Context: 

• Flight operations at Bir Tikendrajit International Airport in Imphal, Manipur, were disrupted after an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) was observed.

What is UFO?

• Definition of Unidentified Flying Object: Coined by the US Air Force in 1952, UFOs refer to any apparent aerial phenomenon whose cause cannot be easily or immediately identified by the observer.”
  • Originally, Unidentified Flying Objects were objects under investigation, but the term now casually describes any unidentifiable object.
• US Government Involvement:
  • Project Blue Book, from 1952 to 1969, compiled over 12,000 Unidentified Flying Object reports, classifying only 6% as unidentified.
  • Recent government reports (2021) find limited data on sightings inconclusive, with patterns observed around US training and testing grounds.

UAPs: A Broader Term

• Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAP) is a newer term replacing Unidentified Flying Object to avoid confusion and speculation.
• Used by the Pentagon and NASA to refer to unidentified anomalous phenomena.
• NASA commissions a study team to examine UAPs scientifically, focusing on data identification and collection.

News Source: The Indian Express