Ryan Graves

Ryan Graves is a former U.S. Navy F/A-18 pilot and engineer who became a prominent UAP witness after describing repeated unusual contacts encountered by his squadron off the U.S. East Coast beginning around 2014. He later founded Americans for Safe Aerospace to provide a reporting and advocacy channel for military and commercial aircrew.

Graves's importance is different from David Fravor's. Fravor describes one famous close encounter; Graves describes a recurring operational problem involving radar, infrared sensors and reports from multiple aviators over an extended period.

He testified before Congress on 26 July 2023 and has consistently framed UAP first as an aviation-safety and reporting problem rather than making a single definitive claim about origin.

• U.S. Navy F/A18 pilot — Verified

  Graves served in operational aviation roles and deployed with the Navy.

• Engineering backgroundReported and consistent with his public biography

  Relevant to technical discussion but not a substitute for raw sensor data.

• Firsthand and secondhand evidenceMust be separated

  Graves personally encountered unknown tracks on sensors; some of the most striking visual reports, including a “cube inside a sphere,” were reported to him by other pilots rather than seen by Graves himself.

• His squadron repeatedly detected unidentified objects after radar upgrades
  Firsthand / squadron-level operational testimony · Corroborated testimony, raw data largely unavailable publicly

  Graves says initially suspicious radar tracks were later correlated with infrared observations and became common enough to enter squadron discussion.

  Critical notes

  • Sensor upgrades can reveal objects that older systems missed, but can also initially generate unfamiliar artefacts or processing effects. Raw radar and infrared datasets would be needed to calculate the reported performance independently.
• A “cube inside a sphere” nearly caused a mid-air collision
  Secondhand witness account conveyed by Graves · Unresolved

  Graves testified that another Navy pilot reported a dark cube inside a translucent sphere positioned near an entry point to a training area, forcing aircraft to take evasive action.

  Critical notes

  • This is an important safety report, but Graves is not the visual witness to the cube-sphere object. The unnamed pilot's own report and any associated safety documentation should carry greater weight if publicly available.
• UAP are underreported because pilots fear stigma or career consequences
  Aviation-safety / reporting position · Supported in broad terms

  NASA and ODNI have independently recognised stigma as a problem in UAP reporting.

• House Oversight Committee, Ryan Graves Written Testimony, 25 July 2023
• House Oversight Committee, 26 July 2023 UAP hearing
• NASA, UAP Independent Study Team Report, 2023