This Man Wants to Build UFO Technology for America
By Rob Waugh, The Times – July 24, 2025
A decade ago, the US Navy filed a series of patents describing aircraft capable of soaring into space and accelerating beyond the speed of light. These patents, developed by aerospace engineer Salvatore Pais, sparked widespread speculation among conspiracy theorists who claimed the military had uncovered alien technology and was attempting to reverse-engineer it.
Now, Pais, 57, who originally filed these patents on behalf of the Navy, has voiced concerns that China may be racing to develop similar advanced technologies. Speaking exclusively to The Times, Pais highlighted a scholarly paper titled The Plasma Compression Fusion Device, which he said aligns closely with the theories behind his own work. According to Pais, this paper has been extensively cited by prestigious Chinese scientists in at least four research papers published between 2021 and last year, raising the specter of a global technological rivalry.
"The Chinese are very interested in this research," Pais warned. "I try to sound the alarm bells, but nobody hears me." His worries are echoed by a 2017 letter from James Sheehy, then chief technical officer of the Naval Aviation Enterprise, who cautioned patent examiners that China was investing heavily in similar advanced technologies.
Despite Pais’s claims, many physicists have dismissed his theories as bordering on pseudoscience, and mainstream academic journals have largely refused to publish his work. Pais acknowledges funding for his projects has stalled but maintains that no one has disproven his equations. Central to his inventions is the use of extremely high electromagnetic energy fluxes, generated through acceleration, vibration, or spin of an equilibrium, leveraging forces he terms the "Pais Effect" and the "Superforce."
"The experiments must be conducted to prove these ideas correct to generate a non-equilibrium plasma," Pais explained. "Under certain conditions, it will generate extremely high energy density. If indeed this is correct, the very nature of local space-time—the fundamental nature of reality—can be manipulated."
In addition to his groundbreaking scientific claims, Pais also expressed a belief that extraterrestrial life is real. However, he conceptualizes aliens not as beings of flesh and blood but as a form of superintelligence that regards humanity as an experiment. He believes this "Superforce" could enable the creation of god-like artificial intelligence capable of "reinventing the cosmos," technologies that may already be possessed by alien civilizations.
In 2019, the US Navy invested $508,000 to fund research exploring Pais’s high-energy electromagnetic field generator (HEEMFG), hoping to validate a theoretical electromagnetic field with potential applications in electronic warfare and nuclear fusion energy. Pais hopes to secure further funding, seeking more researchers, laboratory resources, and realistic timelines to substantiate the existence of the Pais Effect. He cautioned, "This is not something that will be done in half a year. This is not something that will be done with, say, four or five people."
Residing in California, Pais continues to work with the US Navy in areas ranging from advanced power and environmental management to electrical engineering. Over the years, he has developed theories aimed at enabling spacecraft to achieve frictionless flight and submarines to traverse water without resistance. In 2015, with Navy support, he filed five patents, including a notable one entitled Craft Using an Inertial Mass Reduction Device. This patent posits that space travel could be achieved by using microwave emitters to vibrate plasma—a fourth state of matter—and generate "voids" in the space-time continuum. The Navy officially signed off on this patented technology.
While it might seem surprising that the Navy would entertain concepts associated with UFOs and fringe physics, the topic has gained increasing mainstream attention. Jon Kosloski, director of the Pentagon’s All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office, oversees investigations into hundreds of possible UFO sightings, underscoring official interest.
Government officials and political leaders have varied in their public comments on UFOs. Though former President Donald Trump has downplayed the subject by saying it is not "his thing," his remarks about Roswell, the site of a famed alleged UFO crash in 1947, have fueled curiosity.
Pais’s work has found supporters in alternative media as well. Fringe podcaster Ashton Forbes, with 88,000 subscribers, has championed Pais, suggesting his research could revolutionize physics.
Born in Romania, Pais moved with his family to New York City at age 13 and later earned a doctorate after studying at Brooklyn Technical High School. He decided to file his patents after experiencing repeated rejections from academic publications. "At the time I was working for the United States Navy," Pais recalled. "They have an invention evaluation board. They actually approved all five [patents], which was a first, especially on such a highly controversial subject matter. But I was able to convince them."
When approached for comment, a Navy spokesperson declined to discuss Pais or the patents.
As the race for advanced aerospace technologies intensifies globally, Pais’s blend of fringe theory and military-backed patent filings offers a striking glimpse into how far—and how weird—modern defense research may go in seeking an edge beyond Earth’s atmosphere.
Related US News
- Joe Nickell, paranormal investigator who found logical explanations, April 29, 2025
- Islanders plagued by mystery hum told to live with it or seek therapy, April 28, 2025
For more detailed coverage on this developing story and other US news, visit The Times online.
