A UFO is one of the unidentified objects that collided into a US fighter jet over Arizona, cracking the canopy protecting the pilot, and forcing the $63 million plane to land, new reports have revealed.
A mysterious flying object, struck a US Air Force F-16 fighter jet during a training mission over Arizona in January 2023, causing damage to the fighter jet and raising concerns about a rise in mysterious aerial activity near American military sites, the New York Post reported.
The incident is one of several unexplained aerial encounters reported near US Air Force training zones in Arizona since 2020. A day after this incident, there were three more unidentified aircrafts were spotted over the Air Force's Barry Goldwater Range, where the fighter was damaged, the documents stated.
According to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) documents, first reported by The War Zone, the incident occurred in January 2023 when an "orange-white" uncrewed aerial system (UAS) collided mid-air with the canopy of a $63 million F-16 Viper, forcing it to be grounded. The term UAS typically refers to drones, though the object remains unidentified.
Former Pentagon investigator Luis Elizondo told News Nation that reports of unidentified aerial activity have increased near Arizona's southern border.
The government have received 757 such complaints between May 2023 and June 2024 — 708 of which took place in the air — with only 49 marked “Case closed” in the latest report published by the Anomaly Resolution Office.
The small unidentified objects spotted in Arizona are known to fly in groups of up to eight and are sometimes characterized as drones, according to the War Zone, which noted the incidents took place at high altitudes in or near military air combat training sites since January 2020.
