US Navy officials have recently confirmed that a trio of videos allegedly featuring US military aircraft encountering strange objects that may or may not have been UFOs, did indeed feature “unidentified aerial phenomena”, The BlackVault website reports citing a series of exclusively obtained statements.
The videos in question – commonly known as "Gimbal", "FLIR1" and "GoFast" – were originally released in 2017 and 2018 by the New York Times and To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science (TTSA).
"The Navy designates the objects contained in these videos as unidentified aerial phenomena", said Joseph Gradisher, official spokesperson for the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Warfare.
As Gradisher explained, the "UAP" (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) designation was adopted instead of the "UFO" because the new terminology "is used because it provides the basic descriptor for the sightings/observations of unauthorized/unidentified aircraft/objects that have been observed entering/operating in the airspace of various military-controlled training ranges."
However, the Navy also insisted that the videos were never officially cleared for public release, with the website noting that Pentagon Spokesperson Susan Gough stated the same thing earlier this year.
The Navy further elaborated that while all three videos are considered "unclassified", even unclassified information requires review prior to its release to the public as it may contain "sensitive information, imagery or data embedded within digital files that may not be considered classified; yet it may still be considered sensitive."
Previously, Rep. Mark Walker of North Carolina, a ranking member of the Intelligence and Counterterrorism subcommittee, also claimed that the US Navy is withholding information about UFO sightings after he officially requested more data on the encounters.