The U.S. Army has joined To The Stars Academy of Arts and Science, a UFO research group, to investigate UFO technology.

To The Stars is the same group that released the UFO videos that the Navy confirmed were real.

We have questions. Lots of 'em.

The U.S. Army and a prominent UFO research group are teaming up to investigate mysterious technology, but won’t come out and say where the tech comes from.

To The Stars Academy of Arts and Science, the organization led by former Blink-182 member Tom DeLonge, will work with the Army to “characterize” technology under the organization’s control, and then use the tech to improve military vehicles. We have a lot of questions about this bizarre partnership, starting with the most important: Where did the technology come from?



To The Stars, which released the infamous Navy-confirmed UFO videos, made the announcement today on its website , saying it has entered into a “Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command to advance TTSA’s materiel and technology innovations in order to develop enhanced capabilities for Army ground vehicles.”

CRADAs are a form of joint research agreement between an agency of the federal government and research organizations, particularly academia, in which the feds provide “laboratories ... personnel, facilities, equipment or other resources with or without reimbursement.”

According to multiple definitions of CRADAs on federal websites, the transfer of federal funding is prohibited.

TTSA describes its contribution to the agreement as “technology solutions” that include “material science, space-time metric engineering, quantum physics, beamed energy propulsion, and active camouflage.”

In 1966, a 13-year-old boy was walking his dog and reportedly took this photo of a flying saucer in Wall Township, New Jersey. He showed it to the Army, but no comment was made by the military. Bettmann Getty Images

The Army will provide “laboratories, expertise, support, and resources to help characterize the technologies and its applications.”

“Our partnership with TTSA serves as an exciting, non-traditional source for novel materials and transformational technologies to enhance our military ground system capabilities,” said Dr. Joseph Cannon of Army Futures Command in the press release.

“At the Army's Ground Vehicle Systems Center, we look forward to this partnership and the potential technical innovations forthcoming.”

Where did TTSA’s impressive list of technology come from? The implicit answer is: UFOs, also known as Unexplained Aerial Phenomena (UAPs).

UFO/UAP traditionally means anything we spot in the sky that's unusual. But here's the thing: Swamp gas and Venus sightings don't leave behind technology that's so advanced, it needs to be "characterized" by the federal government.

Whatever this technology is, and even To The Stars apparently isn't quite sure, it comes from what we commonly call flying saucers.

According to The New York Times, the Pentagon spent $22 million between 2008 and 2011 on the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), an organization tasked with looking into UFOs. The program reportedly stored “metal alloys and other materials" that Luis Elizondo, then the director of the AATIP and now the director of global security and special programs at To The Stars, said had been "recovered from unidentified aerial phenomena."

In July, we reported that TTSA acquired “several pieces of metamaterials” sourced from “an advanced aerospace vehicle of unknown origin.” The organization claims it can track ownership of the materials all the way back to the mid-1990s. Exactly where the materials came from is anyone's guess.

Lights in the morning sky over Coast Guard Air Station Salem, Salem, Massachusetts, July 16, 1952. The lights, speculated to be UFOs, were photographed by US Coast Guardsman Shell R. Alpert and witnessed by fellow Coast Guardsman Thomas E. Flaherty. Time Life Pictures Getty Images

It’s hard to know what to make of all this. The Army obviously thinks there's something worth sticking its reputation out for, but there isn't any evidence available to the public to justify its association with a UFO research group.

Funding research into UFOs is one thing, and the U.S. government has done it multiple times over the past 70 years. Expecting actual technology samples from UFOs is another thing. Agreeing to do research and development work on them is something else entirely.

If—and it’s a big if—this technology could be ported over to the military, could it give U.S. troops an advantage on the battlefield? Yes, although at best, that advantage might be no better than giving a caveman’s spear a titanium shaft.

At worst, the technology could prove unreplicable by our modern standards. If you went back in time and gave Benjamin Franklin an iPhone, he would certainly find it fascinating, but be completely unable to duplicate it—and that’s with a time difference of just over 200 years. UFOs, if they are indeed from another world, could be thousands of years ahead of us.

Could To The Stars technology list benefit the Army? Theoretically, yes. “Material science” could lead to tougher, lighter materials able to better resist enemy fire. “Beamed energy propulsion,” which sounds like the use of microwaves or lasers to transfer energy, could enable drones to fly longer. “Active camouflage” sounds like a mimetic camouflage system such as that used by squid or even the Predator.

But does TTAS actually have this technology? Well, we’re just going to have to wait and see.

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