A spokeswoman for the Pentagon confirmed that images and videos showing unidentified flying objects following Navy warships in 2019 near the coast of California were indeed taken by members of the Navy.
Spokeswoman Susan Gough recently told Mystery Wire:
I can confirm that the referenced photos and videos were taken by Navy personnel. The UAPTF has included these incidents in their ongoing examinations. As we have said before, to maintain operations security and to avoid disclosing information that may be useful to potential adversaries, DOD does not discuss publicly the details of either the observations or the examinations of reported incursions into our training ranges or designated airspace, including those incursions initially designated as UAP.
The incidents Gough referred to occurred in July 2019 and reveal unidentified objects following four U.S. destroyers: the USS Kidd, the USS John Finn, the USS Russell, and the USS Rafael Peralta.
Naval officers utilized a night vision device revealing what looked like pyramid-shaped objects over the USS Russell.
“This (video) was taken on deployment from the USS Russell,” filmmaker Jeremy Corbell, who reportedly received the leaked video, said to 8Newsnow, “It shows what they described as vehicles. And they made a great distinction. They made sure in this classified briefing, they made a great distinction that this is not something that we own either a black project, this is not something of a foreign military, that these were behaving in ways that we did not expect. And that they were you know shaped non aerodynamically. Like pyramids, these are flying pyramids!”
Corbell, who also received three photos from the USS Omaha combat ship of an unidentified “spherical” vehicle, continued, “These are authentic photos and video from actual military encounters with UFOs — generated to educate high-level intelligence officers within our military on the nature and presentation of the UAP/UFO phenomenon. It is my hope that these materials will be representative of a unique moment in modern history; a possible turning point towards the rational and transparent approach of investigating and exploring the mystery of the UFO phenomenon.”
As The Drive reported last week, Admiral Michael Gilday, the chief of naval operations, asked by Jeff Schogol of Task & Purpose if the Navy had positively identified any of the supposed UFOs from the 2019 incidents, said, “No, we have not. I am aware of those sightings and as it’s been reported there have been other sightings by aviators in the air and by other ships not only of the United States, but other nations – and of course other elements within the U.S. joint force.” He added, “Those findings have been collected and they still are being analyzed. I don’t have anything new to report, Jeff, on what those findings have revealed thus far. But I will tell you we do have a well-established process in place across the joint force to collect that data and to get it to a separate repository for analysis.”
“Gilday’s response appears to rule out the theory that the drones could have come from a secret US military program. That has led to growing speculation that they were either built by a rival military power or ‘something else beyond our understanding is going on,’” The Daily Mail noted.
The Drive noted, “Last year, documentary filmmaker Dave Beaty uncovered initial details about the events, centering on the Arleigh Burke class destroyer USS Kidd.”
On July 14, 2019, around 10 p.m., the USS Kidd recorded seeing two “drones.” The USS Kidd then began restricting communications to protect security. The Drive continued, “Less than 10 minutes after the sighting, the USS Kidd advised the USS Rafael Peralta of the situation. The USS Rafael Peralta logs show that at around 10:00 p.m. it activated its own SNOOPIE team. They also show that reports of additional sightings were coming in from the USS John Finn.”
At 10:03 p.m., a red flashing light was spotted. At 11:23 p.m. the USS Rafael Peralta reported a white light hovering over the ship’s flight deck.
“The drone was able to remain hovering above the destroyer’s helicopter landing pad while traveling at speeds of 16 knots and in low visibility. The nearly 90-minute encounter was well beyond the capability of commercially-available drones,” The Daily Mail reported, adding, “The next night, the drones returned, this time as the warships were patrolling closer to the Californian mainland. They were first spotted by the USS Rafael Peralta and the ship’s SNOOPIE team was engaged at 8.39 p.m. At 8.56 p.m., logs show the USS Kidd had also come into contact with drones.”
Meanwhile, the USS Russell’s logbooks reported that drones ranging from 1,000 to 700 feet flew above it, capable of movement in any direction, and were all around the ship. “The USS Rafael Peralta was also swarmed by as many as four drones. It was contacted by a passing cruise ship, the Carnival Imagination, to say they too had spotted up to six drones,” the Daily Mail added.
Corbell told Mystery Wire, “Where did they land? Where did they come from? How did they travel the distance? How did they have the power source for the lights? How could they evade detection?”