Senator Whish-Wilson asks another UAP related question of the Australian Department of Defence

Questions

For several years now, Australian Parliamentary Senator Peter Whish-Wilson has been asking UAP related questions in the setting of the Senate Estimates Committee. Melbourne researcher Grant Lavac has been supporting Senator Whish-Wilson in the background, providing suggested questions to ask the Australian Department of Defence. 

Senator Peter Whish-Wilson – Parliament of Australia

On 27 November 2024, Senator Whish-Wilson, asked his latest questions (reference 844) at the 2024-2025 Supplementary Budget Estimates Committee, and later received a response from the Australian Department of Defence.  The questions posed were:

1. Given that the "Defence Science and Technology Group works with Allied Scientists" and "collaborates closely with the USAF Air Force Research Laboratory through the Air Senior National Representative Forum" (refer page 2 of Defence FOI 1009/23/24), to what extent have Defence Science and Technology Group personnel engaged with the USAF Air Force Research Laboratory to date on the UAP topic?

2. Given that Chief Defence Scientist, Professor Tanya Monro leads on Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) activities relating to Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena and that DSTG 'provides support to the ADF to identify and classify objects detected by sensing technology and has projects that are aligned with the requirement of the Defence Strategic Review to improve sensing and intelligence gathering in support of Australia's interest", (refer page 2 of Defence FOI 1009/23/24) have any DSTG personnel been briefed on AARO's GREMLIN sensor system, and would such a system be of benefit to improving sensing and intelligence gathering in support of Australia's interest?

Response

The Australian Department of Defence's response was:

The Defence Science and Technology Group (DTSG) are not performing UAP research, and therefore not collaborating with the US Department of Defense on this topic. DSTG have not been briefed on the alleged AARO Gremlin system. 

Comments:

1. The AARO Gremlin sensor suite is not "alleged." AARO itself has advised that the Gremlin system was deployed in March 2024 and is ready for further deployment. 

2. The statement that "The Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) are not performing UAP research" doesn't rule out that someone in DSTG has a "watching brief" on the topic. Indeed for the DOD to answer the question about the GREMLIN system, means that someone, somewhere in the DOD had to have at least "Googled" AARO and GREMLIN to find out what on Earth Senator Whish-Wilson was asking about.

3. ARRO held a UAP briefing for Five Eyes Intelligence partners in May 2023. In response to a question on notice from Senator Whish-Wilson the Australian Government responded that:

 "Yes. A Defence representative at the Australian Embassy in Washington attended."

Efforts to learn precisely who attended and from which area of the Australian Department of Defence have so far been unsuccessful.  Chief suspect given that Five Eyes is an intelligence sharing network, is that the DOD area concerned is the Defence Intelligence Organisation, which is exempt for requests under the Australian FOI Act. 

4. A big thank you to Senator Whish-Wilson and to Grant Lavac for their tireless work on holding the Australian Department of Defence to account, on the topic of UAP.