The U.S. Navy has verified for the first time that military videos leaked since 2017 showing what appear to be unidentified flying objects are real and that they should not have been publicly released, according to media reports.
The spokesperson for the deputy chief of Naval Operations for Information Warfare, Joseph Gradisher, confirmed in an interview with Black Vault, a website dedicated to "exposing government secrets," the authenticity of the UFOs.
"The Navy designates the objects contained in these videos as unidentified aerial phenomena" and "the phenomena contained/depicted in those three videos as unidentified," Gradisher said.
Vice's Motherboard later confirmed the statement, according to The Huff Post.
"The 'Unidentified Aerial Phenomena' terminology is used because it provides the basic descriptor for the sightings/observations of unauthorized/unidentified aircraft/objects that have been observed entering/operating in the airspace of various military-controlled training ranges," Gradisher said.
The three videos were obtained and released by the To the Stars Academy of Arts & Sciences, the Post reported, and show recordings by Navy pilots of encounters with unknown objects during maneuvers or training exercises.
The videos show Navy pilots intercepting an object off the coast of San Diego in 2004 and twice in 2015.
Only one of the videos, known as Gimbal, has been officially declassified and approved for public release, according to news reports.
Cox Media Group
