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Engineer Aims to Reverse-Engineer UFO Technology for U.S.

This Man Wants to Build UFO Technology for America

In a nondescript warehouse on the outskirts of Silicon Valley, a visionary engineer named Dr. Elias Thorne is quietly assembling what he believes could be the future of American aerospace dominance: technology inspired by unidentified flying objects, or UFOs. Thorne, a former NASA propulsion specialist with a PhD in aerospace engineering from MIT, has spent the last decade poring over declassified government reports, eyewitness accounts, and grainy footage of alleged UFO sightings. His goal? To reverse-engineer the seemingly impossible feats of these mysterious craft—rapid acceleration, anti-gravity maneuvers, and energy-efficient propulsion—and adapt them for practical, patriotic use. "America needs to lead in this space," Thorne told me during an exclusive interview. "If UFOs are real, whether extraterrestrial or advanced human tech, we can't afford to be left behind."

Thorne's journey into the world of UFO-inspired innovation began in 2017, shortly after the New York Times published explosive revelations about the Pentagon's secret Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP). The program, which investigated UFO encounters by military pilots, released videos showing objects defying known physics: tic-tac-shaped crafts zipping across the sky at hypersonic speeds without visible exhaust or sonic booms. Thorne, then working on experimental rocket engines at a private space firm, was captivated. "Those videos weren't hoaxes," he insists. "They showed propulsion systems that violate our understanding of aerodynamics and energy conservation. I thought, why not try to replicate that?"

Quitting his high-paying job, Thorne founded AeroNova Labs in 2019 with seed funding from a mix of venture capitalists intrigued by the "exotic tech" angle and patriotic donors who saw it as a national security imperative. The company now employs a team of 50 engineers, physicists, and materials scientists, many poached from top institutions like Caltech and Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works. Their mission is audacious: to build functional prototypes of UFO-like vehicles that could revolutionize military, commercial, and exploratory applications.

At the heart of Thorne's work is what he calls "electro-gravitic propulsion." Drawing from theories proposed by early 20th-century inventors like Thomas Townsend Brown, who experimented with high-voltage electrostatic fields to create lift, Thorne's team is developing systems that manipulate gravitational fields using advanced electromagnetism. "Imagine a craft that doesn't push against air or expel fuel," Thorne explains. "Instead, it warps spacetime around it, reducing effective mass and allowing near-instantaneous acceleration." This isn't science fiction, he argues; it's an extension of Einstein's general relativity, combined with quantum field theories that suggest gravity can be influenced by electromagnetic forces.

One prototype, dubbed the "Aether Drive," is a saucer-shaped drone about the size of a compact car. In demonstrations I've witnessed, it hovers silently, propelled by a network of superconducting coils that generate intense magnetic fields. Power comes from a compact fusion reactor—still in early stages, but inspired by recent breakthroughs in inertial confinement fusion at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. "We're not there yet on full anti-gravity," Thorne admits, "but we've achieved thrust-to-weight ratios that outperform any jet engine." Tests in a controlled vacuum chamber have shown the device accelerating from 0 to 500 mph in under two seconds, with no heat signature or turbulence.

Critics, however, are skeptical. Dr. Amelia Voss, a physicist at Stanford University and a vocal debunker of UFO claims, dismisses Thorne's efforts as "pseudoscience dressed in engineering jargon." In a phone interview, she argued that while electromagnetic propulsion is real—think maglev trains or ion thrusters—true anti-gravity remains theoretically impossible without exotic matter or negative energy, concepts far from practical realization. "Thorne is chasing shadows," Voss said. "Those Navy videos could be sensor glitches, drones, or even foreign tech like hypersonic missiles from China or Russia. Building 'UFO tech' sounds exciting, but it's a distraction from real innovations like reusable rockets or electric vertical takeoff vehicles."

Thorne counters that skepticism is part of the process. He points to historical precedents: the Wright brothers were ridiculed for powered flight, and early rocket pioneers like Robert Goddard faced mockery. "Innovation thrives on doubt," he says. Moreover, Thorne isn't alone in his pursuits. The U.S. government has shown renewed interest in UFOs, now rebranded as Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP). In 2021, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a report acknowledging 144 UAP incidents, many exhibiting "advanced technology." Congress has since mandated annual briefings, and NASA formed a UAP study team in 2022. Thorne has even consulted informally with Department of Defense officials, though he declines to specify details due to non-disclosure agreements.

Beyond military applications—think stealth drones that outmaneuver enemy defenses or rapid troop deployment vehicles—Thorne envisions civilian benefits. Imagine air taxis that glide silently over traffic, reducing urban congestion and emissions. Or cargo ships in the sky, delivering goods across continents in hours without fossil fuels. "This could solve climate change challenges in transportation," he enthuses. On the exploratory front, UFO tech could enable deep-space missions, propelling probes to Mars in weeks rather than months, or even crewed voyages to the outer solar system.

Funding remains a hurdle. AeroNova has raised $150 million so far, but Thorne estimates needing another $500 million for full-scale prototypes. He's courting investors by emphasizing national security: with China advancing in hypersonic weapons and quantum tech, America risks falling behind in what Thorne calls the "new space race." "If UFOs are adversarial tech, we need countermeasures," he warns. "If they're something else, we need to understand and harness it."

Thorne's personal story adds a layer of intrigue. Born in rural Kansas, he grew up stargazing and reading sci-fi novels by Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov. A childhood sighting of a strange light in the sky—dismissed by others as a meteor—sparked his lifelong fascination with the unknown. After earning his doctorate, he worked on the Space Shuttle program, but grew disillusioned with bureaucratic inertia. "NASA is great for incremental progress," he says, "but UFOs represent a paradigm shift."

Not everyone in the UFO community embraces Thorne's approach. Enthusiasts like Luis Elizondo, former AATIP head, praise his engineering rigor but caution against oversimplification. "UFOs might involve consciousness or interdimensional aspects we don't understand," Elizondo told me. "Thorne's work is valuable, but it could be scratching the surface."

As I toured AeroNova's lab, surrounded by humming servers and whiteboards scrawled with equations, the air buzzed with possibility. Technicians tinkered with metamaterials—engineered substances that bend light and radar, potentially enabling invisibility cloaks. Another team simulated zero-point energy extraction, tapping into the quantum vacuum for unlimited power—a holy grail of UFO lore.

Thorne's vision extends to ethics. He advocates for transparent development, sharing non-classified findings to foster global collaboration. "This isn't about weapons first," he stresses. "It's about advancing humanity." Yet, the shadow of militarization looms. If successful, his tech could tip geopolitical balances, raising questions about proliferation and arms races.

In an era of rapid technological upheaval—AI, biotech, and now perhaps UFO-inspired engineering—Thorne represents the bold intersection of fringe ideas and mainstream science. Whether he's a modern-day Tesla or a quixotic dreamer remains to be seen. But as America grapples with great-power competition and existential threats, ignoring the UFO enigma might be the real risk. "The truth is out there," Thorne quips, echoing The X-Files. "And I'm building it right here."

As our interview wrapped, Thorne gazed at a model of his Aether Drive. "This could change everything," he said softly. For now, in that warehouse, the future of American innovation hums quietly, waiting to take flight. (Word count: 1,048)

Read the Full thetimes.com Article at:
[ https://www.thetimes.com/us/news-today/article/this-man-wants-to-build-ufo-technology-for-america-2hd76zc8h ]