A top official for the Department of Defense admitted on Wednesday that "metallic orb" unidentified flying objects have been seen "all over the world."
The revelation from Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, director of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, came amid the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) first-ever public briefing on the UFO phenomena.
"We see these all over the world, and we see these making very interesting apparent maneuvers," Kirkpatrick stated, adding that military investigators were closely collaborating with NASA on identifying the crafts.
Kirkpatrick also shared that around 2% to 5% of the AARO database containing approximately 800 UFO cases constituted legitimate anomalies, a number previously undisclosed.
In response, the AARO plans to deploy "dedicated sensors" for unidentified anomalous phenomenon sightings, meaning that new equipment independent of existing military sensors will specifically look for UFOs, he stated.
Meanwhile, David Spergel, head of NASA's investigative team into UFOs, said that the current state of data collection surrounding the phenomenon was "unsystematic" and "fragmented across various agencies."
Spergel is a member of the 16-person group assembled by NASA last June to examine unclassified UFO sightings and other data collected from civilian government and commercial sectors.
It serves as the first unclassified study by the space agency into UFOs, with previous ones being carried out by military and national security officials, the Daily Mail noted.
However, NASA and Pentagon officials have still been careful to assign the legitimate anomalies to that of extraterrestrial origin, opting to use the "UAP" moniker instead of "UFO" to avoid public confusion.