A private firm contracted by the United States military has taken responsibility for the mysterious objects seen flying above New Jersey last November.
The sightings sparked mass hysteria and concerns over the existence of UFOs after footage went viral of unidentified objects lighting up the night sky.
But a private contractor revealed at the Army’s UAS and Launched Effects Summit at Fort Rucker in August that they had launched the objects to ‘test out their capabilities,’ according to NYPost.
‘You remember that big UFO scare in New Jersey last year? Well, that was us,’ an employee of the unnamed contractor allegedly told a crowd at the event.
According to a source at the summit, the employee went on to claim there was no need to disclose their work to the public because they had a private government contract.
The company reportedly offered a live demonstration of their manned aerial craft, which had an unconventional appearance.
Sharing details of the demonstration, which went for about 30 minutes above Fort Rucker in the controlled airspace, the source said: ‘When it turned you almost completely lose sight of it.
‘Which is why I think people were seeing this up in the sky and why there were reports of people seeing it and saying it disappeared.’
The November sightings sparked mass hysteria and concerns over the existence of UFOs after footage went viral of unidentified objects lighting up the night sky
In a short 13 second clip posted to social media in November 2024, a white light blinked in the sky before suddenly vanishing, leaving onlookers stunned.
In the footage, which was shot close near Atlantic City, family members were heard discussing what they witnessed before the object suddenly disappears.
‘It just vanished!’ one said. ‘I just watched it through the telescope.’
Some 964 sightings of flying objects were logged in the state between November 19 up until December 13, according to statistics collected by the state’s Office of Emergency Management.
Former CIA operations officer Laura Ballman had warned that the drones lighting up multi-state skies may be a ‘classified exercise.’
She told Fox News Live that the drone sightings were ‘extremely unsettling,’ and shared her theory that they may be part of a technology ‘test’ orchestrated by the federal government.
Ballman said: ‘Now in terms of who is behind this, seeing the statements that have been made by John Kirby, who has said that these objects are not operating illegally.
‘Coupled with the several op-eds that have been out there in the last 24 hours about the need to look at our detection systems, [it] makes me think perhaps this is actually a classified exercise to test either evasion technology or detection technology in urban areas.’
Footage of the bizarre flying objects appeared to show them ‘disappearing’
At the time, there were suggestions that the aircrafts (pictured) were part of a classified project
White House National Security spokesman John Kirby had confirmed the aircraft were not foreign.
‘We have no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or a public safety threat or have a foreign nexus,’ Kirby said.
‘The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI are investigating these sightings, and they’re working closely with the state and local law enforcement to provide resources using numerous detection methods to better understand their origin.’
He said the agencies used ‘very sophisticated electronic detection technologies’ but ‘have not been able to corroborate any of the reported visual sightings.’
‘To the contrary, upon review of available imagery, it appears that many of the reported sightings are actually manned aircraft being operated lawfully,’ he said.
