The Top 10 Military UFO Sightings That Remain Unexplained

Military personnel around the world have reported some pretty mind-boggling UFO encounters over the years. These sightings, now given the fancier label of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP), have been caught on everything from advanced sensors to radar systems, backed up by firsthand accounts from pilots who know what they’re looking at in the sky. While plenty of these reports end up having mundane explanations, a handful of incidents stand out for their bizarre flight patterns, confirmation across multiple sensors, and the fact that they were witnessed by highly trained military observers. The Pentagon and other defense agencies have gradually stopped dismissing these encounters, shifting the conversation from X-Files territory into serious national security discussions.

Related: 10 UFO Encounters That You’ve Never Heard About

10The USS Nimitz “Tic Tac” Encounter

On November 14, 2004, Commander David Fravor from the USS Nimitz was sent to check out some weird radar blips about 100 miles off San Diego’s coast. What he saw was pretty wild, a white, oval object hovering above a churning patch of ocean. The thing was roughly 40 feet long and showed off some impossible moves, shooting upward as Fravor spiraled down toward it during their five-minute game of aerial cat-and-mouse. Later, Lieutenant Commander Chad Underwood managed to record the object with his aircraft’s targeting pod and dubbed it a “Tic Tac” because, well, that’s exactly what it looked like. During Congressional testimony in 2023, Fravor didn’t mince words: “the technology that we witnessed was far superior to anything that we had at the time, have today, or are looking to develop.” The Pentagon finally released this footage in 2020, confirming it was legit after it had been circulating since a bombshell 2017 New York Times story.

9The GIMBAL Video

Between 2014 and 2015, Navy pilots flying F/A-18 Super Hornets off the USS Theodore Roosevelt captured what would become the famous GIMBAL video somewhere off the eastern seaboard. The footage shows an oval-shaped object pulling off maneuvers that would turn any conventional aircraft into a fireball. What makes this one extra compelling is hearing the pilots lose their cool on the recording: “There’s a whole fleet of them… Look at that thing!” and “It’s rotating!” as they watch this object do its thing. The GIMBAL video was one of three UFO clips the Pentagon finally stopped being cagey about and officially released in April 2020. Aviation experts are still scratching their heads over how this object could hold position against strong winds and make sharp turns without any visible engines or wings.

8The GO FAST Video

Recorded during the same string of weird encounters as the GIMBAL footage, the GO FAST video shows something small zipping along just above the ocean surface at ridiculous speeds. Caught by a Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet’s targeting pod, it’s one of the clearest examples of something flying in ways our aircraft simply can’t match. You can see all the sensor data in the footage: altitude, speed, the works, which aviation buffs have analyzed to death. Some folks argue it might not be moving quite as fast as it looks, but the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) still lists this as a head-scratcher in their official files. You can practically hear the pilots’ jaws drop in their excited chatter as they try to track whatever this thing is.

7The Puerto Rico Coast Guard Sighting

Back in April 2013, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection aircraft was patrolling near Aguadilla, Puerto Rico when it caught something bizarre on its thermal cameras. The footage shows what looks like a spherical object booking it through the sky, seemingly splitting into two separate objects, and, here’s the kicker, appearing to dip into the ocean and pop back out without even slowing down. This case stands out because multiple sensors caught it during a routine patrol by operators who know their equipment. The AARO later looked at this footage and suggested these were probably “two objects traveling near each other” rather than one object performing cell division, though they still haven’t figured out what those objects actually were. The apparent ability to move between air and water without missing a beat has UFO researchers particularly intrigued.

6The USS Russell “Pyramid” UAP

In July 2019, sailors aboard the USS Russell grabbed footage of what looked like triangular or pyramid-shaped objects with flashing lights hanging out above their ship. This happened off Southern California’s coast during a stretch when multiple Navy vessels reported weird stuff in restricted waters. The Pentagon confirmed in April 2021 that, yep, Navy personnel definitely took this footage. Some experts have suggested these might just be normal aircraft looking weird through night-vision gear or camera glitches, while others point to their strange flight patterns as evidence of something truly odd. The fact that so many UAPs were clustering in this specific patch of ocean led the Navy to beef up their monitoring protocols.

5The Afghanistan-Pakistan Border Disc

Military footage from 2020 caught a disc-shaped UAP cruising over the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area. Journalist Jeremy Corbell got his hands on this recording and released it publicly, showing an object with the classic “flying saucer” look that people have been reporting since UFOs became a thing. The footage has gotten lots of attention because the object is so clear and it popped up in an active war zone. The Pentagon hasn’t offered any solid explanation for this one, which is interesting since it happened right when Congress was starting to take UFOs seriously and the military was making it easier for personnel to report weird stuff they saw. The politically sensitive location adds another layer of intrigue to the whole thing.

4The USS Omaha “Sphere” UAP

In July 2019, the crew of the USS Omaha recorded a spherical object bouncing around erratically before diving straight into the ocean. The video, which journalist Jeremy Corbell dropped in 2021, shows the object through some fancy targeting system while you can hear crew members tracking it. The Pentagon later confirmed the footage was legit, noting it was part of their ongoing UFO investigations. What makes this one especially weird is that the object seemed perfectly comfortable in both air and water, and multiple sensors picked it up. When they sent out search teams after it splashed down, they reportedly found absolutely nothing, no wreckage, no explanation, nada.

311 Unidentified Objects Over Mexico

In 2004, the Mexican Air Force captured some intriguing infrared footage over Campeche’s eastern coast. While on a surveillance mission, their radar picked up something unusual. The crew switched on an infrared camera and recorded what seemed to be UFOs, sparking major buzz in a country familiar with such sightings. Journalist Jaime Maussan, a known UFO enthusiast, presented the footage at a news conference. He claimed the objects were real, noting they appeared on infrared as having mass and energy despite being invisible to the naked eye. The video showed lights changing direction and encircling the plane. This incident occurred on March 5th during an anti-drug trafficking mission near the Gulf of Mexico. The footage revealed 11 blobs of light hovering or darting around and disappearing into clouds. It even aired on Mexico’s popular nightly news, fueling national intrigue and challenging initial identification efforts.

2The Jellyfish UFO

The “Jellyfish” UFO sighting involves a strange object that was filmed over a military base in Iraq, likely in late 2017. This footage, which shows an unknown aerial phenomenon that resembles a jellyfish, was released by investigative journalist Jeremy Corbell in early 2024. The object caught on video sparked curiosity and debate among those stationed at the base, with some initially calling it the “spaghetti monster.” Michael Cincoski, a Marine intelligence officer at the base, mentioned that the object didn’t seem threatening and eventually moved out of sight. The Pentagon has classified it as a UAP (unknown aerial phenomenon), but it hasn’t given any further details on whether it has conducted an investigation.

1The Chilean Helicopter UFO (2014)

In November 2014, a Chilean Navy helicopter crew filmed something strange in the sky near San Antonio and Quinteros. The video, kept secret for two years, was eventually released by the Chilean government. It shows an unidentified object flying alongside the helicopter and occasionally releasing an unknown substance into the air. Despite attempts to communicate with it, there was no response. Air Traffic Control couldn’t see it on radar but confirmed unauthorized traffic. Experts from the Committee for Studies of Airborne Phenomena investigated and classified it as an Unidentified Air Phenomenon. They dismissed theories that it might be a plane releasing water vapor since conditions at the time didn’t support such condensation. This sighting adds another mysterious chapter to UFO discussions, leaving more questions than answers.