now known. The Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group, or AOIMSG if that doesn’t quite roll off the tongue for you, will specifically focus on unexplained phenomena that pass through military airspace.
The group will be directed by the under secretary of defense for intelligence and security.
AOIMSG will be the successor to a Navy department called the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force.
In June the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a report on more than 140 sightings by Navy pilots and others of unidentified aerial phenomena. “Incursions by any airborne object … pose safety of flight and operations security concerns, and may pose national security challenges,” the Defense Department said in a statement.
The announcement added that AOIMSG is being established “to address the challenges associated with assessing UAP occurring on or near DOD training ranges and installations.”