The growing interest in UAPs comes as drones — and less advanced surveillance technologies — proliferate across the globe. In one instance in 2023, the U.S. military's shootdown of a Chinese surveillance balloon that had flown across a broad swath of the country triggered a diplomatic furor. The incident prompted revelations by Japan's Defence Ministry that it "strongly" suspected objects initially viewed as UAPs that flew over the country in 2019, 2020 and 2021 — including over areas near Self-Defence Force bases — were also Chinese spy balloons.