Ryan Graves

Graves is originally from Baldwinville, Massachusetts; he graduated from Narragansett Regional High School in Templeton in 2004 and earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 2008.⁠[1]

He joined the U.S. Navy in 2009 and later flew the F/A-18 Super Hornet with VFA-11, the “Red Rippers.”⁠[2]

He served about a decade as a Navy lieutenant, including deployments in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Inherent Resolve.⁠[3]

By his account, after the squadron’s radars were upgraded from the APG-73 to the APG-79, they consistently detected multiple objects in training areas off Virginia Beach, confirmed by targeting pods and other sensors, yet pilots who closed in usually could not see them.⁠[4]

Graves said that in late 2014 a squadron mate described an object resembling “a sphere encasing a cube” passing between his jet and his wingman’s, and the squadron filed a flight safety report.⁠[5]

He said that in 2017, seeing footage from his own squadron’s flights released with a New York Times article, he realized the issue had not been resolved through normal channels and decided to speak out.⁠[4]

In May 2019, The New York Times published an article in which Graves, on the record, described unknown objects appearing almost daily off the East Coast from summer 2014 to March 2015, saying they “would be out there all day.”⁠[5]

On April 27, 2020, the U.S. Department of Defense announced the official release of three Navy videos, two of them taken in January 2015; the department said the aerial phenomena in the videos remained characterized as “unidentified.”⁠[6]

In May 2021, Graves said on CBSCBSCBS is an American commercial broadcast television network. It was founded in 1927 as United Independent Broadcasters, renamed the Columbia Broadcasting System in 1928, and grew from a radio network into a television network under William S. Paley. With ABC and NBC it is one of the three traditional U.S. broadcast networks; it has been owned in turn by Westinghouse, Viacom, ViacomCBS and Paramount Global, has been owned by Paramount Skydance Corporation since 2025, and is one of the five networks that rotate in the White House television pool.Open the full entry’s “60 Minutes” that he and some Navy colleagues encountered unidentified aerial phenomena “Every day for at least a couple years,” prompting correspondent Bill Whitaker to ask him to confirm.⁠[7]

On August 6, 2021, the annual convention of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) held a session on unidentified aerial phenomena and flight safety; Graves was one of six speakers and presented the panel’s recommendations: not stigmatizing scientific study of the subject, creating a civilian scientist panel to curate unclassified data, and standardizing reporting procedures for civilian aircrews.⁠[8]

On August 1, 2022, Graves appeared on episode #308 of the Lex FridmanLex FridmanLex Fridman is a Soviet-born, US-raised computer scientist and podcast host who works as an MIT research scientist on human-AI interaction and autonomous driving. His Lex Fridman Podcast is known for hours-long conversations with guests including heads of state and technology leaders.Open the full entry Podcast; the outline lists topics including the film Top Gun, fighter jets, UFO sightings, the congressional hearing, the “Tic Tac” and “Gimbal” UFOs, alien life, autonomous weapon systems, and advice for young people.⁠[9]

On December 31, 2022, Graves published an op-ed in The Debrief describing himself as the first active-duty pilot to speak publicly about regular UAP sightings and stating that he chaired the AIAA’s new permanent UAP Integration & Outreach Committee (UAPIOC); he argued that commentary treating pilots’ testimony as conspiracy fueled stigma, and called for UAP to be studied with the scientific method.⁠[10]

From January 2023 he hosted the Merged podcast, which takes a “radically open-minded approach” to UAP research and interviews people with firsthand accounts.⁠[1]

On June 1, 2023, Americans for Safe Aerospace, co-founded and run by Graves, officially launched, billed as the first pilot-led advocacy organization dedicated to UAP, aiming to push for better reporting mechanisms, support pilot whistleblowers, and seek more government disclosure. Its advisory board included astronomer Avi LoebAvi LoebAvi Loeb (Abraham Loeb) is an Israeli-born American astrophysicist and the Frank B. Baird, Jr., Professor of Science at Harvard University who has long studied black holes and the first stars and formerly chaired Harvard’s astronomy department; since 2017 he has advanced a series of claims that interstellar objects may be products of alien technology, which many peers dispute, and he launched the Galileo Project to search for extraterrestrial technological artifacts.Open the full entry, former International Space Station commander Terry Virts, and former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration head Tim Gallaudet.⁠[11]

On July 26, 2023, Graves testified at a House Oversight subcommittee hearing alongside retired Navy Cmdr. David FravorDavid FravorDavid Fravor is a retired U.S. Navy commander and former fighter pilot who, while commanding VFA-41 in November 2004, saw an unidentified object off the California coast that he described as shaped like a “Tic Tac”; he has spoken publicly about the encounter since 2017 and testified at a U.S. House hearing in 2023.Open the full entry and former intelligence officer David Grusch. He testified that “UAP are in our airspace, but they are grossly underreported,” estimating that only about 5% of sightings were being filed because of fears of professional repercussions.⁠[12]

He described the objects his squadron detected as “dark grey or black cubes … inside of a clear sphere” and said: “If UAP are foreign drones, it is an urgent national security problem. If it is something else, it is an issue for science.”⁠[13]

At the same hearing, Pentagon spokeswoman Susan Gough responded to Grusch’s claims about secret retrieval programs by saying that the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) had not discovered any verifiable information substantiating that such programs had existed.⁠[14]

The biography he submitted to the subcommittee states that he previously worked on military autonomy applications at BAE Systems FAST Labs.⁠[3]

On January 11, 2024, Representatives Robert Garcia and Glenn Grothman introduced the bipartisan Safe Airspace for Americans Act, which would let civilian aircrew, air traffic controllers, and others report UAP to the Federal Aviation Administration for sharing with AARO, with legal protections for reporters; Americans for Safe Aerospace endorsed the bill, and Graves said dozens of pilots for major airlines had told him they lacked a confidential way to file such reports.⁠[15]

In May 2025 he said the group had contacted more than 1,000 pilots who had seen UAP and referred more than 80 cases to the FBI; responding to AARO’s view that the “Go Fast” object only looked fast because of parallax, he said the pilots never stressed its speed.⁠[2]

On September 9, 2025, Garcia and Grothman reintroduced the Safe Airspace for Americans Act, and the press release again included a supporting statement from Graves as executive director of Americans for Safe Aerospace.⁠[16]

In its nonprofit profile, Americans for Safe Aerospace lists programs including a “Witness Program” that receives UAP reports from pilots and veterans (with more than 100 reports processed), research collaborations, public education, and policy outreach to members of Congress.⁠[17]

X: Public account: https://x.com/uncertainvector (opens in a new window)⁠[9]

United States Navy: Official website: https://www.navy.mil/ (opens in a new window)⁠[3]

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics: Official website: https://www.aiaa.org/ (opens in a new window)⁠[18]