Buried under the Covid-19 stories is the Department of Defense's official release of what it described as "historical" Navy videos of still unexplained aerial phenomena, which have been the subject of speculations among "UFO" and "alien" enthusiasts.
The Department of Defense, responding to a FOIA request, authorized the release of three unclassified Navy videos on April 27. One of the videos was taken in November 2004 and the other two in January 2015. They have been circulating in the public domain after they were leaked in 2007 and 2017.
"The U.S. Navy previously acknowledged that these videos circulating in the public domain were indeed Navy videos. After a thorough review, the department has determined that the authorized release of these unclassified videos does not reveal any sensitive capabilities or systems, and does not impinge on any subsequent investigations of military air space incursions by unidentified aerial phenomena," DOD said in a statement.
One of the video clips shows oblong-shaped objects moving through the sky in an erratic pattern. The pilots can be heard on the videos annotating the speed of the moving objects' that are shaped like space ships. "They are moving against the wind. The wind is 120 knots to the west," one of the pilots says.
DOD said it has declassified 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.
"The aerial phenomena observed in the videos remain characterized as 'unidentified," DOD said.
The released videos can be found at the Naval Air Systems Command FOIA Reading Room: https://www.navair.navy.mil/foia/documents.