US Navy's Laser-Generated Plasma Filaments Decoy Tech May Explain Some UFO Sightings

The U.S. Navy has patented decoy technology based on plasma, which could explain the UFO sightings reported by Navy pilots in 2004, 2014 and 2015. Navy's jet fighters can use this defensive tech to create 3D images in the sky to mimic infrared signatures of aircraft exhausts. These decoy targets can trick hostile heat-seeking missiles.

First reported by Forbes, Navy’s plasma decoy technology is the result of years of research into missile countermeasures. Modern air-to-air missiles are infrared guided. After being launched, the missiles lock in on the target’s heat signature. Aircraft can currently escape incoming missiles by either blinding the missile’s seeker electronically or by dropping flares.

Plasma-based decoy tech would use high-intensity lasers to generate a plasma filament in the sky. This would create an infrared signature to deviate the enemy missile off-course. According to Popular Mechanics, the laser-induced plasma filaments can also be used to create 2D or 3D images in the air. This ability to generate a “ghost” image in the sky may explain some of the UFO sightings reported by the U.S. Navy, such as the “spheres encased in a cube” or the “tic tacs”.

While it is unlikely the Pentagon would release videos showing their own secret decoy weapon, other countries may have their own version of this plasma filament technology. It’s possible a plasma filament image can be seen by a pilot with the naked eye and be visible to the targeting pod and the AN/ASQ-228 Advanced Targeting Forward Looking Infrared (ATFLIR) sensor. However, this explanation of the UFO sightings falls short for several reasons.

The pilots reported seeing objects looking real and solid and not “ghost images”. Furthermore, the guided missile cruiser USS Princeton and Super Hornet strike fighters’ radar systems also picked up these unidentified objects. But plasma is normally undetectable by radar.

Laser beams also degrade with distance. A plane or ship generating a plasma image would have to be relatively close to the “ghost image”. But none of the pilots involved in the UFO sightings reported any other ship or aircraft in the immediate vicinity. The USS Princeton even detected one of the unidentified objects at 80,000 feet. This is far higher than the maximum flight altitude for any military plane.