UAP Glossary
The words the U.S. government uses in its UAP records, defined the way the government defines them. Where a law gives a term a meaning, that is the meaning printed here, word for word, with a link to the law. Where no law does, the page says so instead of inventing one.
Defined in law
Congress wrote these definitions. They are quoted exactly, and they are binding on the agencies the statute covers.
- Legacy Program
- The term "legacy program" means all Federal, State, and local government, commercial industry, academic, and private sector endeavors to collect, exploit, or reverse engineer technologies of unknown origin or examine biological evidence of living or deceased…
- Non-Human Intelligence (NHI)(NHI)
- The term "non-human intelligence" means any sentient intelligent non-human lifeform regardless of nature or ultimate origin that may be presumed responsible for unidentified anomalous phenomena or of which the Federal Government has become aware.
- Prosaic Attribution
- The term "prosaic attribution" means having a human (either foreign or domestic) origin and operating according to current, proven, and generally understood scientific and engineering principles and established laws-of-nature and not attributable to non-human…
- Technologies of Unknown Origin
- The term "technologies of unknown origin" means any materials or meta- materials, ejecta, crash debris, mechanisms, machinery, equipment, assemblies or sub-assemblies, engineering models or processes, damaged or intact aerospace vehicles, and damaged or intac…
- Unidentified Aerial Phenomena
- The term "unidentified aerial phenomena" means airborne objects witnessed by a pilot or aircrew member that are not immediately identifiable.
- Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena(UAP)
- The term "unidentified anomalous phenomena" means—(A) airborne objects that are not immediately identifiable; (B) transmedium objects or devices; and (C) submerged objects or devices that are not immediately identifiable and that display behavior or performan…
Used, but never defined
No law defines these. They are working terms: aircrews, analysts and investigators use them in the records, and what they mean is drawn from that use.
- Range Fouler
- A range fouler is a term that appears on official debrief and reporting forms used to document encounters for data collection purposes.
- Trans-Medium UAP
- Trans-medium UAP are objects or devices seen moving between space and air, or between air and water, that cannot be immediately identified.
- Unidentified Flying Object(UFO)
- UFO stands for unidentified flying object, a term used in U.S. government records for decades before newer official terms replaced it.