Is that a UFO? No, It's a 600 Ton-Capacity Russian Cargo Airship

 

Russian firm Aerosmena's plans to build enormous cargo airships may be more than just hot air.

By  Chris Young

Russian airship manufacturer Airship Initiative Design Bureau Aerosmena (AIDBA), also known as Aerosmena, is aiming to launch a saucer-shaped, 600-ton payload airship in 2024.

Originally led by experienced Russian aircraft designer Orfey Kozlov (who sadly passed away due to COVID-19 last year), the firm's cargo airship will be capable of carrying out loading and unloading operations on the field regardless of ground infrastructure. This means no need for ports, roadways, airports, or runways. It will even be able to hover over terrain and retrieve cargo using a pulley system. 

Aerosmena's airship can pick up cargo from a hovering position

"The transportation of goods using such [a design] is carried out according to a simple door-to-door scheme, which will help to [reduce] costs for logistics and warehouses," Aerosmena CEO Sergei V. Bendin said in an emailed statement with Interesting Engineering.

Bendin also notes that the cost of a flight hour using the Aerosmena cargo ship would be "about an order magnitude lower than that of a transport aircraft." 

Saucer-shaped design for easier crosswind landings

As for that UFO flying-saucer shape, Aerosmena says it will make the giant airship easier to maneuver and land in crosswinds than other airship projects that use a more traditional elongated hull shape.

This efficient design would be key during cargo missions in areas and terrains that are difficult to reach for traditional aircraft. The airship could help to put out forest fires and deliver payloads to mountainous terrain. 

The airship's design also includes two gas chambers to provide lift. For the 600 ton model, 620,000 cubic meters of helium will be utilized for practically "zero" buoyancy. A large cavity filled with air heated to 200 degrees Celsius (392 Fahrenheit) by the exhaust of eight helicopter engines is responsible for lifting the payload.

Aerosmena plans to make different models with different capacities ranging from 20 to 600 tons and a range of up to 8,000 km (4,970 miles) reaching speeds of up to 250 km/h (155 mph). 

Bendin says the firm aims to first build the 60-ton version of their airship, after which "an engineering assessment of [its] flight performance will be carried out in order to [then] create air platforms with a carrying capacity of 200 and 600 tons."

Bendin added that a future passenger version would even be capable of "round-the-world travel in luxury flying hotel conditions."

If all goes well, giant saucer-shaped cargo ships could soon be seen riding the winds over large cities. Especially considering Aerosmena isn't the only company working on giant airships. For example, Google co-founder Sergey Brin's airship company is developing an enormous model.

The Aerosmena project might sound like it's overstretching on the promises a little, but maybe someday we'll all be vacationing across the globe in UFO-like airships that can also save the day like Superman. 

UFO sighting: Model Jo Wood opens up about witnessing three 'alien UFOs' - 'An eye opener'

Jo Wood believes aliens are real and they are here

By SEBASTIAN KETTLEY

UFO enthusiasts and model Jo Wood is obsessed with "all things alien" and even claims to have witnessed unexplained UFO phenomena on at least three different occasions.

Jo Wood, 66, counts herself among a sizeable group of showbiz alumni who believe alien life is somewhere out there among the stars. The obsession has spawned the Alien Nation podcast, where she interviews fellow UFO enthusiasts, including actor Dan Akroyd and singer Robbie Williams. Jo's UFO mania kicked off in earnest more than 20 years ago while on holiday in Brazil.

She was travelling across South America in 1998 with her two children and then-husband Ronnie Wood of Rolling Stones fame.

Unbeknownst to them, a short stay in the town of Recife on Brazil's northeast coast would coincide with a "sausage-shaped craft" passing over the sea.

Jo recalled how on the night before they were due to leave, Ronnie shouted "Jo! Jo! Come here - there are some weird lights over the sea!"

She then saw a bizarre object pass over the water, with lights beaming from underneath it.

The pair watched the UFO glide upwards before it stopped and set off again "faster than you can imagine".

The following day, the model claimed the local press was abuzz with the UFO sighting.

And as it would turn out, this was going to be the first of three supposed UFO encounters over the years.

Jo recalled the bizarre story to Vicki Power in The Telegraph.

She said: "That UFO sighting in Recife with Ronnie was the most amazing thing I’ve seen and I’ve since become obsessed with all things alien.

"It motivated me to start my podcast, Alien Nation, where I interview people – including Robbie Williams and Dan Aykroyd – about their UFO encounters; we’re just getting people together for a second series."

Her second UFO encounter took place in France sometime later.

Jo was on tour with the Rolling Stones at the time and the group saw something unusual zip by in the sky.

Frontman Mick Jagger at first dismissed the object as a satellite but Jo said "we weren't all convinced".

And the third encounter took place again in South America in the late 1990s while Jo was flying over a deserted coastline in a tour plane.

She recalled seeing a "fluorescent green orb" with her son, Tyrone, which approached the plane.

This encounter supposedly happened at an altitude of 36,000ft.

Jo said: "Since childhood, I'd been hearing about spaceships and UFOs but seeing one was an eye opener.

"It made me think how vast the universe must be and that we are not the only beings here.

"There must be civilisations out there that have lived longer than us and have technology our wildest dreams."

Jo is not the only high-profile celebrity to actively pursue an interest in UFOs.

Former Blink-182 frontman Tom DeLonge famously helped set up the To The Stars Academy, which collects data on UFO sightings and reports.

Earlier last year, the musician said: "I've been brought into a group of people and I'm a big part of a mechanism that is absolutely profound and already started changing the world. And it's going to do a lot more."

UFO frenzy as mystery objects seen hurtling behind oblivious ISS astronaut

By Simon Green and Lottie O'Neill

An eagle-eyed viewer who was watching the live feed from the International Space Station came across two 'white orbs' zooming past the astronaut, before they eerily slowed down and changed direction.

An International Space Station astronaut appeared to be completely unaware as two strange unidentified objects appeared behind him.

The UFOs were hurtling in space and he remained oblivious, even when one of the mystery items appeared eerily close.

However, that didn't spot eagle-eyed viewers from seeing the UFOs when the astronaut was completing tasks out in the deep vast space.

A man from Florida was watching the live feed from the ISS earlier this month, on March 16, when he spotted the two objects.

The spaceman was out completing a routine walk while carrying out repairs to the station and was attached with a tether to ensure his safety.

The astronaut had no idea that the objects were travelling at high speed behind him

Then, at one moment, near the left of the camera feed, the first white object moves across the screen, with Earth stationed below.

It moves across the screen in a matter of mere seconds before it seems to slow down, change direction and disappear.

The second object is moving at a greater speed and is easy to miss at first glance, but is zooming along below the initial UFO.

What makes these UFOs eerily different from regular space debris, is that the objects stop.

The first object, which is travelling faster, begins to slow down and gently changes direction in a swooping motion.

It's believed that they resemble a white orb, with both having common features like their shape and colour.

Some have said the mystery objects look similar to the ones that were seen by witnesses down on Earth.

Viewers were astounded by the footage and took to the comment section to reveal their own hypothesis.

One wrote: "It appears to be intelligence gathering."

A second added: "These videos finally stumped my sceptical wife. It's a beautiful thing."

But others admitted they had seen white orbs themselves, in various locations across the globe.

A woman penned: "I've seen those 'white orbs' over the ocean on the California central coast, it was several months ago."

Another said: "I have seen the same thing in mainland England last September, the orbs were investigating the chemtrail from a recent aircraft."

Roswell UFO Festival planners meet with stakeholders

By Juno Ogle

The public got a first chance to hear from those collaborating on the 2021 UFO Festival at a stakeholders meeting Friday at the Roswell Recreation and Aquatic Center.

About a dozen people — several representing MainStreet Roswell and the hospitality industry — attended the event Friday afternoon in the gym, which allowed for social distancing.

Stephanie Mervine, the city’s tourism director, and Juanita Jennings, director of public affairs, were on hand to help with questions and discussion, while the co-founders of the company contracted by the city to manage the festival attended virtually.

Matt Spencer and Robert Chapman founded In Depth Events in 2017 after working events in the Dallas area for about 12 years.

The company has managed a variety of large events from political events for both parties to municipal events like the UFO Festival and last year produced 22 hybrid graduations.

The duo said planning an event like the UFO Festival during a pandemic, not knowing what the public health order will be in July, does present challenges. The festival is planned for July 2-4. Spencer and Chapman were in Roswell in January to visit with city officials and business owners.

While specific plans weren’t discussed at the meeting, the city and In Depth are proceeding with plans for in-person events, Jennings said.

One thing is certain, and that will be a virtual component to the festival, Chapman said.

“In a post-COVID world, there are certain trends that are already coming out. Virtual events are here to stay. There will always be a virtual component to every large event,” he said.

The company is also working on the logistics of the festival such as security and safety with the police department, fire department and ambulance service.

“With anything, prior planning prevents poor performance, and we’re really good at those types of events, making sure everything happens. Everything from making sure the right bottles of water are there in addition to trucking, logistics, hotels, audio, vendors, all the little parts and pieces that make up an event of this size,” Chapman said.

It was the size the event was becoming that prompted MainStreet Roswell to step away from managing the festival, which it had done since 2014, Kathy Lay, executive director of MainStreet Roswell, said.

“MainStreet is a nonprofit whose whole mission is to support the downtown vitality. The festival had grown to the point that it wouldn’t fit within our district any longer and be successful,” she said.

MainStreet Roswell will still have some partnership with the city as it conducts its own events, dubbed AlienFest, Lay said.

“By letting the city take over the overarching city-wide events, we have more time for our volunteers, our eight-member board, to just focus on doing activities downtown during the day that help drive foot traffic into businesses,” Lay said.

Both Lay and Jennings said that doesn’t mean the city won’t support MainStreet and the downtown businesses.

“We’re hoping the partnership that we have with MainStreet will let them focus on their district and then we’re going to support and collaborate in the district too,” Jennings said.

The city’s visitor center downtown will have activities and the city’s animal shelter will have an adoption event downtown, Jennings said.

MainStreet Roswell has a website for its AlienFest at ufofestivalroswell.com, while the city plans to launch its website, ufofestival.com, on April 1.

Spencer and Chapman of In Depth Events will be in Roswell again at the end of March and will give a presentation to the City Council’s Finance Committee on April 1.

Evidence of UFOs to be revealed by national intelligence in 2021 US bill

An attendee wears an alien mask at the gate of Area 51 as an influx of tourists are expected, responding to a call to 'storm' the secretive U.S. military base, believed by UFO enthusiasts to hold government secrets about extra-terrestrials, in Rachel, Nevada, September 20, 2019

(photo credit: JIM URQUHART/REUTERS)

By HADASSAH BRENNER

Former DNI John Ratcliffe explained that such "sightings" are "talking about objects... that frankly engage in actions that are difficult to explain."

Former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe gave a preview of the classified information that will be released to the public regarding unexplained aerial sightings, in an interview with Fox News on Friday.

Ratcliffe explained that such "sightings" are "talking about objects that have been seen by Navy or Air Force pilots or have been picked up by satellite imagery that frankly engage in actions that are difficult to explain, movements that are hard to replicate, and traveling at speeds that exceed the sound barrier without a sonic boom."

Sensors and satellites across the globe have picked up signals that cannot be explained and many of these phenomena have been kept from the public. Ratcliffe claimed intelligence agencies have quieted the information, hoping to publicize the sightings when there are proper explanations that are accessible and understandable to the public.

A more detailed report will be released in accordance with the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, which was passed by the Senate in 2020. The bill shockingly demanded that the director of national intelligence "Submit a report within 180 days of the date of enactment of the Act, to the congressional intelligence and armed services committees on unidentified aerial phenomena (also known as 'anomalous aerial vehicles'), including observed airborne objects that have not been identified."

The report will include all data found through "geospatial intelligence, signals intelligence, human intelligence and measurement and signals intelligence." Classified information held by the Office of Naval Intelligence, the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force and the FBI will be included as well. 

"It is truly a historical moment when you have the United States government and multiple agencies in the organization coming forward and saying that the videos are not only real, but they are truly unidentified aerial phenomena," said former head of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program Luis Elizondo regarding the report's significance, when the bill was written last year.

The act to reveal previously classified UFO and extraterrestrial sightings comes after former president Donald Trump's creation of the Space Force as the fifth branch of the US armed forces.

Responding to Trump's interest in space intelligence, former Israeli space security chief Haim Eshed explained in an interview with Yediot Aharonot late last year that the US and Israel have both been dealing with aliens for years.

Eshed insisted that Trump is aware of extraterrestrial life and that he was "on the verge" of disclosing its existence. However, the alien "Galactic Federation" reportedly stopped him from doing so, saying they wished to prevent mass hysteria since they felt humanity needed to "evolve and reach a stage where we will... understand what space and spaceships are," Yediot reported.

With the coming release of the DNI's report and Ratcliffe's exciting disclosure, the question now arises: Will we finally uncover the existence of UFOs and aliens?

A more detailed report will be released in accordance with the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, which was passed by the Senate in 2020. The bill shockingly demanded that the director of national intelligence "Submit a report within 180 days of the date of enactment of the Act, to the congressional intelligence and armed services committees on unidentified aerial phenomena (also known as 'anomalous aerial vehicles'), including observed airborne objects that have not been identified."

The report will include all data found through "geospatial intelligence, signals intelligence, human intelligence and measurement and signals intelligence." Classified information held by the Office of Naval Intelligence, the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force and the FBI will be included as well. 

"It is truly a historical moment when you have the United States government and multiple agencies in the organization coming forward and saying that the videos are not only real, but they are truly unidentified aerial phenomena," said former head of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program Luis Elizondo regarding the report's significance, when the bill was written last year.

Luxembourg Stop hiding UFO evidence, petitioners say

By Emery Dalesio

The truth is out there: files Luxembourg’s government holds may describe sightings of unexplained aircraft that some believe contain evidence life on other worlds exists.

It is a pressing question, at least for the people who submitted a public petition calling on government agencies to disclose any information they have on unidentified flying objects.

“Although the subject is still often ridiculed or treated with contempt and derision by those who defend it, there have been an increasing number of serious attempts in recent years to persuade governments of various countries to publish the information collected on this subject”, petition supporters said. 

The proposal was one of 15 petitions that were approved for circulation on Friday. If any of these often colourful petitions collect more than 4,500 signatures, parliament will need to debate the proposal with the minister in charge - although it is not required to take further action.

Another petition calls for a bronze statue of Napoleon Bonaparte to be installed in the geographic centre of Luxembourg in recognition of his persisting influence on the legal system, schools, commerce and church-state relations during his occupation of the country after the French revolution.

On a more practical note, one petition would prevent landlords from charging tenants for the cost of real estate agents marketing their property. The charges, which usually amount to the value of one month’s rent, should be borne by the landlord who hired the agency, the petition said.

The request for  Luxembourg to become fully transparent about possible alien visitations comes as the US government has begun releasing some of its presumed trove of reports about UFOs. 

In January, the US spy agency CIA released what it says are all its files on UFOs. The 2,700 pages included reports about mysterious explosions in a Russian town and a first-hand description of a flying object in Azerbaijan.  

In December, the US Congress ordered the country’s national intelligence and defence chiefs to release a report on UFOs by the middle of this year.

Former Government UFO Investigator Recalls Cases That ‘Disturbed’ Him

By Cameron Frew

A former Ministry of Defence UFO investigator spoke to us about cases he found ‘extremely troubling’ during his career.

To mark the start of UFO Week on BLAZE, we sat down for a chat with Nick Pope, a leading authority on UFOs. While he worked in the UK government for 21 years, three of those ‘changed his life’.

Between 1991-94, Pope was tasked with investigating UFO – or as he would say, UAP, as in unidentified aerial phenomena – sightings to see if they had any defence significance. While some reports amounted to smoke and mirrors, others left him feeling disturbed.

Explaining a bit about his position when he started, Pope told UNILAD, ‘It was more to do with Russians than Martians. It was born out of the understandable desire from the government and the military to make sure that if there was anything in British airspace, we knew what it was.’

Over the course of the years, Pope said ‘it evolved somewhat and I guess the whole UFO phenomenon became something separate; pop culture kicked in, sci-fi movies, people’s perceptions changed. Even the MoD ended up saying… well, we don’t take a position on the likelihood or not of alien life. We keep an open mind on that, we’ll just investigate the sightings to see if there’s any evidence of threat or not’.

When asked about incidents he found more alarming than others, he said, ‘All of the near-misses between UFOs and commercial aircraft are extremely troubling.’

Pope continued, ‘There was a case from April 1991, where there was a near-miss over Kent. The pilot thought the object was so in danger of hitting the aircraft, he and the rest of the people in the cockpit instinctively flinched.’

The pilot even shouted ‘Look out, look out!’ as the ‘thing came past, and it was definitely on the radar… the [Ministry of Defence] investigated, the Civil Aviation Authority investigated – no definitive explanation was ever found’.

Pope then cited another case from 1995, saying, ‘There was an aircraft coming in on its intermediate approach to Manchester airport, I think, over the Pennines. The pilot or first officer was so of the mind that this was going to be a hit, that he flinched. Then the thing passed rapidly down one side of the aircraft.’

He continued, ‘Again, the Civil Aviation Authority and MoD looked at this – no explanation. So those sorts of cases – and I’ve just mentioned two, there’s dozens in the UK, US and I suspect all over the world, although there’s still chronic underreporting of this– so those cases disturbed me.’

Pope also spoke briefly about the Cosford UFO mystery in 1993, when there was a wave of sightings regarding a triangular-shaped object flying across the sky. Reports were heard from Devon, Cornwall and the West Midlands, with military personnel also giving credence to the claims.

Pope said, ‘When it’s pilots, military personnel, police officers, when you’ve got things simultaneously tracked on radar, that gets my attention.’

He added, ‘That makes me think, wait a minute, it’s not just Chinese lanterns here people, there’s something going on and I don’t care whether people are sceptics or believers. To me, this is a defence and national security issue, and sometimes an air safety issue too.’

UFO Week returns to Blaze tonight, March 22, with dedicated content starting from 8pm until 2pm every single evening. Blaze is available on Freeview channel 63, Freesat 162, Sky 164, Virgin Media 216, My5 and on demand. 

UFOs hovering in the minds of the British public, survey reveals

By E&T editorial staff

A nationwide survey has revealed that 11 per cent of the British public think they have actually seen a UFO, 26 per cent believe that aliens exist and more than half agree that intelligent life exists somewhere else in the universe.

The poll, commissioned by the Blaze TV channel, also revealed the widely held belief that intelligent life exists beyond our world, according to 56 per cent of respondents, and that the UK government is withholding important information regarding UFOs.

More than a quarter (27 per cent) of those surveyed think that the UK government should have a war or battle plan in place for a potential alien invasion, while nearly a third (31 per cent) feel there should be a dedicated task force for dealing with extra-terrestrial threats.

Confidence in world governments to deal with a potential alien invasion is low, with well over half of those surveyed (58 per cent) believing that our current leaders are unsuited to such a task. 15 per cent of those polled apparently believe that aliens will likely dominate Earth in the next 20 years.

Nick Pope, a former Ministry of Defence UFO investigator who has been advising Blaze ahead of the TV channel’s ‘UFO Week’, said, “2021 is going to be a big year for UFO stories, particularly with the US Department of Defense due to reveal UFO information following the enactment of the Covid-19 Relief Bill, which included a demand that the Director of National Intelligence send Congress a report about UFOs.

“This survey demonstrates that beliefs in UFOs and the extra-terrestrial are widespread and that there is a real appetite among the general population for evidence to be made public.”

Pope’s former governmental duties included investigating UFO sightings to determine whether they had any defence significance from 1991 to 1994.

“As far as I am aware, no such UK government plan to deal with any alien invasion or extra-terrestrial contact exists,” he said. “As such, the public’s lack of confidence in the government to respond effectively to a UFO incident is both fair and concerning.”

The Roswell incident in 1947 is the most famous example of suspected UFO activity in recorded history and is scheduled tofeature heavily in Blaze’s UFO Week programming.

A quarter (25 per cent) of the UK public think that the US authorities participated in a cover-up at Roswell due to the belief that the public “wasn’t ready for the truth to be revealed”.

29 per cent of those surveyed think the UK government is keeping important information relating to UFOs and aliens secret, while a third (33 per cent) believe that aliens could already be living amongst us.

Panic and fear would be the most dominant reactions (52 per cent) if aliens were proven to be visiting Earth, while fewer than one in ten (9 per cent) would feel excited and happy.

The survey of 2,000 UK adults was carried out by OnePoll during February 2021 on behalf of Blaze, ahead of UFO Week - seven days of programmes dedicated to UFOs, aliens and the extra-terrestrial. Starting today, Monday March 22, the Blaze channel will feature new TV shows exploring whether we are alone in the universe or if aliens have been visiting Earth.

Blaze TV content is available via Freeview 63, Freesat 162, Sky 164 and Virgin Media 216, as well as on smartphones and tablets via the Blaze app.

Upcoming UFO report will be 'difficult to explain,' former national intelligence official says

By Dustin Barnes

A former top national intelligence official hinted that an upcoming government report on UFOs will include information that cannot easily be explained.

"There are instances where we don’t have good explanations for some of the things that we’ve seen, and when that information becomes declassified, I’ll be able to talk a little bit more about that," former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe told Fox New's Maria Bartiromo on Friday.

Ratfcliffe said some UFO sightings have been declassified in the past, but a report to be released by the Pentagon and other federal agencies will present more information to the American people.

"There have been sightings all over the world," Ratcliffe said. "And when we talk about sightings, the other thing I will tell you, it’s not just a pilot or just a satellite or some intelligence collection. Usually, we have multiple sensors that are picking up these things."

Ratcliffe said elements that are hard to explain in these unreleased sightings include movements that are hard to replicate or traveling at speeds that exceed the sound barrier without creating a sonic boom.

The report is expected to be released on June 1, Bartiromo said later in the program.

UFO Truth Magazine is now offering an online six week UFO/UAP Evidential History Course, via Zoom

 UFO TRUTH MAGAZINE SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: With the increase in online meetings during the last 12 months UFO Truth Magazine is now offering an online six week UFO/UAP Evidential History Course, via Zoom, for those people who want to learn of the real history of this fascinating phenomenon.

Over six consecutive weeks of the course Gary Heseltine, the founder and editor of the magazine will be your tutor as he traces the history of the modern era of the UFO enigma by covering the important events - from major cases, political and scientific studies, beginning with the 1940s through to the present day.

The courses are limited to 12 people at a time and take place in a Zoom room environment and utilize the shared screen facility to impart information, graphics and video. The course is in English only. As this is the first course the Special Introductory price is just £75 (6 x 75 minutes classes which is just £12.50 an hour) and at the end you will receive a Certificate of Completion signed by the founder and editor of UFO Truth Magazine. 

The course will comprise of six weekly modules, each 75 minutes   

in duration, with the first three courses commencing Monday 5th April 2021 for six consecutive weeks (Monday recurring). Times available:

Course A: 1030-1145 hours      

Course B: 1300-1415 hours     

Course C: 2000-2115 hours

Module One: 1942-1949: Foo Fighters, green fireballs, the Kenneth Arnold sighting, Roswell, Project Sign, the Estimate of the Situation and the birth of the modern era of UFOs. Q & A.

Module Two: 1950-59: Project Grudge, Project Magnet, the Robertson Panel, Project Blue Book and the Report on Unidentified Flying Objects. Q & A.

Module Three: 1960-1969: Significant cases and studies, The Condon Report. Q & A.

Module Four: 1970-1999: Significant cases including the Tehran Incident, Oscar Santa Maria, the Japan Airlines encounter, Operation Prato and the Rendlesham Forest incident. Q & A.

Module Five: 2000-2019: USS Nimitz incident, TTSA FLIR videos, the Washington Citizens Hearings, major cases and developments from around the world. Q & A.

Module Six: 2020-Present Day: The creation of the US Navy Task Force, the Task Force report to the US Senate and its potential implications for society. Q & A.

To book your place go to: https://www.ufotruthmagazine.co.uk/