Another year, another UFO sighting – and this time, the Department of Defense has verified it is real. Well, sort of. The DOD has confirmed to CNN that leaked images of “unidentified aerial phenomena” from 2019 are indeed authentic records of unknown flying objects. 

Navy personnel took photos and videos of triangle-shaped objects flickering and moving through clouds, along with three UFOs in the shape of a sphere, an acorn, and another one described as a “metallic blimp,” Pentagon spokesperson Sue Gough told CNN. 

The images have been making their rounds online since 2020 and resurfaced earlier this month when the websites Mystery Wire and Extraordinary Beliefs published the footage.

Gough explained that the DOD does not publicly discuss details of their operations or examinations, including training and UAP sightings, but she told CNN that the incidents have been included in the “ongoing examinations” of the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force, which was created last August precisely to inspect UFO observations made by the military.  

This isn’t the first time the Pentagon confirms UAPs: in 2020, they released three clips showing sightings recorded by the Navy, which in 2019 said there had been “a number of reports of unauthorized and/or unidentified aircraft entering various military-controlled ranges and designated air space in recent years.” 

Also in 2019, millions responded to the satirical Facebook event “Storm Area 51” – the famed Air Force facility in Nevada rumored to contain highly classified extraterrestrial relics and information. Although Area 51’s secrets still remain concealed, US intelligence agencies have been instructed to disclose unclassified reports about UAPs to Congress in June. 

So does that mean aliens have been confirmed? Sadly, no. But as X-Files’ Fox Mulder would say: the truth is out there.