Ryan Graves and Americans for Safe Aerospace
- Type: testimony / organization
- Author: Lieutenant Ryan Graves, USN (former); Americans for Safe Aerospace
- Date: 2023-07-26 (Congressional testimony); 2023 (ASA founded)
- Credibility: primary (firsthand military pilot testimony under oath)
- URL: https://www.safeaerospace.org/
Background
Ryan Graves is a former US Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet pilot who served with the VFA-11 “Red Rippers” aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt. After leaving the Navy, he founded Americans for Safe Aerospace (ASA), describing it as a “military pilot-led nonprofit organization focused on UAP.”
Testimony and Public Statements
Graves testified at the July 26, 2023 House Oversight Committee hearing. Key points:
- During 2014-2015, his squadron encountered unidentified objects almost daily while training off the East Coast.
- Objects appeared on radar and infrared but were often not visible to the naked eye.
- Reported a near-midair collision when a dark grey cube inside a translucent sphere passed between two aircraft at close range.
- Described objects that appeared to hover in winds aloft and accelerate without visible propulsion.
- Emphasized this as a flight safety issue: “Imagine a technology that can exert undersea dominance, move seamlessly through our airspace, and even operate in the vacuum of space.”
Americans for Safe Aerospace
ASA reports that over 30 military witnesses have come forward to the organization. It positions itself as a non-partisan safety and transparency advocacy group rather than a “UFO group.” The advisory board includes Rear Admiral Tim Gallaudet (USN, retired).
Graves has focused his public messaging on the flight safety and national security angle rather than speculation about origins. This framing has made him effective as a Congressional witness.
Significance
Graves represents a different category of witness than Grusch. He is reporting what he personally observed with his own sensors over an extended period, not what others told him. The Roosevelt encounters are less dramatic than the Nimitz incident but are significant precisely because they were routine: daily occurrences over months, not a single spectacular event.