Ok, so I found this analysis to be nothing short of revelatory. It was prepared by an organization called Bellingcat, which describes itself as an “independent investigative collective of researchers, investigators and citizen journalists …”

Using geolocation and mathematics, specialists at Bellingcat clearly show that the orb UFO observed by a U.S. military drone over the Middle East in 2022 is probably just a party balloon measuring a maximum of .43 meters, or 1.4 feet. The illusion of motion and speed is also clearly explained away by a phenomenon called parallax, the analysis concludes.

https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2023/10/24/isnt-that-a-balloon-deflating-a-dod-ufo-video/

Yet, Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, an official at the U.S. Department of Defense’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), claimed during a congressional hearing that AARO has been unable to identify the object. He makes other statements suggesting similar orb-shaped UFOs could be truly mysterious, saying they are capable of “very interesting apparent maneuvers …”

Pardon my cynicism, but I find it very hard to believe that Dr. Kirkpatrick doesn’t know this thing was a balloon. Anyway, hopefully the AARO will soon weigh in on all this, but it sure seems like an important issue to address. Also, in a related matter, what ever happened to the Eglin Air Force Base orb? Was that also just a balloon, and is AARO going to issue a report about that encounter, along with the photo that was taken by the pilot and seen by a U.S. representative?

So many questions …