A UFO/Drone connection?

[Telarus]

Many UFO witnesses describe a pattern of lights in the sky that appears to be in the outline of a craft. This "craft" then does things no human-based tech can do, like changing velocity and thrust vectors at such speeds as appearing to pull off 90 degree turns to then go straight up or down (out of or into the gravity well), etc.

These assumptions are based on the idea that this sighted phenomena is a single mass ("a ship") traveling through the atmosphere.

After watching this flock of Drones cruise over some agricultural fields in Hungary, I'm starting to have other ideas...

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/02/26/283090909/robot-swarm-a-flock-of-drones-that-fly-autonomously

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Player's not loading for me, but interesting nonetheless. I had wondered before, why would an alien species come all the way to Earth for the purpose of an impressive airshow? Why would we know that an alien ship can do strange maneuvers? There would have to be a purpose to them, and I can't think of any other than aliens want to fuck with our heads. The drone explanation makes way more sense.

At least for UFOs that do crazy shit.

[Telarus]

Huh, that player has a strange embed...

Try here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L70Va9im84Y

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Thanks, Tel.

That's pretty cool, actually. And that is one awesome beard at 3:20.

[Cain]

The US has experimented with surveillance and suicide drones since about, oh, the 1950s?  It's certainly possible, especially when running a large-scale exercise which would require drone surveillance and also drones engaging the AA defenses.

However, I don't think that Air Force intelligence would spend so much time feeding the UFO rumour mill simply for the sake of deflecting questions about drone technology.  It likely accounts for some sightings, certainly, but not the overall military interest in the phenomena.

[Telarus]

Thanks man, that lends some much needed context to a fresh idea.

[hooplala]

The easiest scenario I can imagine to explain UFO phenomena (next to simple hallucination) would be government manufactured drones, so yeah this makes a lot of sense.  And a lot of the fringe sightings int he 50s and 60s described remarkably small "craft"...

[Junkenstein]

Add the idea that during that era some nations had less than amicable relations with others. Unverifiable invasions of airspace with new tech is not exactly breaking new ground. I'd have to suggest that if the US had access to this kind of tech at the time, other nations of a comparable size probably did too. What better way to field test it than in your enemies back yard?

This would help explain the airforce interest. Rather have people think crazy things about aliens than admit that this could even be possible.

[The Johnny]

probably test it in a desert in your own back yard so it doesnt get shot down and reverse engineered