On Thursday, the Pentagon confirmed the authenticity of recent viral footage showing pyramid-shaped unidentified flying objects (UFOs) that stalked the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Russell off the coast of California in July 2019.
“I can confirm that the referenced photos and videos were taken by Navy personnel,” Pentagon spokeswoman Susan Gough told Fox News. “The UAPTF [Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force] has included these incidents in their ongoing examinations.”
The footage was first leaked to Jeremy Corbell, a UFO researcher and filmmaker who runs the blog Extraordinary Beliefs. Corbell then shared the footage with Mystery Wire investigative reporter George Knapp. Corbell and Knapp both claimed to independently corroborate the authenticity of the footage.
Reacting to the Pentagon’s confirmation, Corbell told Fox News, “This is explosive information. This is probably the best UFO military filmed footage certainly that I’ve ever seen, but I think also that the world has ever seen.”
Corbell added, “Whoever is operating these technologies are far more advanced than anything we have in the U.S. arsenal and that should be a warning sign. We need to find out the intent of the operators of these vehicles.”
With the Pentagon’s confirmation, the footage is the first publicly available footage taken from an incident in which multiple UFOs, described at the time as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or “drones,” flew around five different U.S. warships operating near San Clemente Island. The July 2019 incident was investigated by the U.S. Navy, Coast Guard, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the strange aerial phenomena have continued to perplex investigators.
The UFOs swarmed around the U.S. warships for hours, beyond the flight time of most commercially available drones. The UFOs also would have had to fly a minimum of 100 nautical miles during the various July 2019 encounters, in conditions with less than a mile of visibility. Several of the UFOs also appeared to move in a coordinated fashion, further raising questions about the methods used to control them.
While classified military tests have been conducted near San Clemente Island near where the U.S. warships were operating, The Drive reported no UAV activity was scheduled on the night of July 14, 2019, when the strange “drone” activity began.
The DoD has already confirmed the authenticity of other UFO footage. In April 2020, the DoD released three official videos showing what they called Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAPs). In August 2020, the DoD announced it had formed the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF) to study the strange phenomena.
A provision in the Intelligence Authorization Act of 2021 now requires the U.S. to disclose what it knows about UFOs. The act states the director of national intelligence (DNI) must work with the secretary of defense to create a comprehensive report of what the U.S. government knows about these unidentified flying objects. The report is due by June 1, 2021.
Last month, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), the ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, was asked about the UFO disclosure report.
Rubio said, “Stuff’s flying over the top of your most sensitive installations and it’s not ours and no one knows whose it is, you should find out what it is and tell us.”
