Japan to Draw Up UFO Encounter Protocols after US Footage

May 3, 2020

Tokyo- Japan's Defense Ministry plans to draw up protocols for potential encounters with UFOs, after the U.S. Defense Department released videos showing such mysterious objects on Monday.

The ministry will consider procedures to respond to, record and report encounters, but the unknown nature of such objects may confuse Self-Defense Forces pilots, including those of F-15 fighter jets.

The videos released by the U.S. Defense Department, taken in 2004 and 2015, show an elliptical flying object.

Japanese Defense Minister Taro Kono said Tuesday that SDF pilots have never encountered UFOs, but he added that the ministry will set protocols to cover the possibility.

According to the ministry, Air SDF fighter jets from seven bases located from Hokkaido in the north to Okinawa Prefecture in the south are scrambled to monitor and identify aircraft of unknown nationality.

If there is a threat of the aircraft entering Japanese airspace, the fighter jets call on it to change course in English. Once the nationality of the aircraft is identified, the request is repeated in that country's language.

If the aircraft enters Japan's airspace, the SDF can fire signal shots including tracer ammunition and force it to land. It is unclear, however, whether such procedures would be effective against UFOs.

It is possible that UFOs are not detected by land-based radar systems or they are encountered by SDF airplanes on training or surveillance missions.

"If (UFOs) are encountered, training will be canceled immediately," an ASDF source said. "We will seek to identify it from a safe distance, including whether it is a drone, and report it to the Air Defense Direction Center for orders."

"To be honest, I don't believe in UFOs," Kono said. "But as the Defense Department released such a video, I would like to hear from the U.S. side about its intention and analysis." Jiji Press