The videos have been flying across the internet for several years. They are purported to be F-18 gun-camera footage taken in 2004 from planes flying off the carrier USS Nimitz and in footage from 2015 from planes off the USS Theodore Roosevelt. The videos show unidentified flying objects which have been described as looking something like bright, white giant Tic Tacs, approximately 30 to 46 feet long. The objects appeared on radar and were observed visually. 

The Navy has now confirmed that the videos are real. They prefer to describe what was observed as a UAP, an “Unexplained Aerial Phenomena” rather than as a UFO, “Unidentified Flying Objects,” which has come to imply extraterrestrials. Nevertheless, whichever term is used, it suggests that the Navy is taking the observations seriously.

For several years the Pentagon funded a shadowy Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program that investigated reports of unidentified flying objects. 

The Navy is not saying that these videos show evidence of alien life. What they are saying is that they can’t identify the phenomena in the videos. The Navy considers UAPs a national security and safety problem because they are not authorized to be in U.S. airspace.

In the past, pilots have been concerned about being ridiculed for reporting unexplained observations. The Navy has now enacted new procedures to reduce the stigma of reporting UAPs. By updating and formalizing the process the Navy also hopes to develop better data to use in investigating the phenomena.

FLIR1: Official UAP Footage from the USG for Public Release