Military Offers Explanation For Texas UFO Reports

[Miah]

http://www.nbc5i.com/news/15120390/detail.html
"an error was made regarding the reported training activity of military aircraft" and that "10 F-16s from the 457th Fighter Squadron were performing training operations in the Brownwood Military Operating Area."

Originally they said that they did not have any aircraft out that night, and that there were no commercial jets in the area either. They changed their story!

This could be a cover-up of a UFO. Or the Military really may have had a top secret new aircraft test going on that they were hesitant to own up to until there was so much buzz about it. When they were first asked they figured 'it's a small town, just deny it'. But when the media wouldn't leave it alone and it went international, they figured 10 fighter jets is admitting they had something there, but not letting out what it was.

But overall it would have been better if they had not stated this, because then there is still no other possible explanation.

Would the military not have known that it had 10 fighters out that night? Would residents all over the area not have heard 10 fighter jets in the quiet country!? Do fighters look a mile long and hover?

UPDATE:

This is a great video discussing the military explanation, and some new video supposedly of it: http://cbs11tv.com/local/stephenville.ufo.photos.2.636658.html

Fox News seems to doubt the military explanation, here's a clip from this morning:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7657453373550773700&hl=en

News post of interest:
http://www.star-telegram.com/state_news/story/429450.html

"They knew they were eventually going to have to tell the truth," Cherry said. "They concocted a ridiculous cover story in the beginning, but now they are coming closer to the truth with another cover story."

Several of the approximately 50 witnesses said they saw fighter jets trying -- and failing miserably -- to catch up to the strange aircraft.

Some said the unidentified flying object was up to a mile long and hundreds of yards high. Others described seeing two to eight lights that flew in formation, changed color and shined with an intensity greater than a welding flame.

One witness who reported seeing military jets chasing a UFO was Steve Allen, a pilot and owner of a freight company in Glen Rose.

"We're on the money 100 percent," Allen said after learning of the military's statement. "Something is going on, and we know about it. It's time for the government to start talking about it."

What's funny is that the military expects us to believe that what 50 witnesses actually saw was just a couple of fighter jets going by, and that they dreamed up that they were chasing a huge unknown object.

 

[truthseeker]

Same old story...
The Air Force steps up and explains the sightings as flares or F-16 flying in formation.

 

[fitzbew88]

Yes, it's a conundrum.

If the descriptions are accurate, 10 F-16's are not a viable solution.

If the descriptions are inaccurate, 10 F-16's are a viable solution.

Everybody gets to believe what they want to believe.

 

[Ron Collins]

Yeah, channel 11 just got into the BS business too. Check out the intense copy and paste job they did on this wonderful peice of literature.

http://cbs11tv.com/local/ufo.texas.stephenville.2.636217.html

You knew it had to happen at some point. If you ask me, the excuse genie dialed this one in. This isn't even a good attempt at a coverup.

Apparently, the entire Stephenville area is populated with a bunch of morons. Or so we are expected to believe.

So, lets compare the observed objects these backwater idiots saw with the real F16! It'll be fun!

Object estimated length= 1 mile
F-16's length= 49ft 5in
Lets assume that there is a 2 plane lenght in between each plane and that they were all in a line. thats 1,474 feet. That is 3,806 feet short of a mile. That is what I call a significant difference. Man these folks are stupid!

Sound of object: None. In fact all of the reports were characterized by the complete absence of sound.
Sound of an F-16: The F-16 comes with 2 engine possibilities.
1 - Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-220 afterburning turbofan
a - 14,590 pounds of force for normal operations
b - 23,770 pounds of force in afterburner
2 - General Electric F110-GE-100 afterburning turbofan
a - 17,155 pounds of force for normal operations
b - 28,985 pounds of force in afterburner

Admitedly, I couldn't find a decible range for these engines, but I feel pretty safe in saying that 10 of them would be in the "louder than silent" catagory. They are either all deaf or the cows were mooing too load for them to hear the jets!

I dont buy the sudden appearence of 10 F-16's as a viable explaination. I can't believe that it took them 12 days to find a flight of 10 jet fighters. It's just not a plausable explaination in my opinion.

 

[Poi]

Check out the emails Linda Howe has posted to her site. (Yeah, I know, it's her, but a couple of the emails are interesting.

http://www.earthfiles.com/news.php?ID=1379&category=Environment

In particular,

On Tuesday January 1, 2008, above Fort Worth, about 09:00 AM to 12:00 PM, we had some crazy flyovers of F-18s, B1s, B2s, F-22s, and the new raptor jet. Flying very much like a search pattern for something on the ground or in the air. Just East of I-35W and North to South of I-20/820 East. It got my attention while I was on the computer checking on my emails for the day, when these jets flew so close that I could look up and see the outline of the wheel wells, about 700 feet off the ground. Next door neighbor also noticed the flight pattern and came out to talk about what might be going on at this time. Being a security officer at one time in my life came in handy about distance and type of equipment, whatever it might be!

Then this from someone else:

If the witness was sure of I.D. of jet fighters being F-16 or F-15, they are Air Force fighters and mostly didn't come from Navy air base - unless it was secret special Air Force temporary deploy to Naval air base to observe UFOs. If Air Force F-16 didn't come from Navy air base, this mean government has been tracking and chasing UFOs from a far distant base. Navy fighters are F-18 and F-14. This could aid in tracking the base these fighters came from. I believe it is a top secret air unit to chase and observe UFOs, not regular Air Force or Navy, which both can say they have no planes in the air.

So was the Navy tracking something too? Or was the Navy involved in training exercises with the Air Force? Surely, that isn't unheard of. Still, it sounds to me like they called out the cavalry for something. All the planes might have been a "dodge" to cover something out of this world, or very much of this world. Could have been in hot pursuit too.

 

[tommyball]

There's actually a good interview of one of the Texas UFO witnesses by Linda Moulton Howe on the recent Dreamland. It's at the beginning of the episode and if you keep listening you'll catch Streiber deriding MUFON for calling out the drones as CGI hoaxes.

-todd.

 

[fitzbew88]

Check out the emails Linda Howe has posted to her site. (Yeah, I know, it's her, but a couple of the emails are interesting.

http://www.earthfiles.com/news.php?ID=1379&category=Environment

In particular,

On Tuesday January 1, 2008, above Fort Worth, about 09:00 AM to 12:00 PM, we had some crazy flyovers of F-18s, B1s, B2s, F-22s, and the new raptor jet. Flying very much like a search pattern for something on the ground or in the air. Just East of I-35W and North to South of I-20/820 East. It got my attention while I was on the computer checking on my emails for the day, when these jets flew so close that I could look up and see the outline of the wheel wells, about 700 feet off the ground. Next door neighbor also noticed the flight pattern and came out to talk about what might be going on at this time. Being a security officer at one time in my life came in handy about distance and type of equipment, whatever it might be!

The B2 and B1 are not the aircraft the military would send to intercept an unknown. Or anything else for that matter. They are bombers, and useless for anything else.

The B2 is also very slow.

I'll have to give this email a low-level of believability. Now, on the other hand if there was an air show in the area....

 

[Poi]

Thanks, Fitz. I know zilch about the planes mentioned. It really does sound like an air show ... which probably didn't take place at all. Except the raptor part. Are those displayed in air shows? I've seen film, but never heard my girlfriend mention them at air shows. Just curious.

 

[fitzbew88]

Thanks, Fitz. I know zilch about the planes mentioned. It really does sound like an air show ... which probably didn't take place at all. Except the raptor part. Are those displayed in air shows?

Yes, I've seen "F-22's" at air shows. I have that in quotes because I'm not sure it was in an operational configuration, I mean the one I saw may have been a late prototype or used specifically for display.

I believe only about 100 of these have actually been deployed operationally; it shouldn't be too hard to see if any are based in Texas.

 

[Ron Collins]

Thanks, Fitz. I know zilch about the planes mentioned. It really does sound like an air show ... which probably didn't take place at all. Except the raptor part. Are those displayed in air shows?

Yes, I've seen "F-22's" at air shows. I have that in quotes because I'm not sure it was in an operational configuration, I mean the one I saw may have been a late prototype or used specifically for display.

I believe only about 100 of these have actually been deployed operationally; it shouldn't be too hard to see if any are based in Texas.

325th Fighter Wing
43d Fighter Squadron - The only USAF squadron to operate F-22As at Tyndall AFB, Florida. The 43d was re-established at Tyndall in 2002, and, in 2003, with a corps of 15 Raptor Instructor Pilots, began training student Raptor pilots. The 43d continues to produce new Raptor pilots and serves as the focal point for all F-22 training of pilots and maintainers.

Air Combat Command
1st Fighter Wing Langley Air Force Base, Virginia.
27th Fighter Squadron - The first deployable F-22 unit in December 2005 after receiving sufficient numbers of trained Raptor pilots and flew the first F-22A operational mission (January 2006 in support of Operation Noble Eagle). They deployed to Kadena Air Base with a complement of 250 Airmen and 12 F-22s.[56]

94th Fighter Squadron - Full complement as of 19 January 2007.[56]
53d Wing Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.
422d Test and Evaluation Squadron - The "Green Bats" are responsible for operational testing, tactics development and evaluation for the F-22.

Air Force Material Command
412th Flight Test Squadron - Conducts developmental tests of F-22 enhancements and modernization.
Pacific Air Forces

3d Wing Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska.
90th Fighter Squadron - Conversion from F-15Es to F-22s begun; first F-22A arrived 8 August 2007.[57][58]
525th Fighter Squadron - Not activated yet.
302d Fighter Squadron - An Air Force Reserve Command squadron that will convert from F-16s at Luke Air Force Base and move to Elmendorf AFB.

Air National Guard
192nd Fighter Wing - Virginia Air National Guard. Transitioned from F-16s based in Richmond International Airport, Richmond, VA to F-22s based at Langley AFB, Virginia.

Future bases and units will include:
199th Fighter Squadron, Hickam AFB, Hawaii.
531st Fighter Squadron, Hickam AFB, Hawaii.
49th Fighter Wing, Holloman AFB, New Mexico.
104th Fighter Wing, Barnes Municipal Airport, Massachusetts (Talked about as happening to the 102nd Fighter Wing while it was considered for being dissolved, F-15's later moved to the 104th. Should happen around 2009.

According to wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-22#Operators

Also, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics is based out of Fort Worth Texas. They designed and built the F-22.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_Aeronautics

 

[Poi]

Interesting that the guy in my quote mentions seeing, in those "crazy flyovers,' F-22s AND the raptor jet. Further proof he's blowing smoke.

 

[Miah]

Added several updates to original post, will continue to do so.

 

[dorkbot]

Or the Military really may have had a top secret new aircraft test going on that they were hesitant to own up to until there was so much buzz about it.

I've yet to hear a really satisfying explanation for why a top secret aircraft would be tested in public airspace, especially a flying light show. It seems to me highly unlikely that you would operate a massive, illuminated platform at low-altitude over the general public unless you either wanted it to be seen or had no choice as to whether it was seen or not.

Rampant speculation:
1. Still a test platform and the test involves being viewed by a small sampling of the general population. Reports from small town "hicks" are easy to counter in the media.

2. Operational platform and the operation demands being viewed by some small sampling of the general population. I think of the inflatable tanks of WWII designed to make the Nazis overestimate size and location of our forces. Perhaps this is something like that in reverse where the objective is to leak out stories that we have super advanced tech at our disposal when in reality it is a novel blimp and a stage show. Some "witnesses" are seeded to add extraordinary performance claims to the public reports. The videos, if genuine, do not show extraordinary performance.

3. Operational platform where the mission is more important than stealth. I have no idea what this could be or why the vehicle wouldn't be operated out of the hundreds of square miles of controlled airspace the military has at it's disposal.

4. Something that is not operated by the military directly... ie private contractors. The local Air Force base may have been genuinely unaware of it's presence and is left with a mess to clean up. This still begs the question of why private contractors would be operating something so visibly.

5. Genuine UFO.

Why wait two weeks to say it was F-16s? If standard operating procedure dictates that you deny outright until a certain public interest metric is met then it would seem public interest was highest shortly after the incident when it was being featured in the daily news cycle.

It just strikes me as a purposefully flimsy explanation.

 

[dorkbot]

I just saw that Nick Redfern posted a report from Terry Groff regarding the matter.

Money quote:

"Oddly, none of the witnesses I interviewed were witness to the event(s) of January 8th - all were from December ‘07 - none of which correlated with the others. My witness’ reports consisted of a Black Triangle, Neon Green Orbs, repeating orange explosions and one CE3 in the witness’ bedroom. This witness also stated that they had been being abducted for years but it had been more than 10 years since the last."

The above statement seems to cast this in the light of the Phoenix story. Genuine event(s) followed up by highly visible sideshow?

 

[Miah]

The Fox News show America's Newsroom has really been keeping up with this story, here's all the video.

Original coverage:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=G_0_XXDfMvc

1/24 follow-up with military saying it was 10 fighter jets:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7657453373550773700&hl=en

1/25 follow-up with footage of the strange lights:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6234855760130947973&hl=en

 

[TClaeys]

Here is a link to a story that may add to the current news. It appears that there were other sightings in and near San Antonio and the surrounding areas. More witness testimony will be taken. We'll have to see what happens with this and if the military says they were in THAT area as well.

http://radio.woai.com/cc-common/news/sections/newsarticle.html?feed=119078&article=3172828

 

[Ron Collins]

The Fox News show America's Newsroom has really been keeping up with this story, here's all the video.

Original coverage:

WOW! Did we just see a news guy (other than Knapp) admit to believing in the phenomenon on live TV? That has to be some kind of monumental mile stone. Then to continue his support through 2 more broadcasts, doesn't that say something about the station managements attitude towards the subject? What about the state of mind of Richard Dolans "Corporate Overloards".

I dont mean to over indulge in postulation but typically (if it is not a completely skewed reporting) you get the innocuous "weird" or "strange" before you move on to the next story. Clearly the woman reporter was serving up the "it certainly is weird" response when this guy decided to answer her truthfully. I think it caught her off guard a bit.

However, the interesting thing is that through at least 2 more broadcasts he kept the same stance. Sure the woman toted the status quo with her mocking comments and "spooky" tone. But, I thought she came off looking more like the silly one.

It is odd that over the last couple years these things have been getting more serious air time. It may all be coincidence but if Dolan's theories are to be believed, and I think they cary some weight, then either they are loosing a measure of control or they are systematically allowing the idea to grow and foster in the minds of Americans. Im not sure where I stand on the "this is leading to disclosure" but it is interesting.

 

[Poi]

I have no idea if it's relevant and I don't have a link to a google map, but I did see a post on another site showing a circular no-fly zone over the Bush ranch. That zone isn't really far from Stephenville either. If some huge Ufo were ignoring such a no-fly zone, I'll betcha all manner of jets would be scrambled. Makes a heck of a lot of sense actually.

Edit: Ah, here it is. Scroll down, click on the map to blow it up. Guess I should have called it an area of restricted air travel rather than a no-fly zone. But I'm not sure there's a real difference in this case.

http://alienationsam.com/news/2008/restrictufo.html

 

[MarsAve]

A very easy way to settle this matter -

is to let the KIA(know it all) who states this was a Military jet/Flares -operation-- have him arrange to do it over again - let the original witnesses stand where they were that night - and have the KIA Military run the jets through the same pattern and drop the flares, etc - and let the original witnesses tesity under oath if this is the same thing they saw on the first Stephensville sightings -

 

[Miah]

I don't recall seeing this video before, but if this is the object, it sure seems to be more like an earthly craft to me:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1eJFy4AXyXM