A US Navy pilot has told of how he and his colleagues saw UFOs off the Virginia coast so regularly they grew used to the ultra-capable aircrafts’ presence.
Former Navy Lieutenant Ryan Graves – who refers to UFOs as unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) – called them a threat to national security in an interview with 60 Minutes that will air on Sunday.
Graves’ F/A-18 fighter squadron spotted the ‘maneuverable’ objects flying in restricted airspace near Virginia Beach almost every day from 2015 to 2017, he said.
‘I am worried, frankly. You know, if these were tactical jets from another country that were hanging out up there, it would be a massive issue,’ Graves told 60 Minutes.
‘But because it looks slightly different, we’re not willing to actually look at the problem in the face. We’re happy to just ignore the fact that these are out there, watching us every day.’
Former Navy Lieutenant Ryan Graves, who regularly witnessed UFOs in restricted airspace, called them a threat to national security
He said pilots for the U.S. Navy saw UFOs off the coast of Virginia so frequently they got used to them despite them ‘watching us’ every day
Graves’ F/A-18 fighter squadron spotted the ‘maneuverable’ objects flying in restricted airspace near Virginia Beach almost every day from 2015 to 2017
A color image shows one of the unidentified aerial phenomena. Their technical capabilities far exceed that of any known aircraft, sparking fears for US national security
Pilots have speculated that they might be anything from a secret U.S. technology to an enemy spy plane, although Graves conceded they could also be ‘something else entirely’
Graves did not rule out the possibility they could be some sort of Russian or Chinese technology. One of the UFOs is pictured in a grab of footage from ABC’s 60 Minutes
The 60 Minutes report comes as the government is expected to release a report in June on UFO sightings after unclassified videos of them were leaked to The New York Times in 2017
He said that pilots who have witnessed what the government calls ‘unidentified aerial phenomena’ have speculated that they might be anything from a secret U.S. technology to an enemy spy plane.
Graves also conceded the aircraft could be something else entirely.
‘This is a difficult one to explain. You have rotation, you have high altitudes. You have propulsion, right? I don’t know. I don’t know what it is, frankly,’ Graves told 60 Minutes while viewing one of the unclassified videos.
‘I would say, you know, the highest probability is it’s a threat observation program.’
The outlet noted that Graves did not rule out the possibility they could be some sort of Russian or Chinese technology.
Luis Elizondo, a former official with the Defense Department, told 60 Minutes that the UAPs appear to have ‘far superior’ technology to anything the United States currently has in its known inventory.
‘Imagine a technology that can do 600 to 700 G-forces, that can fly 13,000 miles an hour, that, that can evade radar and can fly through air and water and possibly space,’ Elizondo said.
‘And oh, by the way, has no obvious signs of propulsion, no wings, no control surfaces and yet still can defy the natural effects of Earth’s gravity. That’s precisely what we’re seeing.’
The 60 Minutes report comes as the government is expected to release a report in June on UFO sightings after unclassified videos of them were leaked to The New York Times in 2017.
Sen. Marco Rubio called for the detailed analysis after he viewed classified briefings on UAP while he was the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee and asked the Director of National Intelligence for an unclassified report.
A map shows the area where these unidentified aerial phenomena have been seen off the coast of Virginia. They were regularly spotted in restricted airspace
F/A-18E Super Hornets like those which detected the unidentified aerial phenomena are pictured. The jets’ abilities fall far short of the UFOs seen by Graves and his fellow pilots
DailyMail.com has reached out to Tom Delonge’s To The Stars Academy, a company created to document and reveal occurrences of unidentified aerial phenomena, for more information and additional comment.
The New York Times has raised eyebrows over its frequent coverage of possible UFO sightings.
It published an op-ed from Ezra Klein as recently as Thursday surmising that aliens exist and suggesting they might be behind the phenomena.
But respected former government officials have conceded that the sightings are credible, and that the UFOs’ origins remains unknown.
John Ratcliffe, the former director of national intelligence, told Fox News that these are not just eyewitness accounts – they’re videos and measurements taken after ‘multiple sensors that are picking up these things.’
‘When we talk about sightings, we are talking about objects that have been seen by Navy or Air Force pilots, or have been picked up by satellite imagery, that frankly engage in actions that are difficult to explain, movements that are hard to replicate, that we don’t have the technology for, or traveling at speeds that exceed the sound barrier without a sonic boom,’ he said.