Burnt, I'm going to respond to your long post piece by piece, because I am a Dissection Stalker after all.
Burnt wrote: "For me there is an intentionality of sorts there, but what kind of intelligence or sentience at work is still elusive."
Why can't it just be our own projections of the collective unconscious that has multiple causes including external ones that stimulate the interaction with the observer? Or, could it just be non-intelligent non-sentient pure consciousness or awareness that we create through our observed hologram and oneness with all that is? There is zero trace evidence that could not also be caused by the mind or some misunderstood natural phenomenon or Human tricksters or Human UFO's, so there is absolutely no need to explain it away as ET or ANY other intelligences "out there". The mushroom and DMT ET's and UFO's definitely exist in our mind's eye for many people.
As you know, only the observer controls whatever outcome they think it is. ALL of it is ALWAYS locked inside our minds AND is ALWAYS translated and/or communicated from that focal point, and there is no single confirmation proof about what was there "out there" that might ALSO have multiple explanations for its existence.
Look, the mystery works exactly this way: Seek and you shall find. We have the power to manifest anything, but the UFO is often limited to what is inside our mind's eye. There appear to be Mind over Matter "miracles" too [though mind is matter too] that probably happen more often than we understand, IMO. Some people have better holographic control and perception [just using limited words that can only point towards meaning] to manifest such "miracles" better than other people can, so 'that' mystery is very real to me from an intuitive POV. I believe in "miracles" too! I am very religious in that sense, mind somehow affecting/effecting matter, so my observations will be manifested in such ways.
The real UFO is one with the observer. There is no other. We had to manifest it as the observer, but it is also an extension of our mind too "out there". IF other witnesses see the exact same object, then that phenomenon could still have many explanations besides ET or "out there" intelligent control. Now, here comes some rambling nonsense... a joke on ET-UFO holography... There could be a shared hologram the Humans may be creating together too from the mind over matter and mind is matter POV. We are all one together as observers, so the same object might be seen as one together too. A mutual synchronization of the hologram.
Ok, maybe I'm just rambling nonsense with the holography semantics, but many people's mind's eyes do share the same entities and UFO's together. The mushrooms, dreams, and DMT seem to agree with that too. We can manifest as a group effort based on our shared beliefs and experiences all the time.
For the Zen inclined, these UFO's are Sky Koans too.