Ross Coulthart claims Trump ordered Department of War to shoot down UAPs
Houston, we have a shootdown.
A taskforce shooting down UFOs. Image by Cybernews.
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- Ross Coulthart claims Trump authorized shootdowns of UAPs to recover suspected non-human technology.
- Coulthart says Pete Hegseth and the ODNI are involved, with White House advisers leading the effort.
- The claim suggests a shift from observing unexplained sightings toward capturing objects showing unusual flight characteristics.
- The White House has not commented, and UAP means unidentified phenomena, not necessarily extraterrestrial craft.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
Journalist Ross Coulthart claims that President Donald Trump has authorized the Department of War to shoot down UFOs, with the aim of recovering non-human technology.
In a post on X, Coulthart claims that the directive's goal is “to recover suspected non-human intelligence exotic technology.”
By mentioning “non-human technology,” however, Coulthart's claims put the spotlight squarely on the White House, as it’s usually the Pentagon that’s chiefed with monitoring the skies for unusual activity.
According to Coulthart, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been tasked with finding out what the objects are and pursuing efforts to capture them rather than simply observing or tracking them.
“This is an attempt by the president to circumvent the legacy program. It’s being run out of the White House by the president’s most senior intelligence advisors,” reads Coulthart's post.
NEW: President Trump has authorized the Department of War to shoot down UAP in an effort “to recover suspected non-human intelligence exotic technology” reports Ross Coulthart
undefined UAP James (@UAPJames) August 9, 2026
“This is an attempt by the President to circumvent the legacy program. It’s being run out of the White… pic.twitter.com/kJdl3Vv6OD
What is quantified as a UAP?
The objects apparently being targeted must include some of “the 5 observables,” characteristics often cited in UAP conversations.
Coulthart's account depicts the White House as attempting to wrest control away from the bureaucratic Pentagon program. It’s also a very different approach from the government's increasingly public policy of collecting reports and investigating unexplained sightings, as evidenced by 5 different tranches of evidence released so far.
Also, according to Coulthart, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) will be involved, as well as Hegseth.
How did the community react?
Several posts on the r/UFO community on Reddit attempted to shed some light on proceedings, with one post reading, “The only way to defeat the control of the narrative is to take control of it yourself. Want proof? Then shoot it down,” adding that “the CIA is and always has been the police force.”
It’s worth remembering that UAP stands for Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, and doesn’t necessarily mean the craft has to be extraterrestrial.
Aside from the perspective of the authorities, a couple of commenters speculated on the type of aliens that might be manning the craft, with one poster asking, “Hopefully they are the – malevolent (evil) species?” (Perhaps to justify the shooting.)
Have thoughts about this topic? Others do, too. Join them in the discussion.
Another said, “Kinda wild to think they’re not. If they weren’t, I doubt we’d even be considered a potential enemy in the first place.”
At the time of publishing, the White House has yet to comment on these claims.
