A US fighter pilot has described in detail the moment he spotted a “UFO” hovering above the ocean off the coast of San Diego.
Pilot David Fravor was one of four people in two fighter jets sent to monitor the object after it was spotted by his bosses on board the USS Nimitz in 2004.
Former fighter pilot David Fravor describes seeing the mystery object off the coast of San DiegoCredit: CNN
He told CNN they came across a disturbance above the water that was causing the sea to foam and “a white object, oblong, pointing north”.
He added: “It had no wings. So you think, ‘okay, it’s a helicopter’, but there’s no rotor wash in the water, there’s no rotors and when helicopters move from side-to-side they’re kind of slow then pick up speed going the other way.
“This was extremely abrupt – like a ping pong ball bouncing off a wall. It would hit and go the other way and change directions at will.
“Then the ability to hover over the water then start a vertical climb from zero up to about 12,000ft and then accelerate in less than two seconds and disappear is something that I’ve never seen in my life.”
The strange object can be seen hovering in the fighter jet’s sights in this incredible footage released by the PentagonCredit: YouTube Secureteam10
It then rapidly shoots off to the left out of sightCredit: YouTube Secureteam10
When asked about those who may be sceptical of the claim, he replied: “It’s easy to doubt what we can’t explain and this isn’t the first account of people seeing a UFO.
“In this situation you’re talking about four people, all eyeballs on, ranging in experience from relatively new in a fleet squadron… to myself who had over 16 years of flying.
“I would argue that it wasn’t a weather balloon, it wasn’t a flare it was an actual object we tracked for around five minutes.”
Eerie footage released by the Pentagon shows the unidentified object being chased by the US fighter jets.
Former US Navy pilot David Fravor, who filmed video of UFO off San Diego coast in 2004, explains his close encounter
In one video, one of the pilots of the Navy F/A-18F fighter jets mutters: “This is a f****** drone, bro,” the New York Post reported.
Another voice says: “There’s a whole fleet of them. It’s rotating!”
The footage was released by the Defense Department’s Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, which spent £16.5 million between 2008 and 2012 to investigate reports from military and commercial pilots of unidentified flying objects.
Parts of their shadowy work – which is still continuing to this day – are classified.
Another remarkable video shows an object in the sights of a US fighter jet near San DiegoCredit: US Department of Defense
It was filmed travelling over the sea near San Diego in 2004Credit: US Department of Defense
Earlier this week Fravor told the New York Times strange objects had been tracked by the USS Princeton for around two weeks.
They would suddenly appear at 80,000ft, before plummeting towards the sea and hovering at 20,000ft. They then either dropped out of range or shot back up.
When he approached the object, it suddenly peeled away.
He said: “It accelerated like nothing I’ve ever seen.”
The Pentagon has acknowledged the existence of the UFO programmeCredit: Getty – Contributor
Retired US Democratic Senator Harry Reid set up the Department of Defense programmeCredit: Reuters
He later told a fellow pilot: “I have no idea what I saw. It had no plumes, wings or rotors and outran our F-18s. I want to fly one.”
The Pentagon confirmed that the audio and video was investigated as part of the program. The footage, released in August, showed that the object rotated and maintained a “glowing aura”.
The Advanced Aerospace project was set up at the behest of now retired US Democratic Senator Harry Reid.
It was run by military intelligence official Luis Elizondo on the fifth floor of the Pentagon’s C Ring – deep within the building’s maze – in Washington DC.
The program produced documents that describe sightings of aircraft that seemed to move at very high velocities.
It also reported on aircraft with no visible signs of propulsion, or ones that hovered with no apparent means of lift.