Editing 2022 Annual Report on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (section)

===[[UAP]] Reporting===
The [[ODNI]] preliminary assessment on [[UAP]] discussed 144 [[UAP]] reports and had an 
information cut-off date of 05 March 2021. Since then, [[AARO]] received a total of 247 new [[UAP]] 
reports. An additional 119 [[UAP]] reports on events that occurred before 05 March 2021, but were 
not included in the preliminary assessment, have been discovered or reported after the 
preliminary assessment’s time period. These 366 additional reports, when combined with the 
144 reports identified in the preliminary assessment, bring the total [[UAP]] reports catalogued to 
date to 510.

Since its establishment in July 2022, [[AARO]] has formulated and started to leverage a 
robust analytic process against identified [[UAP]] reporting. Once completed, AARO’s final 
analytic findings will be available in their quarterly reports to policymakers. AARO’s initial 
analysis and characterization of the 366 newly-identified reports, informed by a multi-agency 
process, judged more than half as exhibiting unremarkable characteristics:
* 26 characterized as Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) or UAS-like entities;
* 163 characterized as balloon or balloon-like entities; and
* 6 attributed to clutter.[[ref=e.g., birds, weather events, or airborne debris like plastic bags.]]

Initial characterization does not mean positively resolved or unidentified. This initial 
characterization better enables [[AARO]] and [[ODNI]] to efficiently and effectively leverage resources 
against the remaining 171 uncharacterized and unattributed [[UAP]] reports. Some of these 
uncharacterized [[UAP]] appear to have demonstrated unusual flight characteristics or performance 
capabilities, and require further analysis.

The majority of new [[UAP]] reporting originates from U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force 
aviators and operators who witnessed [[UAP]] during the course of their operational duties and 
reported the events to the UAPTF or [[AARO]] through official channels. Regardless of the 
collection or reporting method, many reports lack enough detailed data to enable attribution of [[UAP]] with high certainty.