Pentagon Secret UFO Sightings: The Strangest Discoveries in Search for Aliens

A secretive Pentagon program investigating unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and evidence of alien life has been uncovered, revealing several sightings of peculiar aircraft by members of the U.S. military.

The Pentagon claims that the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program was terminated in 2012 after five years in order to focus time and resources on other issues.

But despite the Pentagon insisting the program—first reported by The New York Times on Saturday—ended with the termination of its funding, its backers claim it is still in existence. Below are some of the most bizarre sightings laid out in the declassified reports.

Pentagon UFO Sightings: Las Vegas Research Facility

In order to investigate reports of UFO sightings, a building in Las Vegas was modified to house any materials that were suspected to have come from an unidentified flying object.

This reportedly included metal alloys and plastics, while a section of the facility was also used to study people who claimed to have had contact with the objects that resulted in physical and physiological changes.

The Las Vegas–based facility also described sightings of flying objects that remained airborne despite no visible signs of propulsion or lift.

Pentagon UFO Sightings: "Whole fleet" of Glowing Auras

Among the UFO sightings investigated by the U.S. Department of Defense was a rotating glowing aura that traveled at high speeds. The footage was captured from a Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet, though officials refused to give more details about the time or date of the sightings.

An audio recording from the Navy pilots who witnessed the peculiar aerial phenomena suggests there was more than one of the UFOs. "There's a whole fleet of them," one pilot is heard saying.

Another pilot responds: "My gosh. They are all going against the wind, the wind is 120 miles to the west… look at that thing, dude."

Pentagon UFO Sightings: Oval object in San Diego

Program officials also investigated events that took place prior to the program coming into existence, studying videos captured by cameras aboard military aircraft.

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This included a 2004 video of a bright oval-shaped object off the coast of San Diego, which was determined by the pilots of the fighter jets pursuing it to be the size of a commercial aircraft.

Pentagon UFO Sightings: "Black Money" Funding

The Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program was funded with less than 0.004 percent of the Defense Department's annual budget, which is partly why it has gone unreported for more than a decade.

The $22 million funding came thanks to Nevada Democrat and UFO enthusiast Harry Reid, who passed the majority of the money to his friend Robert Bigelow's aerospace research firm Bigelow Aerospace.

Reid referred to these funds as "black money," as only himself and two other senators—Alaska Republican Ted Stevens and Hawaii Democrat Daniel K. Inouye—knew of the program.