What does UAP stand for in government? UAP means Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena. It is the official term for objects across air, space, and sea.
David Grusch testifies before the House Oversight Committee on July 26, 2023, using the UAP terminology throughout his opening statement. His testimony helped popularize the term with the general public.
The Short Answer
UAP stands for Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena. It is the current official term used by the U.S. government to describe observations of objects or events that cannot be immediately identified as known aircraft, natural phenomena, or other conventional objects. The definition covers objects detected in the air, in space, at or below sea level, and objects that move between these domains.
According to the ODNI’s 2024 Annual Report on UAP (PDF), the government defines UAP as “sources of anomalous detections in one or more domains (air, space, surface, subsurface) that are not yet attributable to known actors or causes.” The report further breaks UAP into four subcategories: airborne UAP (objects detected below the Karman line, roughly 100 kilometers altitude), spaceborne UAP (objects detected at or above the Karman line), maritime UAP (objects at or below mean sea level), and transmedium UAP (objects that transit between domains).
The Terminology Evolution
1947: “Flying Saucers” and UFOs
The modern terminology begins on June 24, 1947, when private pilot Kenneth Arnold reported seeing nine crescent-shaped objects flying near Mount Rainier, Washington. Arnold described their motion as “like a saucer if you skip it across water.” Newspapers coined the term “flying saucer.” By the end of that year, the U.S. Air Force had established Project Sign (later renamed Project Grudge, then Project Blue Book) to investigate reports of unidentified flying objects.
The term “unidentified flying object,” or UFO, was adopted by the Air Force in the early 1950s as a neutral, operational designation. According to the History.com overview of UFO terminology, the phrase was intended to describe any aerial object that could not be immediately identified, without implying an extraterrestrial origin. However, decades of popular culture associating “UFO” with alien spacecraft made the term increasingly difficult to use in official and scientific contexts.
2017: The New York Times Changes Everything
On December 16, 2017, the New York Times published an article by Helene Cooper, Ralph Blumenthal, and Leslie Kean revealing that the Pentagon had operated a secret program called the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP). The article included two declassified videos recorded by Navy pilots showing objects performing maneuvers that the pilots could not explain. The program had been funded with $22 million from the Defense Intelligence Agency budget between 2007 and 2012.
The 2017 article popularized the use of “UAP” as a more neutral alternative to “UFO.” Within the defense and intelligence communities, “unidentified aerial phenomena” had been used informally for years, but the Times article brought the term to public awareness. Congressional interest increased as a result, leading to formal reporting requirements within two years.
2020: Pentagon Establishes UAP Task Force
On August 4, 2020, the Department of Defense announced the establishment of the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF) under the Department of the Navy. The task force was charged with detecting, analyzing, and cataloging UAP that could pose a threat to national security. The announcement used “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena” as the official term.
The UAPTF replaced an earlier informal group and was given formal authority to collect reports from across the military. Its establishment marked the first time the Pentagon had created a dedicated office specifically for investigating unidentified aerial objects since the closure of Project Blue Book in 1969.
June 2021: ODNI Preliminary Assessment
On June 25, 2021, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released its Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (PDF), the first unclassified government report on UAP. The report examined 144 UAP incidents reported by military aviators between 2004 and 2021. Of those, 143 remained unexplained after analysis.
The report defined UAP as “airborne objects not immediately identifiable.” It used “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena” throughout, establishing this as the official term within the intelligence community. The report noted that UAP “probably lack a single explanation” and could result from sensor artifacts, natural phenomena, adversary technology, or other causes.
July 2022: AARO Established
On July 15, 2022, the Department of Defense established the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) under Section 1683 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022. AARO replaced the UAPTF and was given a broader mandate: to investigate unidentified anomalous phenomena across all domains, not just in the air.
AARO’s first director was physicist Sean Kirkpatrick, who reported to the Deputy Secretary of Defense and the Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence. The office was charged with receiving UAP reports from across the military and intelligence community, analyzing the reports using scientific methods, and reporting findings to Congress. Its current director is Jon T. Kosloski.
December 2022: “Aerial” Becomes “Anomalous”
In December 2022, the Department of Defense updated the definition of UAP from “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena” to “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena.” According to CBS News, a Pentagon official stated that the change was made to encompass “submerged and trans-medium objects,” broadening the scope beyond aerial observations.
The change was codified in Section 6802(k) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023, which President Biden signed into law on December 23, 2022. The law defined UAP to include objects or devices detected in the air, in space, submerged in water, or transitioning between these domains. This was the first time the UAP definition was written into federal law.
The expansion from “aerial” to “anomalous” was not merely semantic. It reflected a practical reality: UAP reports from Navy pilots and submarines had documented objects that appeared to move between air and water, objects detected below the ocean surface (sometimes called Unidentified Submerged Objects, or USOs), and objects detected in near-Earth space. The old term “unidentified aerial phenomena” did not cover these cases.
July 2023: Congressional Hearing
On July 26, 2023, the House Oversight Committee held a hearing titled “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Implications on National Security, Public Safety, and Government Transparency.” The hearing featured testimony from retired Major David Grusch, a former intelligence officer who testified under oath that the U.S. government possesses programs related to UAP that have operated outside congressional oversight. Navy Commander David Fravor, one of the witnesses to the 2004 USS Nimitz encounter, and retired Navy Commander Ryan Graves also testified.
Grusch’s testimony brought the UAP acronym into mainstream media coverage. His use of the term during a televised congressional hearing, rather than the older “UFO,” signaled that the government’s terminology had become the public standard. The hearing was covered by every major news network and has been viewed millions of times on YouTube.
November 2024: Updated Annual Report
The ODNI’s 2024 Annual Report on UAP (PDF), released on November 14, 2024, documented 757 new UAP cases between May 2023 and June 2024, bringing the total to 1,652 cases. The report included 11 documented near-misses between military aircraft and UAP and noted that 21 cases remained unresolved. The report used “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena” throughout and introduced the four-domain subcategory system.
UAP vs. UFO: Why the Government Changed the Name
The shift from “UFO” to “UAP” was driven by three factors: scope, stigma, and precision.
Scope. The term “flying object” implies an object in the atmosphere. But many reported UAP incidents involve objects detected in water, in space, or transitioning between domains. The Navy, for example, has documented objects detected by sonar that do not correspond to any known submarine or marine life. A term limited to “flying” objects could not cover these cases.
Stigma. The acronym “UFO” carries decades of cultural baggage. Since the 1940s, the term has been associated with extraterrestrial visitation, government conspiracy theories, and fringe speculation. According to a 2024 paper published in Nature: Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, the stigma surrounding UFO reporting deterred military pilots from filing reports. Pilots feared professional ridicule and career consequences. The term “UAP” was chosen partly to reduce this stigma and encourage more complete reporting.
Precision. “Unidentified anomalous phenomena” is a more precise descriptor than “unidentified flying object.” The word “anomalous” acknowledges that the observations may not be objects at all. They could be sensor artifacts, atmospheric effects, classified friendly aircraft, or other conventional explanations. The word “phenomena” covers events and observations, not just physical objects. This precision matters for operational and scientific analysis.
As Merriam-Webster notes in its definition of UAP, the updated term “includes transmedium objects or devices and submerged objects or devices” that the older term could not describe.
The Official UAP Categories
The 2024 ODNI report introduced four official subcategories for UAP. These categories reflect the expanded scope of the “anomalous” definition:
Airborne UAP. Anomalous detections below the Karman line (approximately 100 kilometers or 62 miles altitude). This is the traditional category most similar to the old “UFO” designation. Most UAP reports fall into this category.
Spaceborne UAP. Anomalous detections at or above the Karman line. These are observations made from satellites, space stations, or other space-based platforms.
Maritime UAP. Anomalous detections at or below mean sea level. These were previously referred to as Unidentified Submerged Objects (USOs) and were not covered by the old “aerial” definition.
Transmedium UAP. Anomalous detections that transit between two or more domains, such as an object observed moving from the atmosphere into the ocean. Transmedium cases are considered among the most significant because no known conventional technology can operate across these domains in the manner described by witnesses.
According to the 2024 ODNI report, most UAP reports fall into the airborne category. Transmedium and maritime cases are less common but receive more analytical attention due to the absence of conventional explanations.
Government Programs That Use the Term
Several government programs and offices use “UAP” as their official designation:
All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO): The Pentagon’s primary UAP investigation office, established in July 2022. AARO receives reports from military and intelligence agencies, analyzes them using scientific methods, and publishes annual reports to Congress.
NASA UAP Independent Study Team: Established in June 2022, NASA commissioned a study team to examine UAP from a scientific perspective. The team’s September 2023 report recommended that NASA use its existing Earth-observation satellites and data-analysis capabilities to study UAP. NASA defined UAP as “observations of events in the sky that cannot be identified as aircraft or known natural phenomena.”
ODNI Annual Reports: The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has published annual UAP reports since 2021. These reports catalog UAP cases, analyze patterns, and report findings to Congress under Section 1683 of the FY2022 NDAA.
UAP Disclosure Act: Introduced by Senators Chuck Schumer and Mike Rounds in July 2023 as an amendment to the FY2024 NDAA, this legislation would direct the National Archives to collect and disclose government records related to UAP. The act uses “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena” as its primary term.
The Opposing Perspective: Is This Just a Rebranding?
Some critics argue that the shift from “UFO” to “UAP” is a cosmetic change designed to repackage the same phenomenon under a more respectable name. This argument has two components.
First, the term change may obscure rather than clarify. Skeptic Mick West, who runs the analysis forum Metabunk, has argued that many UAP reports can be explained by known phenomena: commercial aircraft, weather balloons, sensor artifacts, and optical illusions. In his Skeptical Inquirer columns, West contends that the new terminology creates an air of scientific legitimacy around observations that may have conventional explanations. By expanding the definition to include underwater and space-based observations, the government may be broadening the category to include more unresolved cases, which could inflate the perceived significance of the phenomenon.
Second, the stigma reduction may have unintended consequences. While encouraging more reports is beneficial for national security analysis, it also means that more mundane observations are now categorized as “UAP.” The 2024 ODNI report noted that the majority of UAP cases are eventually resolved as drones, balloons, or sensor artifacts. The expanded definition may make the overall phenomenon appear more mysterious than it is by including a large number of reports that are ultimately identified.
On the other side, proponents of the terminology change argue that the expansion was necessary for operational accuracy. If the government is investigating reports of objects in water, in space, and transitioning between domains, a term limited to “aerial” objects is inadequate regardless of whether the ultimate explanation is mundane or anomalous. The term “UAP” does not imply that the objects are extraordinary. It describes the operational reality that some observations cannot be immediately attributed to known causes.
For a balanced understanding, it is worth noting that the government’s official position, as stated in the 2024 ODNI report, is that AARO “has not found any verifiable evidence” of extraterrestrial technology. The term “UAP” is a classification tool, not a judgment about the nature of the observations.
YouTube Videos
David Grusch’s opening statement at the July 26, 2023 House Oversight Committee hearing on UAP. Grusch uses the UAP terminology throughout, providing a direct example of how the government term has entered public discourse.
Full CBS News coverage of the July 26, 2023 UAP congressional hearing, featuring testimony from David Grusch, David Fravor, and Ryan Graves.
Sources
Government Reports and Official Documents
ODNI Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (June 2021) (PDF): First unclassified government UAP report. 144 cases examined, 143 unexplained.
ODNI 2024 Consolidated Annual Report on UAP (PDF): 757 new cases, 1,652 total. Introduces four-domain UAP subcategories.
All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO): Official Pentagon UAP investigation office.
NASA UAP Science Page: NASA’s official page on UAP research and the Independent Study Team.
News Coverage
CBS News: What Are UAPs, and Why Do UFOs Have a New Name?: Explainer on the terminology change, including the Pentagon’s December 2022 update.
Merriam-Webster: UAP Definition: Official dictionary definition noting the terminology evolution.
History.com: History of UFOs: Historical overview of the terminology from “flying saucers” to “UAP.”
Academic Sources
Nature: Academic Freedom and the Unknown (2024): Academic paper on UAP terminology and its role in reducing stigma around reporting.
Skeptical Analysis
Metabunk: Mick West’s forum for detailed analysis of UAP videos and claims.
Skeptical Inquirer: Mick West: Published analyses of Pentagon UAP videos and congressional testimony.
Related Reading
AARO: The Pentagon’s UAP Office: What AARO does, how it works, and its track record.
Congressional UAP Hearing 2024: What the November 2024 witnesses told Congress.
How to Report a UAP Sighting to the Government: Every official channel for reporting UAP.
Navy Pilot UAP Encounters: Documented UAP sightings by U.S. Navy pilots.