5 ms·

Radar footage shows Hellfire missile fired by US Military bounce off UFO

35 points by eth0up 1y ago

eth0up 1y ago
"The footage was released during a congressional hearing on Tuesday about unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAPs. It shows an MQ-9 Reaper drone tracking a glowing orb off the coast of Yemen before firing a Hellfire missile straight at it. But instead of blowing the object to bits, the so-called “orb” appeared to shrug it off and keep flying. The video was taken in October 2024, but has only just been released to the public. " - https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/36642473/ufo-struck-by-us-military-hellfire-missile/ https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/36642473/ufo-struck-by-us-mili... Hearing: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4nzlSz3rJBc https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4nzlSz3rJBc
- trenchpilgrim 1y ago
  > But instead of blowing the object to bits Air to air missiles don't always explode in a fireball like in Hollywood movies. Often it's more like a shotgun blast that peppers the target with holes and relatively minor damage that then causes mechanical failure. The Dutch safety board's analysis video of the shootdown of MH17 has great animations and forensic photos.
  - legacynl 1y ago
    Also if you look at the video, there's obvious debris coming of either the missile or the craft. Furthermore the craft does seem to be affected.
  - ryanjshaw 1y ago
    Aren’t they supposed to explode just prior to contact? I.e. they aren’t flying hammers? So was this missile not armed or what happened, it’s difficult for me to see on mobile.
    - trenchpilgrim 1y ago
      It's not that simple. Some are designed to fly alongside the target and send a shrapnel ring blasting out. But the ballistics are a complex problem and they can sometimes physically impact the target in certain intercept geometries. You also may not be able to distinguish a direct hit from a shrapnel blast kill in a recording of a FLIR display from a distance, since the shrapnel may not show up well in the IR spectrum + the display is much lower resolution than the camera. (e.g. if you take a photo with a high end camera, but look at the photo on the LCD on the back of the camera, you won't see all the detail captured by the system.) Anecdotally I've heard that pilots can see their targets in far better detail using the debriefing tools after the flight than they can with the cockpit displays.
      - wkat4242 1y ago
        > It's not that simple. Some are designed to fly alongside the target and send a shrapnel ring blasting out Yes many air target missiles do just that but this is a hellfire, normally used for ground targets. So there is no flying alongside its intended targets, it's just a big boom warhead. Because it's meant for ground targets I could imagine the detonator needs something really firm to hit in order to detonate though. A drone might not suffice in all circumstances
        trenchpilgrim 1y ago
        Hellfires have a selection of available warheads. The newest ones have multi-purpose warheads that have different selectable explosive patterns for different types of target. Even physically twisting the missile to get better hit probability on an air target: https://www.twz.com/usaf-testing-mutant-missiles-that-twist-in-mid-air-to-hit-their-targets https://www.twz.com/usaf-testing-mutant-missiles-that-twist-... This area of defense technology has been moving very quickly in the past few years, many assumptions the general public holds about military weapons and tactics are long obsolete.
        wkat4242 1y ago
- wkat4242 1y ago
  Congress has hearings about UFOs now? What's next, flat earth hearings?
  - eth0up 1y ago
    Dear bully, The "U" stands for "unidentified". That's all. No need to be abusive I'm sure if you could push that, you would. You probably push the elderly and children. You ought try pushing your intellect, for something other than money and ignorance. PS: since a mod will see (and flag) this comment, please take a moment, if you have the necessary UI, to look at my downvote history. Almost every comment I make gets at least one downvote. I think I've made a friend or two here, but I don't requite. You guys enforce a lot of subtle things; is this encouraged?
- DeathMetalHippy 1y ago
  it was a missle on missle test like iron dome.
BillyTheMage 1y ago
They've known there's aliens for years, they just have to boil us like frogs so they don't lose their power when we "find out"
- WJW 1y ago
  This premise fails right at the start. Why would "they" lose their power when people know about aliens? All the reasons why the current batch of political leaders are in power remain valid if aliens exist, whether they're democratically elected or authoritarian despots.
  - BillyTheMage 1y ago
    Well I'm sure not listening to them
    - WJW 1y ago
      In that case what does it matter if they release news of aliens or not?
    - Reubachi 1y ago
      Expand upon your thoughts to comment in good faith :) This isn't reddit Why do you attribute either opaque or transparent behavior/comms on UFOs from the power structure, if there is nothing to be gained either way by said power structure? IF there is any discourse to be had on UFOs, power structures hiding things etc. it would be on the topic of US DoD obfuscating Next generations Weapons testing for sake of operational security. This has been a formal USAF departments initiative since the 80s, and it's very transparent initiative.
ares623 1y ago
X-files to distract from the E-files
- pixelpoet 1y ago
  Well played :D
KeplerBoy 1y ago
Pretty sure this isn't radar footage but IR.
bdhcuidbebe 1y ago
I see a video of a object being shot down, debree falling and cut to a earlier clip. ”Now its zoomed out”. Looks like the usual dumb nonsense, enough to convince only the gullible. Release the damn Epstein files!!!!
- camdroidw 1y ago
  [flagged]
  - bdhcuidbebe 1y ago
    Ah, yes. Reddit, where mature discussion happens. /s The video is obviously cut and framed to support these nonsense claims. Still, a crappy job. Instead of adding to the discussion you are trolling. How did you even manage to get negative karma here? You get a point for each of your hundreds of comments. You must have some seriously fringe tech takes…
csomar 1y ago
Let me guess: The aliens are the Chinese?
trenchpilgrim 1y ago
an interesting youtube comment: "2:42 Check out the readout on the bottom right . One of the numbers is the target height above terrain - and after it's hit that goes down from 86 to 59 over about 6 seconds before the video cuts off. So after being hit the object isn't continuing on course, it's falling at an increasingly fast rate. The video was sent to Rep. Eric Burlison with no chain of custody and no context, and it's a video taken of a screen which crops out 80% of the analytical data along the edges of the screen, but that's the MOST IMPORTANT PART which would tell us the distance, speed, size, range, angle and other critical information for interpreting the video. This could be drone to drone intercept footage from a training mission, we just don't know at this point." Also note that the article's title contains an error - this is not "radar footage, it's IR camera footage. Before assuming this is even an "orb" at all, check out this video on how these cameras work: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qsEjV8DdSbs https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qsEjV8DdSbs I'm no expert but my most likely bet is someone cropped IR footage of a drone intercept and sent it without context or SME interpretation to a congressman.
- squigz 1y ago
  Another UFO video with questionable provenance is debunked by application of a tiny amount of logic? I am truly shocked. Seriously though why is this on HN?
  - actionfromafar 1y ago
    To distract from obvious ailments of government?
    - DonHopkins 1y ago
      I want to believe! We are not alone! Oh, and most importantly don't forget: Release the Epstein Files!
    - DeathMetalHippy 1y ago
      Trump was Epsteins Boss, dont lose focus.
Jemm 1y ago
I hope they bring back Elvis!
- jakupovic 1y ago
  I'm back
- DonHopkins 1y ago
  And that he has the Epstein files, and releases them! I hope he will write, sing, and dance a big beautiful love song about Trump's sexy secretive birthday letter to Epstein.
Metacelsus 1y ago
A Hellfire is an air to ground missile, why would they be shooting it at a UFO? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AGM-114_Hellfire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AGM-114_Hellfire
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
- trenchpilgrim 1y ago
  Hellfires are usable as air to air weapons against slow moving targets. Apaches have shot down slow flying aircraft with them. https://www.navy.mil/Resources/Fact-Files/Display-FactFiles/Article/2168362/agm-114bkmn-hellfire-missile/ https://www.navy.mil/Resources/Fact-Files/Display-FactFiles/... "It can also be used as an air-to-air weapon against helicopters or slow-moving fixed-wing aircraft."
- llm_nerd 1y ago
  It is deployed against slow moving air targets. Some variants are even radar guided. This video, though, isn't remotely convincing. It looks like the hellfire deflects off a bog standard drone, yet doesn't detonate, which disassembles and the look-down video cuts before we see the actual consequences. The path of the object is basic inertia where a rolling object is falling to the ground but we're seeing top down so it's "maintaining course". These UFO things are always sadly a lot of noise and astonishingly little substance. There are "kooks" -- people who have decompensated and no longer are rational -- in every large enough set, including the military. There are always terrible evidence like these videos, coupled with people giving their completely unsubstantiated crazy takes.
- JshWright 1y ago
  They are capable of hitting aerial targets as well. They have recently been deployed by the US Navy as a cheaper way to counter cheap aerial drones launched by Iranian proxies (~$100k Hellfire vs a ~$1m SM2). https://www.twz.com/sea/littoral-combat-ship-can-now-rapidly-shoot-down-aerial-drones-with-hellfire-missiles https://www.twz.com/sea/littoral-combat-ship-can-now-rapidly...
- DeathMetalHippy 1y ago
satisfice 1y ago
Notice that they don’t ask the pilots who took the video to explain it. Sorry, but we can’t just assume the congressman knows what he’s talking about.
Hizonner 1y ago
Why would anybody shoot a missile at an unidentified object? Shooting at Sufficiently Advanced Aliens also sounds like a bad idea...
- DeathMetalHippy 1y ago
  could have been missle on missle test
  - Hizonner 1y ago
    Then it's not a UFO, is it?
DeathMetalHippy 1y ago
I believe this be an Iron Dome test. Missle on Missle.
ChrisArchitect 1y ago
[dupe] Earlier: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45188069 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45188069
GoGo415 1y ago
[dead]

35 points by eth0up 1y ago

"The footage was released during a congressional hearing on Tuesday about unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAPs. It shows an MQ-9 Reaper drone tracking a glowing orb off the coast of Yemen before firing a Hellfire missile straight at it. But instead of blowing the object to bits, the so-called “orb” appeared to shrug it off and keep flying. The video was taken in October 2024, but has only just been released to the public. " - https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/36642473/ufo-struck-by-us-military-hellfire-missile/ https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/36642473/ufo-struck-by-us-mili... Hearing: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4nzlSz3rJBc https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4nzlSz3rJBc

trenchpilgrim 1y ago
> But instead of blowing the object to bits Air to air missiles don't always explode in a fireball like in Hollywood movies. Often it's more like a shotgun blast that peppers the target with holes and relatively minor damage that then causes mechanical failure. The Dutch safety board's analysis video of the shootdown of MH17 has great animations and forensic photos.
- legacynl 1y ago
  Also if you look at the video, there's obvious debris coming of either the missile or the craft. Furthermore the craft does seem to be affected.
- ryanjshaw 1y ago
  Aren’t they supposed to explode just prior to contact? I.e. they aren’t flying hammers? So was this missile not armed or what happened, it’s difficult for me to see on mobile.
  - trenchpilgrim 1y ago
    It's not that simple. Some are designed to fly alongside the target and send a shrapnel ring blasting out. But the ballistics are a complex problem and they can sometimes physically impact the target in certain intercept geometries. You also may not be able to distinguish a direct hit from a shrapnel blast kill in a recording of a FLIR display from a distance, since the shrapnel may not show up well in the IR spectrum + the display is much lower resolution than the camera. (e.g. if you take a photo with a high end camera, but look at the photo on the LCD on the back of the camera, you won't see all the detail captured by the system.) Anecdotally I've heard that pilots can see their targets in far better detail using the debriefing tools after the flight than they can with the cockpit displays.
    - wkat4242 1y ago
      > It's not that simple. Some are designed to fly alongside the target and send a shrapnel ring blasting out Yes many air target missiles do just that but this is a hellfire, normally used for ground targets. So there is no flying alongside its intended targets, it's just a big boom warhead. Because it's meant for ground targets I could imagine the detonator needs something really firm to hit in order to detonate though. A drone might not suffice in all circumstances
      - trenchpilgrim 1y ago
        Hellfires have a selection of available warheads. The newest ones have multi-purpose warheads that have different selectable explosive patterns for different types of target. Even physically twisting the missile to get better hit probability on an air target: https://www.twz.com/usaf-testing-mutant-missiles-that-twist-in-mid-air-to-hit-their-targets https://www.twz.com/usaf-testing-mutant-missiles-that-twist-... This area of defense technology has been moving very quickly in the past few years, many assumptions the general public holds about military weapons and tactics are long obsolete.
        wkat4242 1y ago
wkat4242 1y ago
Congress has hearings about UFOs now? What's next, flat earth hearings?
- eth0up 1y ago
  Dear bully, The "U" stands for "unidentified". That's all. No need to be abusive I'm sure if you could push that, you would. You probably push the elderly and children. You ought try pushing your intellect, for something other than money and ignorance. PS: since a mod will see (and flag) this comment, please take a moment, if you have the necessary UI, to look at my downvote history. Almost every comment I make gets at least one downvote. I think I've made a friend or two here, but I don't requite. You guys enforce a lot of subtle things; is this encouraged?
DeathMetalHippy 1y ago
it was a missle on missle test like iron dome.

BillyTheMage 1y ago

They've known there's aliens for years, they just have to boil us like frogs so they don't lose their power when we "find out"

WJW 1y ago
This premise fails right at the start. Why would "they" lose their power when people know about aliens? All the reasons why the current batch of political leaders are in power remain valid if aliens exist, whether they're democratically elected or authoritarian despots.
- BillyTheMage 1y ago
  Well I'm sure not listening to them
  - WJW 1y ago
    In that case what does it matter if they release news of aliens or not?
  - Reubachi 1y ago
    Expand upon your thoughts to comment in good faith :) This isn't reddit Why do you attribute either opaque or transparent behavior/comms on UFOs from the power structure, if there is nothing to be gained either way by said power structure? IF there is any discourse to be had on UFOs, power structures hiding things etc. it would be on the topic of US DoD obfuscating Next generations Weapons testing for sake of operational security. This has been a formal USAF departments initiative since the 80s, and it's very transparent initiative.

ares623 1y ago

X-files to distract from the E-files

pixelpoet 1y ago
Well played :D

KeplerBoy 1y ago

Pretty sure this isn't radar footage but IR.

bdhcuidbebe 1y ago

I see a video of a object being shot down, debree falling and cut to a earlier clip. ”Now its zoomed out”. Looks like the usual dumb nonsense, enough to convince only the gullible. Release the damn Epstein files!!!!

camdroidw 1y ago
[flagged]
- bdhcuidbebe 1y ago
  Ah, yes. Reddit, where mature discussion happens. /s The video is obviously cut and framed to support these nonsense claims. Still, a crappy job. Instead of adding to the discussion you are trolling. How did you even manage to get negative karma here? You get a point for each of your hundreds of comments. You must have some seriously fringe tech takes…

csomar 1y ago

Let me guess: The aliens are the Chinese?

trenchpilgrim 1y ago

an interesting youtube comment: "2:42 Check out the readout on the bottom right . One of the numbers is the target height above terrain - and after it's hit that goes down from 86 to 59 over about 6 seconds before the video cuts off. So after being hit the object isn't continuing on course, it's falling at an increasingly fast rate. The video was sent to Rep. Eric Burlison with no chain of custody and no context, and it's a video taken of a screen which crops out 80% of the analytical data along the edges of the screen, but that's the MOST IMPORTANT PART which would tell us the distance, speed, size, range, angle and other critical information for interpreting the video. This could be drone to drone intercept footage from a training mission, we just don't know at this point." Also note that the article's title contains an error - this is not "radar footage, it's IR camera footage. Before assuming this is even an "orb" at all, check out this video on how these cameras work: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qsEjV8DdSbs https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qsEjV8DdSbs I'm no expert but my most likely bet is someone cropped IR footage of a drone intercept and sent it without context or SME interpretation to a congressman.

squigz 1y ago
Another UFO video with questionable provenance is debunked by application of a tiny amount of logic? I am truly shocked. Seriously though why is this on HN?
- actionfromafar 1y ago
  To distract from obvious ailments of government?
  - DonHopkins 1y ago
    I want to believe! We are not alone! Oh, and most importantly don't forget: Release the Epstein Files!
  - DeathMetalHippy 1y ago
    Trump was Epsteins Boss, dont lose focus.

Jemm 1y ago

I hope they bring back Elvis!

jakupovic 1y ago
I'm back
DonHopkins 1y ago
And that he has the Epstein files, and releases them! I hope he will write, sing, and dance a big beautiful love song about Trump's sexy secretive birthday letter to Epstein.

Metacelsus 1y ago

A Hellfire is an air to ground missile, why would they be shooting it at a UFO? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AGM-114_Hellfire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AGM-114_Hellfire

deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
trenchpilgrim 1y ago
Hellfires are usable as air to air weapons against slow moving targets. Apaches have shot down slow flying aircraft with them. https://www.navy.mil/Resources/Fact-Files/Display-FactFiles/Article/2168362/agm-114bkmn-hellfire-missile/ https://www.navy.mil/Resources/Fact-Files/Display-FactFiles/... "It can also be used as an air-to-air weapon against helicopters or slow-moving fixed-wing aircraft."
llm_nerd 1y ago
It is deployed against slow moving air targets. Some variants are even radar guided. This video, though, isn't remotely convincing. It looks like the hellfire deflects off a bog standard drone, yet doesn't detonate, which disassembles and the look-down video cuts before we see the actual consequences. The path of the object is basic inertia where a rolling object is falling to the ground but we're seeing top down so it's "maintaining course". These UFO things are always sadly a lot of noise and astonishingly little substance. There are "kooks" -- people who have decompensated and no longer are rational -- in every large enough set, including the military. There are always terrible evidence like these videos, coupled with people giving their completely unsubstantiated crazy takes.
JshWright 1y ago
They are capable of hitting aerial targets as well. They have recently been deployed by the US Navy as a cheaper way to counter cheap aerial drones launched by Iranian proxies (~$100k Hellfire vs a ~$1m SM2). https://www.twz.com/sea/littoral-combat-ship-can-now-rapidly-shoot-down-aerial-drones-with-hellfire-missiles https://www.twz.com/sea/littoral-combat-ship-can-now-rapidly...
DeathMetalHippy 1y ago

satisfice 1y ago

Notice that they don’t ask the pilots who took the video to explain it. Sorry, but we can’t just assume the congressman knows what he’s talking about.

Hizonner 1y ago

Why would anybody shoot a missile at an unidentified object? Shooting at Sufficiently Advanced Aliens also sounds like a bad idea...

DeathMetalHippy 1y ago
could have been missle on missle test
- Hizonner 1y ago
  Then it's not a UFO, is it?

DeathMetalHippy 1y ago

I believe this be an Iron Dome test. Missle on Missle.

ChrisArchitect 1y ago

[dupe] Earlier: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45188069 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45188069

GoGo415 1y ago

[dead]