>Plus "alien spacecraft" aka UFOs always seem to output a huge amount of light ... That aspect in particular is interesting because it's central to most UFO si

>Plus "alien spacecraft" aka UFOs always seem to output a huge amount of light ... That aspect in particular is interesting because it's central to most UFO sightings, and subsequently adds to the collective mythology. For the sake of argument, imagine you operate a joint USAF/CIA psyops program charged with protecting the secrecy of entirely-terrestrial aerospace black programs. Personally, the first thing I'd do is take existing airframes, coat them in a matte or even light-absorbing material, put a blindingly-bright layer of lights on top of that, and conduct missions at night, in a profile that minimizes noise. The lights serve to draw attention, conceal the airframe's actual shape, and suggest some extraterrestrial origin all at the same time. At the risk of sounding like a nutter spouting the usual "black helicopters" cliché, it's worth noting that during the Vietnam War, the US operated a modified Hughes 500-series helicopter reconfigured for extremely quiet operation.[0] Likewise, Bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad was raided in 2011 using stealth helicopters. During interviews, neighbors present at the time of the raid said they weren't able to hear the aircraft until they were almost directly overhead.[1] Compared to a normal helicopter, that's extremely quiet. The Phoenix Lights[2] was a very famous UFO sighting, and in my opinion was almost certainly man-made. The technology was there to build long-endurance unmanned VTOL aircraft at the time, especially when all you need is some struts, lights, a control system, maybe a balloon, and some propulsion. Complexity comparable to what hobbyists face when building small quadcopter drones today, just scaled up in size. At further risk of sounding like a complete nutter, I think it's probable that the rash of cattle mutilations[3] throughout the United States were a result of something similar. If you're already tooling around with quiet aircraft lit up like Christmas trees, dissecting cattle in the process for whatever legitimate ancillary reason will only further solidify the belief it's aliens. The bright light we often associate with UFOs is likely just a terrestrial invention. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hughes_OH-6_Cayuse#.22The_Quiet_One.22 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hughes_OH-6_Cayuse#.22The_Quie... [1] http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/top-secret-stealth-helicopter-program-revealed-osama-bin/story?id=13530693 http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/top-secret-stealth-helicopter-... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Lights https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Lights [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle_mutilation#Government_or_military_experimentation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle_mutilation#Government_o...