— Reference
Glossary
Terms you'll see across the archive, news, and government records.
- AARO
- All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, the DoD entity established 2022 to consolidate UAP investigation across services.
- AAWSAP
- Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Application Program — DIA contract under DIRD lineage, 2008-2012.
- AATIP
- Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program — DoD program preceding UAPTF/AARO.
- UAP
- Unidentified Aerial / Anomalous Phenomena — the official replacement for UFO in U.S. government usage.
- UFO
- Unidentified Flying Object — colloquial term still used in foreign press and historical records.
- IFO
- Identified Flying Object — sightings that have been resolved to mundane origins (Venus, satellites, balloons).
- Foreign object
- Adversary-state aerial vehicle or surveillance platform. AARO commonly resolves cases this way.
- DIRD
- Defense Intelligence Reference Document - AAWSAP-era technical reports.
- UAPDA
- UAP Disclosure Act — 2023 legislation introduced by Sens. Schumer and Rounds proposing a Records Review Board.
- Crash retrieval
- Alleged programs to recover non-human or exotic craft. Public claims by witnesses Grusch (2023) and others.
- Tic-tac
- Nickname for the 2004 USS Nimitz encounter object based on its pill shape.
- GIMBAL / GOFAST / FLIR1
- Three Navy infrared videos declassified by the Pentagon in 2020.
- Sensor data
- Radar tracks, FLIR / IRST returns, AIS, ADS-B, signal intercepts — the non-witness side of investigations.
- Range fouler
- FAA term for an aircraft intruding on military airspace, often used in UAP discussions.
- Phenomena vs. craft
- Some events have no physical craft — atmospheric optics, ball lightning, balloons, plasma; phenomena is the broader bucket.
- Project Blue Book
- USAF UFO investigation program 1952-1969; closed after the Condon Report.
- Robertson Panel
- 1953 CIA-convened scientific review of UFO evidence; recommended public debunking.
- NICAP
- National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena — citizen organization, 1956-1980.
- NUFORC
- National UFO Reporting Center — public submission hotline since 1974.
- MUFON
- Mutual UFO Network — civilian investigation network with state-level field investigators.