The Pentagon has long been secretive regarding what it knows about UFOs.
But that’s all changing as the government department has added an incredible selection of videos to its dedicated UFO website.
The clips, some just a few seconds in length, show aerial phenomena that it cannot explain, in all sorts of shapes and sizes.
They include a spherical object over buildings in the Middle East, a milk bottle-like item over the US and the famous Tic Tac captured by the US Navy in 2004.
Have you seen a UFO that look like these objects? Email jonathan.chadwick@mailonline.co.uk
The videos have been published on the new website of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), a dedicated UFO department formed in July 2022 under the Department of Defense (the ‘Pentagon’).
Already, the site has disclosed the world’s UFO ‘hotspots’, where there have been the most sightings, and the most-reported physical UFO characteristics.
FLYING SAUCER
Popular culture usually depicts UFOs as flying saucers – round discs emitting halos of light.
Not all of them look like this – in fact, the typically-reported UFO is spherical, according to the AARO.
But an object captured in South Asia in January 2023 gives an idea of what the classic saucer is actually like.
In the nine-second clip, the round object flies from left to right of the screen at what appears to be a high speed.
A silhouette of a unmanned aerial vehicle to the left of the picture seems to be moving comparatively slower.
The video starts with a clear shot of the sky, other than an unmanned aerial vehicle positioned to the left
Suddenly, the smaller unidentified flying object (right) zooms from the left to the right of the field of view
This was one of the clips presented by AARO director Dr Sean Kirkpatrick to the Senate Armed Services Committee in April 2023 – but the office thinks there is an innocent explanation.
‘AARO assesses that the object likely is a commercial aircraft and that the trailing cavitation is a sensor artifact resultant of video compression ,’ it says.
SPHERE #1
The next clip was taken by an MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle in the Middle East in July 2022.
The vehicle’s camera is pointed down towards the ground, with buildings and people in view.
All of a sudden, an ‘apparent silver, orb-like object’ crosses the sensor’s field of view.
The MQ-9’s camera detects the orb and tracks it as it flies in a north-easterly direction, seemingly quite close to the ground.
The office gives its verdict: ‘While AARO assesses the object in the clip is not exhibiting anomalous behavior, the object remains unidentified.’
‘This video is a representative example of many of the cases AARO receives where there is limited data surrounding the observation.’
UFO captured in the Middle East: Mote the ‘orb-like object’, spherical and a bit like a ball bearing, crossing the sensor’s field of view
SPHERE #2
This UFO, captured in an undisclosed location in 2021, shows a similar-looking sphere from the cockpit of a Navy fighter jet.
The jet is calmly flying through blue skies before the object suddenly bursts past the right of the cockpit.
The fleeting pass is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it event and leaves little time for interpretation of what it might be.
AARO says: ‘This video, captured by the pilot in the cockpit of a Navy fighter jet, demonstrates the typical speed at which military aircraft may approach an unknown object.’
Sphere #2: This still is from the video of a US Naval aviator encounter with an unknown object (UAP) in a ‘fleeting pass’
TIC TAC
The original ‘Tic Tac’ is probably one of the most famous UFOs of them all.
Named due to its physical similarity to the oblong breath mint, it was captured in November 2004 by pilots aboard a US Navy fighter jet.
The pilots were conducting a routine training mission with the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz off the Southern California coast when they noticed it.
The smooth, white oblong object flew at high speed over the water, maneuvering and accelerating in ways which seemed to defy the laws of physics.
‘It appeared to respond in a way that we didn’t recognise’, Navy Lieutenant Commander Alex Dietrich, one of those on board, told Reuters in 2021.
She added that it seemed to lack ‘any visible flight control surfaces or means of propulsion’.
‘We don’t know what it was, but it could have been a natural phenomenon in human activity,’ she said.
‘But the point was that it was weird, and we couldn’t recognise it.’
Other members of the public have since seen a Tic Tac-shaped UFOs in the sky, including people in the UK.
One of the most famous and unusual UFOs to date, spotted by the US Navy in 2004, was compared with the Tic Tac breath mint due to its white, oblong appearance (pictured)
MILK BOTTLE
This UFO, also captured by the US Navy, can only be described as looking like a ‘milk bottle’ or a bowling pin.
As the clip shows, Navy personnel have the object well under their sights as it moves serenely at an angle with the clouds underneath.
However, as it moves along, its shape appears to shift into a more of a saucer and its silhouette changes from white to black.
It’s unclear when and where this clip was taken, although it’s been on the internet since 2020 or potentially earlier before it was added to the AARO site.
MailOnline has contacted the AARO for more information.
This UFO, also captured by the US Navy, can only be described as looking like a ‘milk bottle’ or a bowling pin
However, as the mysterious object moves, its shape appears to shift into a more of a saucer
FAST SPECK
Little is known about the last clip, which shows a tiny speck of white travelling fast across choppy waters in an undisclosed location.
It was taken by crew aboard a US Navy F/A-18 jet who laugh and shout in amazement when the system’s trackers focus in on it.
One crew member says: ‘What the f*** is that?’
UFO stands for ‘unidentified flying object’ and so the term doesn’t necessarily describe an object with an extraterrestrial origin.
This means there could be an innocent explanation for all the objects in these videos.
AARO uses the term ‘unidentified anomalous phenomenon’, largely because ‘UFO’ is commonly associated with wind up conspiracy theories and paranoia (such as the ‘time traveler’ who claims an alien invasion is about to take place).
The world’s UFO hotspots are revealed – as Pentagon admits hundreds of objects have been spotted ‘all over the world’
The US government is notoriously secretive when it comes to sharing what it knows about extraterrestrial life.
But in a possible bid for transparency, the Department of Defense has released a new document disclosing the ‘world’s UFO hotspots’.
It includes a map disclosing where the most sightings of unidentified objects have been recorded, based on reports between 1996 and 2023.
The map discloses where the most sightings have been recorded based on reports between 1996 and 2023 – naming Japan and the coasts of the US as particular hotspots
Among them Nagasaki and Hiroshima in Japan, the east and west coasts of the US including California, as well as parts of the Middle East.
Another remote mountain village in Japan has already been described as a hotspot for mysterious sightings.
