Across oceans, cities, and open skies, U.S. military pilots continue to encounter something unusual. Not discs or flashing lights, but smooth, fast-moving metallic orbs. These objects appear without warning, hover motionless, or shift direction abruptly, then vanish in seconds. Encounters have occurred during routine patrols, combat missions, and training flights alike. Some have been recorded on infrared cameras, others tracked by radar or logged in official reports. Despite years of observation, there is still no clear explanation for what these objects are or where they come from.
What pilots are actually seeing
The objects in question are not blurry lights on a horizon. They are often visible to the naked eye and confirmed through advanced sensors and radar systems. Pilots describe them as metallic spheres, about the size of a basketball, moving at speeds and with precision unmatched by conventional aircraft.
There are no wings, no control surfaces, no visible propulsion. Some hover motionless in high winds. Others accelerate abruptly or reverse direction without turning. Most leave no heat signature. These are not assumptions based on guesswork. They are observed, filmed, and reported by aviators trained to identify every known type of airborne vehicle.
Encounters tend to occur near restricted airspace. They disrupt training exercises and, in some cases, have nearly caused mid-air collisions. These are not casual or recreational observations. They are events documented in flight logs and analyzed by military intelligence.
Gimbal UFO: a turning point in official recognition
One of the most famous incidents occurred in 2015 and was made public in 2017 as part of a leak that changed the U.S. government’s approach to unidentified aerial phenomena. Captured by an F/A-18 Super Hornet using a forward-looking infrared system (FLIR), the object shown in the video became known as the Gimbal UFO.
The video shows a disc-like craft flying at high altitude off the U.S. East Coast. What made it unusual was not just its speed or shape, but its behavior. The object rotated in mid-air while maintaining a consistent trajectory, something that defied known aerodynamic principles. Pilots speaking on the video can be heard expressing shock and confusion. There were no wings, no exhaust, and no clear method of propulsion. Radar also confirmed its presence.
This was not an isolated case. The Gimbal UFO was one of several objects tracked over days. Military personnel were told to report the sightings, but no explanation was ever given. The craft moved against the wind and changed direction abruptly, traits shared by other spherical and orb-like UAPs encountered around the same period.
The Tic Tac UFO: maneuverability beyond known physics
Perhaps the most analyzed incident involving a spherical or elliptical object occurred off the coast of Southern California in 2004. Referred to as the Tic Tac UFO, it was encountered by pilots from the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group during a routine training operation.
Commander David Fravor and Lieutenant Commander Jim Slaight were among those who visually confirmed the object. They described it as a smooth, white, oblong shape, about 40 feet long, with no wings or exhaust. It hovered at 80,000 feet, then dropped to sea level in under a second.
When Fravor attempted to intercept, the object responded with what appeared to be intelligent maneuvering. It mirrored movements, accelerated instantly, and disappeared from sight. The encounter was also tracked by the Princeton’s SPY-1 radar and captured by targeting cameras. The performance was beyond what any known drone or aircraft could accomplish.
This case stood out not only for its technical data but for the credibility of the witnesses. Multiple pilots, radar operators, and camera systems all observed the same object at the same time. The flight characteristics could not be replicated, and the incident remains unexplained to this day.
Pentagon confirmation and video evidence
In 2023, the Pentagon officially released new footage recorded by a Reaper drone over the Middle East. The object, clearly spherical, darted across the screen in a way that ruled out conventional drones or balloons. It showed no means of lift, no exhaust trail, and no thermal emissions.
The Department of Defense has now acknowledged multiple videos as authentic. Among them are the Gimbal, GoFast, and FLIR1 recordings (above). Each shows an unidentified craft exhibiting extraordinary behavior. The spherical shape is particularly common. It presents minimal drag and is difficult to track by radar, but the speed and control are what truly stand out.
These objects are not streaking meteors or atmospheric illusions. They maintain altitude, respond to nearby aircraft, and sometimes linger in restricted airspace for long durations. Intelligence reports confirm that these sightings are not isolated to one region or mission. They occur globally, across different climates and altitudes.
Historical sightings long before the headlines
Though public interest in orbs has grown in the last decade, pilots have seen them for nearly a century. During World War II, U.S. and Allied pilots reported glowing spheres that followed their aircraft. Dubbed Foo Fighters, these objects were considered advanced enemy tech — yet neither side ever claimed them.
During the Cold War, similar sightings occurred over U.S. and Soviet nuclear installations. In some cases, the objects disabled weapons systems or triggered alerts. Files declassified in recent years reveal that these events were taken seriously. Teams were dispatched to investigate. The patterns were tracked. No conclusions were reached.
The continuity of sightings — from WWII to 2023 — suggests something persistent and physical, not a trend of misperceptions or radar errors.
What they might be — and what they are not
Several explanations have been offered. Some say they are drones, possibly foreign or classified domestic technology. Others suggest weather balloons, optical illusions, or rare electromagnetic phenomena. Each theory has limits.
Drones do not hover without noise or heat. Balloons do not change direction abruptly or remain stable in strong winds. Optical illusions do not appear on multiple sensors and radar simultaneously. No known system can match the agility, speed, and endurance shown in the verified videos.
What is more troubling is the absence of any confirmed origin. No government has claimed ownership. No fragments have been found. Despite hundreds of documented cases, there is no traceable launch site, signature, or manufacturer. The U.S. government, after years of denial, now openly states that many of these objects remain unexplained.
Speaking personally, I don’t believe there are little green men piloting these things. Traveling across interstellar distances is an enormous challenge, even for a hypothetical advanced civilization. But if these craft are not ours, and not from here, then what we may be seeing is something else entirely — something like autonomous probes. Highly advanced, possibly guided by artificial intelligence far beyond anything we’ve developed. That, to me, seems far more plausible than crewed ships. It would make sense for an alien civilization to send machines ahead of itself, long before arriving in person — if arriving at all.
Why the military is treating it as a serious threat
The response to these encounters has evolved. What was once quietly dismissed is now being discussed in congressional hearings. In 2022, the Department of Defense formed the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO). Its mission is to investigate reports of unidentified aerial, underwater, and transmedium objects.
Military pilots have testified under oath about near-collisions and routine sightings. Some report being discouraged from speaking up in the past. That is changing. The focus is not on proving extraterrestrial origins. It is on identifying unknown technology that could pose risks to aircraft or infrastructure.
Air safety is a driving concern. When fast-moving, unidentified objects appear in restricted airspace, the risk is not just hypothetical. It is immediate. Pilots cannot react to something they cannot identify. Commanders cannot defend against something they cannot track.
Closing reflection
So, what’s my take? The mysterious orbs pilots keep seeing aren’t stories or secondhand accounts. They’re real, they’re recorded, and they’re showing up on sensors across different platforms. Pilots from different squadrons and different years keep describing the same thing. Small, fast, spherical objects that move in ways we don’t understand.
They don’t follow the rules of conventional flight. They don’t give off heat, don’t have wings, and they move in ways that don’t make sense with current technology. And they keep showing up where they’re not supposed to be. That alone should be enough to take them seriously.
What’s encouraging is that this isn’t being shrugged off anymore. Pilots are speaking publicly. Congress is listening. And scientists are getting involved. One of them is Avi Loeb, a professor at Harvard. He’s behind the Galileo Project, a scientific effort to gather hard data on unidentified objects in Earth’s skies, oceans, and even space. His team is building instruments to detect and track them. They’re also analyzing physical materials from unexplained sources, like the fragments recovered off Papua New Guinea’s coast. Instead of waiting for answers to fall into our laps, they’re going out and looking for them.
And personally, I don’t think we’re seeing aliens flying around in these orbs. Traveling across the galaxy isn’t easy, and I doubt beings are hopping out of these things. If these are from somewhere else, what we might be seeing are autonomous probes. Machines, not crewed ships. That makes more sense to me. An advanced civilization would probably send AI long before it sent itself.
The important part is, this isn’t fringe anymore. These sightings are documented. They’re happening. And for the first time, people are actually paying attention.
