US Navy confirms mysterious videos of pilots spotting UFOs are genuine
SUMMARY
The US Navy has confirmed videos showing pilots confused by two mysterious flying objects over the US contained what it considers to be UFOs, after years of speculation since their release.
Joseph Gradisher, the Navy's spokesman for the deputy chief of naval operations for information warfare, confirmed that the Navy considered the objects in the videos to be unidentified.
"The Navy designates the objects contained in these videos as unidentified aerial phenomena," he said in a statement to The Black Vault, a civilian-run archive of government documents.
He also later gave the statement to the news outlet Vice.
The term UFOs, which stands for "unidentified flying objects," is now used less frequently by officials, who have instead adopted the term "unidentified aerial phenomena," or UAP.
Another image from a video showing a UFO filmed near San Diego in 2004.
(Department of Defense)
Neither the term UFO nor UAP means the unknown object is deemed extraterrestrial, and many such sightings end up having logical, and earthly, explanations.
Gradisher also said the videos were never cleared for public release. "The Navy has not released the videos to the general public," he said.
Susan Gough, a spokeswoman for the Pentagon, previously told The Black Vault that the videos "were never officially released to the general public by the DOD and should still be withheld."
Gradisher told Vice the Navy "considers the phenomena contained/depicted in those three videos as unidentified."
He told The Black Vault: "The Navy has not publicly released characterizations or descriptions, nor released any hypothesis or conclusions, in regard to the objects contained in the referenced videos."
The Department of Defense videos show pilots confused by what they are seeing. In one video, a pilot said: "What the f--- is that thing?"
According to The Black Vault, Gradisher said the videos were filmed in 2004 and 2015. The New York Times also reported that one of the videos was from 2004.
You can see the 2004 video here:
"I very much expected that when the US military addressed the videos, they would coincide with language we see on official documents that have now been released, and they would label them as 'drones' or 'balloons,'" John Greenwald, the curator of The Black Vault, told Vice.
"However, they did not. They went on the record stating the 'phenomena' depicted in those videos, is 'unidentified.' That really made me surprised, intrigued, excited, and motivated to push harder for the truth."
One of the videos was shared by The New York Times in December 2017, when one commander who saw the object on a training mission told the outlet "it accelerated like nothing I've ever seen."
The Times spoke with more pilots, who spotted objects in 2014 and 2015, this year. One of the pilots told the outlet: "These things would be out there all day."
These pilots, many of whom were part of a Navy flight squadron known as the "Red Rippers," reported the sightings to the Pentagon and Congress, The Times reported.
The pilots said the objects could accelerate, stop, and turn in ways that went beyond known aerospace technology, The Times added.
They said they were convinced the objects were not part of a secret military project like a classified drone program.
An F/A-18F Super Hornet taking off from the USS Harry S. Truman in the North Atlantic in September 2018. Red Rippers crew said they saw mysterious objects while in flight.
(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Kaysee Lohmann)
"Navy pilots reported to their superiors that the objects had no visible engine or infrared exhaust plumes, but that they could reach 30,000 feet and hypersonic speeds," the Times report said.
Hypersonic speed is more than about 3,800 mph — five times the speed of sound.
The 2004 video and one of the 2015 videos were also shared by The To Stars Academy, a UFO research group cofounded by Tom deLonge from the rock group Blink-182, in December 2017. The group released a third Department of Defense video in 2018 that Gradisher told The Black Vault was filmed on the same day as the other 2015 video.
The group hints at non-earthly origins of the videos, claiming they "demonstrate flight characteristics of advanced technologies unlike anything we currently know, understand, or can duplicate with current technologies."
Gradisher, the Navy representative, told Vice the Navy changed its policy in 2018 to make it easier for crew to report unexplained sightings as there were so many reports of "unauthorized and/or unidentified aircraft entering various military-controlled training ranges and designated airspace."
"The Navy and USAF take these reports very seriously and investigate each and every report," he said.
Scientists told The Times they were skeptical that these videos showed anything extraterrestrial.
US President Donald Trump said in June 2019 that he had been briefed on the fact that Navy pilots were reporting increased sightings of UFOs.
And one Republican in the House Homeland Security Committee is accusing the Navy of withholding information on such sightings.
Rep. Mark Walker told Politico in June 2019 there was "frustration with the lack of answers to specific questions about the threat that superior aircraft flying in United States airspace may pose."
This article originally appeared on Business Insider. Follow @BusinessInsider on Twitter.
