X

Intriguing New UFO Footage Revealed by US Military at Historic Hearing

The Pentagon's UFO task force brought clips to Capitol Hill for the Congressional briefing on Tuesday.

Eric Mack Contributing Editor
Eric Mack has been a CNET contributor since 2011. Eric and his family live 100% energy and water independent on his off-grid compound in the New Mexico desert. Eric uses his passion for writing about energy, renewables, science and climate to bring educational content to life on topics around the solar panel and deregulated energy industries. Eric helps consumers by demystifying solar, battery, renewable energy, energy choice concepts, and also reviews solar installers. Previously, Eric covered space, science, climate change and all things futuristic. His encrypted email for tips is ericcmack@protonmail.com.
Expertise Solar, solar storage, space, science, climate change, deregulated energy, DIY solar panels, DIY off-grid life projects. CNET's "Living off the Grid" series. https://www.cnet.com/feature/home/energy-and-utilities/living-off-the-grid/ Credentials
  • Finalist for the Nesta Tipping Point prize and a degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Eric Mack
2 min read
Green triangle against black backdrop, representing an unidentified aerial phenomenon.

This UAP is most likely a drone that looks like a triangle due to technological effects from night vision goggles combined with camera lenses.

US Department of Defense / Screenshot by Eric Mack/CNET

US military officials unveiled new footage of UFOs -- or what they're now calling unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAP -- during a 90-minute committee hearing in the US House of Representatives on Tuesday morning. 

Deputy Director of Navy Intelligence Scott Bray shared clips recorded by military personnel with the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence during the first public hearing on the topic in over 50 years. 

Don't worry, it's probably just a drone turned triangular by tech.

US Department of Defense

One of the videos taken in 2019 from a US Navy ship through night vision goggles shows an unidentified triangular object. Bray then shared another clip of the same phenomenon observed at a later date from a different location. He explained that analysts suspect the object was actually an optical effect "correlated with unmanned aerial systems in the area." 

That is, something that's likely a drone appears as a triangle because of the effect of light from the object passing through the goggles and then through the lenses of the SLR camera that recorded the clip.

Bray also shared another short video, taken in 2021, from the cockpit of a military jet appearing to show a spherical object for a fraction of a second. 

Look closely - it zips to the right at the end of the clip.

US Department of Defense

"In many other cases we have far less than this," Bray said, adding later that there is currently no explanation for the object. "There are a small handful [of sightings] in which there are flight characteristics or signature management we can't explain with the data that we have."

The hearing comes 11 months after the release of a brief report from the director of national intelligence on UAP that led to the creation of a task force to investigate the issue. A defense spending bill signed by President Biden in December requires regular reports and briefings to Congress on the topic.

Bray said the task force now has a database of over 400 UAP reports. 

Watch this: Watch the Congressional UFO/UAP Hearing Highlights

Ronald Moultrie, undersecretary of defense for intelligence and security, told the committee that the task force aims to eliminate the cultural stigma around UAP and that the newly formed Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group will facilitate identification of UAP "in a methodical, logical and standardized manner."

In a lighter moment, Moultrie also said he identifies as a fan of the wider sci-fi subculture that often connects UFOs with potential extraterrestrial intelligence.

"I have gone to [science fiction] conventions. There's nothing wrong with that," he said. "[I] don't necessarily dress up."

But there were no disclosures of any contact with E.T. or evidence of aliens during the hearing.

Bray also said that the military has never communicated with, fired upon or collided with a UAP, although there have been 11 documented near misses, as mentioned in last year's unclassified report from the director of national intelligence.   

All in all, there was little new information revealed during the session, aside from the new footage, but that was enough to make it one of the most intriguing congressional committee hearings in many months. 

Watch this: See the Navy Unveil New Video of UFOs/UAPs