US Army Futures Command Inks Deal with Controversial UFO Group
In a move more akin to a science fiction thriller, the US Army Futures Command have agreed a research deal with To The Stars Academy (TTSA), a controversial UFO group founded by, former Blink-182 musician, Tom DeLonge. According to a Tweet from the organisation earlier this month, a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) has been signed the agreement with Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Ground Vehicle System Center, a subordinate command of US Army Futures Command.
TTSA are best known to the public from a number of videos of alleged unidentified objects seen by US Navy aircrew during exercises. Although the videos have been widely reported upon by a largely credulous media, others have serious reservations about exactly what was recorded in the videos and argue rather more prosaic explanations.
TTSA claimed earlier this year to have in their possession material from an “advanced aerospace vehicle of unknown origin”, alleged vehicles which the organisation refer to as unidentified aerial phenomena or UAPs rather than unidentified flying objects. This material is apparently of interest to Ground Vehicle System Center who will facilitate TTSA access to their researchers and labs. Note that TTSA are not receiving payment from the US Army, the only ‘payment’ in the deal appears to be access to government facilities whilst Futures Command presumably receives ‘dibs’ on any findings.
According to Bloomberg, a ‘senior researcher’ from Futures Command commented; “The Army’s interest in those materials, or really any materials, is exploring what their capability is. Any speculation as to their origin I think is immaterial, right? They have made technical claims that have interested us.” This would certainly appear to indicate that Futures Command are aware of the controversial claims made by TTSA in relation to alleged recovered material of non-earthly origin.
The deal struck with Futures Command seems to have stemmed from TTSA’s Luis Elizondo who claims to have worked with the short-lived Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program(AATIP) under the auspices of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), a programme developed to consider “foreign advanced aerospace weapons threats” according to DIA.