2012 September 17, Don Lipman, “Red sprites, blue jets, and elves What are these mysterious, elusive phenomena?”, inThe Washington Post[1]:
During World War II (and probably before), high flying pilots were reported to have observed unexplained aerial phenomena (UAP), often now called transient luminous events (TLE’s), particularly in the vicinity of thunderstorms.
2016 May 10, Amy Chozick, “Hillary Clinton Gives U.F.O. Buffs Hope She Will Open the X-Files”, inThe New York Times[2],→ISSN:
“You know, there’s a new name,” Mrs. Clinton said in the March appearance. “It’s unexplained aerial phenomenon,” she said. “U.A.P. That’s the latest nomenclature.”
2017 December 16, Bryan Bender, “The Pentagon’s Secret Search for UFOs”, inPolitico Magazine[3],→ISSN:
The founders say they believe “there is sufficient credible evidence ofUAP [unidentified aerial phenomenon] that proves exotic technologies exist that could revolutionize the human experience.”
2019 October 23, M J Banias, “This Silicon Valley Startup Is Dedicated to Detecting UFOs Off the California Coast”, inVice Magazine[4],→ISSN:
This is an effort that I believe is rare and timely given current events, such as the apparent increase inUAP incidents through official military channels.
2020, Jordan Culver, Adrianna Rodriguez, “Pentagon declassifies 3 leaked US Navy UFO videos”, inUSA Today:
The spokesman at the time saidUAP was preferred over UFO because of the stigma surrounding the latter term.
2020, “To the Stars Academy of Arts & Science Acknowledges the Pentagon's Official Release of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Video Footage”, inBaker City Herald:
Pentagon officially released three videos of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP).
2023 January 12, “US government logs more than 500 UFO reports with hundreds unexplained”, inThe Guardian[5],→ISSN:
The US military is worried some of theUAPs spotted by military pilots in the past may represent technologies of strategic rivals unknown to US scientists.
Initialism ofunlicensed assistive personnel(plural) or unlicensed assistive personnel member(singular): workers who are trained to assist with nursing tasks but are not trained or licensed to do everything else that a nurse can do.
The broadest sense (sense 1) covers the fact that some UAPs seem to move back and forth effortlessly from the sky to beneath the sea. It is in this sense that USOs are also calledunderwater UAPs.
Regarding the aerial sense (sense 1.1), becauseunidentified flying object andUFO can be (mild)misnomers in some usages (for example, when the nature of the phenomenon is prematurely assumed or is misunderstood), some speakers and writers prefer this term. It is not solely aeuphemism, although some use of it includes a euphemistic component.
