Germany logs record rise in UFO sightings – watchdog
Germany has seen a spike in UFO sighting reports, according to the Central Research Network for Extraordinary Celestial Phenomena (CENAP), the country’s largest private UFO reporting and investigation network. The surge comes alongside the Pentagon’s release of declassified files on phenomena believed to be potentially linked to extraterrestrial activity.
According to director Hansjuergen Koehler, CENAP has never received as many reports of unidentified anomalous phenomena – the official term for UFOs – as it does now.
“We receive between three and six reports a day,” he told Euronews in an interview released on Sunday. By August 2026, he and his team had investigated some 14,000 sighting reports, he said, though he did not specify over what period.
Koehler did not rule out that “there is life out there,” but said he remains skeptical about most sightings, noting that the vast majority turn out to be aircraft, rocket stages, satellites, meteors, planets, balloons, or even event lasers visible from kilometers away. Some remain unresolved because investigators lack key information, such as high-resolution videos.
However, Koehler stressed that unexplained does not mean extraterrestrial, and advised would-be UFO hunters to try free astronomy apps, which can identify celestial bodies by pointing a phone at the sky.
Pentagon reignites UFO frenzy
Debates over extraterrestrial phenomena have gathered momentum following Pentagon releases of previously classified material on supposed alien sightings. US President Donald Trump ordered the release in February after former President Barack Obama said in a podcast interview that aliens were “real.” Trump accused Obama of improperly revealing classified information and pledged to declassify the files. The disclosure initiative began in May with around 160 documents, followed by four more batches of footage and witness testimony.
The Pentagon released its fifth batch on Friday. The 41 files include more than a dozen videos, three images, and around 20 PDF documents detailing sightings from the Middle East to the Pacific Ocean. The records come from the Pentagon, FBI, CIA, State Department, and Executive Office of the President, dating from 1953 to this year.
Much of the release consists of grainy footage of unidentified objects, including apparent orbs and lights, captured by military sensors and cameras. Six videos show a September 2021 encounter involving Special Operations forces aboard an AC-130J gunship over the Gulf of Oman.
Another, recorded by a “US Government Special Agent” in the western US this year, shows two slow-moving “black-hot” areas in infrared imagery. The batch also includes eight FBI 302 witness-interview forms accompanied by artist renderings of reported objects.
Despite the growing trove, US officials insist there is no confirmed evidence of extraterrestrial life, alien technology, or government cover-ups. Many sightings have decidedly earthbound explanations, from infrared distortions and aircraft heat signatures to classified test flights. Announcing the latest release, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said more files would follow “on a rolling basis.”
