The U.S. Navy has officially confirmed that the controversial UFO videos taken by fighter jet pilots are real. A spokesperson for the Navy said the military branch decided to acknowledge the existence of these strange objects for the safety of its pilots.

From 2017 to 2018, the YouTube channel To The Stars Academy of Arts and Sciences released declassified videos showing U.S. Navy pilots tracking what appeared to be UFOs in the sky. The strange objects were captured using the fighter jets’ advanced infrared sensors.

In the videos, oval-shaped objects can be seen moving across the sky. As some of the pilots in the videos commented, the UFO was able to move quickly even though it was flying against the wind. At first, the pilots taught the object was a drone. However, after tracking the object, they soon realized that what they’re seeing could be from another world. The object even tilted its body and rotated while it was flying.

In another video, a pilot was monitoring the UFO using the auto-track feature of his plane’s sensor. A few seconds into the clip, the object suddenly accelerates. As seen in the video, the strange object moved too fast for the sensor to track.

According to Joe Gradisher, a spokesperson for the U.S. Navy, the objects in the videos are classified as “unidentified aerial phenomena” or UAP. Gradisher noted that the Navy has decided to confirm the authenticity of the videos in showing UAPs in order to encourage its other pilots especially the trainees to report incursions or similar encounters.

“This is all about frequent incursions into our training ranges by UAPs,” Gradisher said, according to CNN. “Those incursions present a safety hazard to the safe flight of our aviators and the security of our operations.”

By officially acknowledging the videos, the Navy hopes that pilots will be more open and comfortable when it comes to informing their superiors about strange encounters in the sky.

“For many years, our aviators didn’t report these incursions because of the stigma attached to previous terminology and theories about what may or may not be in those videos,” Gradisher said.

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A photograph of a screen shows infra-red video of taken from a Mexican Air Force patrol aircraft of 7 bright objects flying over the eastern coastal state of Campeche on March 25, 2004. REUTERS