The Pentagon has released three declassified videos showing encounters between pilots from the US Navy and what appear to be UFOs.
The grainy videos, which had previously been leaked online, depict “unexplained aerial phenomena” – with some believing that the mysterious footage is proof that aliens exist.
The Pentagon said it was releasing the videos “in order to clear up any misconceptions by the public on whether or not the footage that has been circulating was real, or whether or not there is more to the videos,” in a statement on the US Department of Defense website.
It added that the “aerial phenomena” captured in the videos “remain characterised as ‘unidentified.’”
The three videos – two of which were published by the New York Times in 2017 – show what pilots saw during training flights in 2004 and 2015.
According to the NYT, the 2004 video shows an incident that took place 100 miles out over the Pacific. Two Navy fighter pilots came across an oblong object which was hovering above the water, before it flew away quickly.
One of the pilots, Commander David Fravor, told the paper: “It accelerated like nothing I’ve ever seen.”
The 2015 video pictures objects moving quickly through the sky, one of them spinning in the air. “Look at that thing, dude,” a pilot exclaims, “it’s rotating!”
The Pentagon’s decision to release the videos will only increase speculation about the existence extra-terrestrial life.
Responding to the videos Harry Reid, the former Senate Democratic leader, tweeted that the footage “only scratches the surface”.
He added: “The US needs to take a serious, scientific look at this any any national security implications. The American people deserve to be informed.”
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