DOD Establishes New Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Identification Group

The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) announced on Tuesday that it has established the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group (AOIMSG) to succeed the Navy’s Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) Task Force. The AOIMSG was formed to “address the challenges associated with assessing UAP occurring on or near DOD training ranges and installations” raised in a report submitted to Congress by the UAP Task Force in June 2021. The group will be responsible for coordinating government efforts to detect and identify objects of interests in Special Use Airspace (SUA) along with assessing and mitigating any associated safety of flight and national security threats.

“Incursions by any airborne object into our SUA pose safety of flight and operations security concerns, and may pose national security challenges,” the DOD said. “DOD takes reports of incursions—by any airborne object, identified or unidentified—very seriously, and investigates each one.”

The AOIMSG will be overseen by the newly created Airborne Object Identification and Management Executive Council (AOIMEXEC). The council will be staffed by members of the DOD and intelligence community. The DOD says it will publish further details regarding the AOIMSG Director, organizational structure, authorities and resourcing over the next several weeks.