According to several US Department of Defense officials who spoke anonymously to The New York Times, most recent unidentified weather events were only seen by foreign intelligence operations or airborne obstructions such as weather balloons.

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• A number of events have been officially identified as “relatively common” Chinese reconnaissance aircraft. Defense Department officials say China has previously stolen blueprints for advanced US warplanes and is concerned with how the US trains its pilots.
• Other scenes recorded by military aircraft showing air objects apparently moving in violation of the laws of physics are likely the result of optical illusions, certain weather conditions, a particular viewing angle, etc. the result. This category also includes the famous clip that was recently declassified by the US government.

Sue Gough, spokesperson for the US Department of Defense, said in an interview with The Times that the government is committed to sharing all information about drones without endangering national security. Governments also try to avoid discussing drone incidents publicly because they often do not have enough data to provide a definitive explanation.

In most cases, observed phenomena are classified as “unidentified” because the sensors failed to gather enough information to make a positive association. We are working to reduce these shortcomings in the future and to ensure that we have sufficient data for our analyses,
says Sue Gough.

While the US Department of Defense continues its investigation into the drone observations, NASA has formed an independent group to study drones. It will run from October 2022 to mid 2023. The team will focus on collecting and analyzing as much data as possible to develop new methods for identifying unknown objects in the sky.