Radar UFOs- What are they?

[JohnB]

No, not little green men. (Although....)

 

UFO sightings fall into three basic categories.

 

1. Eyewitness, sometimes with grainy, out of focus pictures that prove absolutely nothing and add nothing to the debate.

2. Radar images.

3. Personal meetings with ETs. (Who seem genetically incapable of giving a straight answer to a simple question.)

 

It was the Radar returns that interested me. Having spoken to many Radar operators both military and civillian over the years the only thing that can be concluded is that abnormal returns are not uncommon. These returns are of apparently solid objects travelling at enormous speeds. Some travel in straight lines, many do not.

 

So what could cause these abnormal returns?

1. Equipment malfunction.

2. Operator error.

3. Known natural phenomena.

4. Unknown Military aircraft.

5. Unknown natural phenomena.

6. Little grey men. (Okay, they should be in there simply to cover all the bases. )

 

Given that these anomolous returns have occurred over decades, then equipment malfunction can be safely ruled out (I think) as it is highly unlikely that all makes and models of Radar equipment would fail in exactly the same way over the last 50 odd years. Radar units are checked on a regular basis and those found faulty are repaired or replaced, so if it's a glitch it would be a most amazing one.

 

Similarly, it is unlikely that all the Radar operators could make the same errors over the years regardless of nation, experience or training. (Especially since the Radar logs are available for checking at a later date.)

 

My thinking for number 3 is bolides. If it travels in a straight line at a few thousand MPH and is visually a bright light, then it probably is a small meteor.

 

But what about the ones that change course?

 

These things have been detected since the fifties. Is it really likely that either side in the Cold War actually had aircraft all this time with these capabilities and managed to keep it a secret? The number of people involved would be enormous over fifty years. Also why spend a bloody fortune designing and building aircraft and stealth aircraft when you already have a far superior craft in your arsenal? The idea doesn't make sense.

 

If we rule out number 6 then interesting questions occur. What sort of natural phenomena could give the Radar return of a solid object travelling at thousands of miles per hour? Is it a danger to aircraft? But mostly, what the heck is it? Perhaps an extreme form of Wind shear?

 

Any thoughts?

[Sisyphus]

I'd have to know more about the actual observed phenomenon. For example, you said it was unlikely that equipment failure or operator error would all happen in exactly the same way. But how do you know they were exactly the same? What they have in common, as you describe them, are that they are unknown objects behaving strangely. It seems like any number of glitches could cause that, and staring at a radar screen for hours on end is bound to have common human errors. I agree that anything which moves very straight and very fast is probably a meteor if it isn't an aircraft. The remainder I think could safely be assumed to be military aircraft or missles or something. Or, for that matter, even intentional phantom signals. You say there couldn'y be such things as early as the 50s, but again, are you sure the UFOs from then and now are the same?

[JohnB]

You say there couldn'y be such things as early as the 50s, but again, are you sure the UFOs from then and now are the same?

Good point. My intention there was to show that it would be unlikely in the extreme that any military on the planet back in the 50's would have aircraft capable of 6,000 MPH plus and able to manouvre. An aircraft with that capability would be superior to all aircraft currently in service, so why spend the money on developing new aircraft when they would be inferior to what you already have?

I'd have to know more about the actual observed phenomenon.

I'll try to dig up some accurate data for you to look at.

 

One possibility I didn't mention and should have. If such a thing as "Full Electronic Stealth" exists, then some of the bogies could be explained by and aircraft turning on it's stealth. As it's on the screen one second and gone the next, the operator may assume that it sped up and left the range of his equipment. So he thinks it went to Mach 10 and left but it's actually still there and running in "stealth" mode.

 

While this may be true for more recent bogies, it doesn't work for the older ones. If such technologies existed in the 50's, surely it would be standard equipment on all military aircraft by now.

 

Why I have trouble with the idea of operator error is simply that these people are going through a perfectly routine shift, everything is normal, they are recording aircraft movements normally and then, for no apparent reason they suddenly misinterpret what is on the screen in front of them for a few seconds. Then it's all back to normal. Yet they would all have to make the same mistake because they all report the same thing.

 

Ditto with equipment glitch. All the equipment suffers a short glitch that causes it to give the same anomalous reading? Yet it works perfectly the rest of the time? If such a glitch existed, don't you think we would have fixed it by now? We've had 50 odd years to work on the problem.

 

Wouldn't the simplest explanation be that what is shown on the screen is a true representation of what the radar unit is "seeing" and that the operator is describing accurately what he has seen on the screen? To wit, an apparently solid object travelling and manouvering at incredible speeds.

 

So the question is "What is it?"