A North Carolina congressman has written the Navy asking if recently revealed UFO sightings by Navy pilots could be foreign aircraft. Congressman Mark Meadows wrote Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer expressing concern that the unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP, also known as UFOs) observed by pilots in 2004 and 2015 might be advanced aircraft fielded by a potentially hostile power, including Russia and China.

In a two page letter to the Navy, Walker shared concerns that the UFOs could represent a breakthrough in aviation technology by an unknown power. “Does the (U.S. Navy) department have any information regarding private companies or foreign nations who have made significant advancements in aerophysics?” Walker wrote. “We believe the answers to these questions are vital to our national security and scientific research and of significant public interest.”

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According to Stars and Stripes, Walker then referenced sightings by U.S. Navy pilots reported by the New York Times. In 2017, the Times reported on a UFO incident involving Super Hornet fighter jets operating from the USS Nimitz in 2004. In May of this year, the Times reported on encounters between Navy Super Hornet fighters and UFOs in 2015. The UFOs were not only picked up by radar, they were also picked up on infrared sensors and were spotted by the naked eye. In yet another article, the NYT reported that the Department of Defense had for several years funded a study group called the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), designed to study “unidentified aerial phenomena”.

In April, Politico reported that the Navy was changing the reporting system for pilots with UFO encounters. In a statement to Politico, the Navy said it was, "updating and formalizing the process by which reports of any such suspected incursions can be made to the cognizant authorities. A new message to the fleet that will detail the steps for reporting is in draft."

To be clear, nobody is talking about aliens.

AATIP was formed to study reports of unidentified flying objects, which by definition are objects of unknown origin—that could be flown by private individuals, companies, or foreign countries. Walker is concerned that such craft could be flown by hostile powers, such as Russia or China, demonstrating technology far superior than what's publicly flown by the U.S. government.

If the craft were foreign, sightings of them off the coast of the continental U.S. (which occurred in 2004 and 2015) could represent a real threat to U.S. national security. Given the credibility of the Navy sightings, it’s not an unreasonable question.

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