 USS Theodore Roosevelt underway in the Atlantic Ocean in March 2015. | |
| Date | June 2, 2014 – March 10, 2015 |
|---|---|
| Location | East Coast of the United States |
The USS Theodore Roosevelt UFO incidents were a series of radar-visual encounters of unidentified flying objects by United States Navy fighter pilots of the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) carrier strike group that occurred between summer of 2014 to March 2015 along the East Coast of the United States.[1][2]
Dozens[2] of pilots reported sighting unidentified flying objects "almost daily" while training for a deployment to the Persian Gulf.[1] Onboard and off-board radar and infrared detections as well as visual sightings by the pilots and weapon systems officers were reported. The sightings were described as looking "like a sphere encasing a cube".[1][3] During one particularly close encounter pilots reported that one of the objects almost collided with two jets prompting the VFA-11 fighter squadron to submit an aviation flight safety report.[1][3]
Two infrared video recordings by an F/A-18 Super Hornet have been released showing encounters with unidentified flying objects.[1][2] One video was captured by off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, on January 20, 2015. The New York Times said the footage showed "an object tilting like a spinning top moving against the wind". A pilot refers to a fleet of objects, but no imagery of a fleet was released. The second video was taken a few weeks later and according to the New York times "shows an object zooming over the ocean waves as pilots question what they are watching."[1]
The videos were released in December 2017 by The New York Times and an entertainment company named "To the Stars".[2][4] The videos were part of a wider release by former intelligence officer Luis Elizondo who said that he wanted to shed light on a secretive Department of Defense operation to analyze reported UFO sightings, the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program.[5][6][7] The Navy has confirmed the authenticity of the videos and has stated that they depict what they consider to be "unidentified aerial phenomena".[8][9][10]
The incidents have been the subject of several classified congressional hearings aimed at understanding and identifying the potential threat to the safety and security of aviators.[11][12][13] Following the encounters, the Navy announced it had updated the way pilots were to formally report UFO incidents,[11][12] in order to encourage pilots to flag disturbances.[9]
In popular culture
Television
- The History Channel featured the incident in the 2019 television show Unidentified: Inside America's UFO Investigation.[14]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f Cooper, Helene; Blumenthal, Ralph; Kean, Leslie (2019-05-26). "'Wow, What Is That?' Navy Pilots Report Unexplained Flying Objects". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
- ^ a b c d McMillan, Tim (2020-01-17). "The Tale of the Tape: The Long, Bizarre Saga of the Navy's UFO Video". Popular Mechanics. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
- ^ a b Tegler, Jan; Hofacker, Cat (November 2019). "Mystery of the "damn things"". Aerospace America. American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Cooper, Helene; Blumenthal, Ralph; Kean, Leslie (December 16, 2017). "Glowing Auras and 'Black Money': The Pentagon's Mysterious U.F.O. Program". The New York Times. Retrieved December 17, 2017.
- ^ Bender, Bryan (December 16, 2017). "The Pentagon's Secret Search for UFOs". Politico. Retrieved December 17, 2017.
- ^ Warrick, Joby (December 16, 2017). "Head of Pentagon's secret 'UFO' office sought to make evidence public". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
- ^ Mellon, Christopher (March 9, 2018). "The military keeps encountering UFOs. Why doesn't the Pentagon care?". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
- ^ "Yep, those are UFOs, Navy says about 3 videos of strange sightings". NBC News. Retrieved 2020-02-25.
- ^ a b Epstein, Kayla Epstein. "Those UFO videos are real, the Navy says, but please stop saying 'UFO'". Washington Post. Retrieved 2020-02-25.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Navy Confirms Existence of 'Unidentified' Flying Objects Seen in Leaked Footage". Time. Retrieved 2020-02-25.
- ^ a b "Congress receive classified briefing on 'UFO encounters with US navy'". The Independent. 2019-06-20. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
- ^ a b Bender, Bryan. "Senators get classified briefing on UFO sightings". POLITICO. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
- ^ McMillan, Tim (2020-02-14). "Inside the Pentagon's Secret UFO Program". Popular Mechanics. Retrieved 2020-02-25.
- ^ Janos, Adam. "Why Have There Been So Many UFO Sightings Near Nuclear Facilities?". HISTORY. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
