Are we alone?  It’s a question that has plagued humankind for centuries.  New footage released by the U.S. Department of Defense points to a probable no.

In 2004, two fighter jets were sent to investigate an unidentified flying object in San Diego.  The footage shot happened in 2004.  It remained under lock and key until now.

The object in the video is about the size of a commercial plane.  It appeared above the USS Princeton, a naval cruiser, that was tracking UFOs.  It started at about 80,000 feet.  Then, it plummeted down towards the sea and stopped in a hover at about 20,000 feet.

Authorities asked Commander David Fravor and Lieutenant Commander Jim Slaight to investigate the object while they were on a training mission.

In the video, the pilots speak to each other in astonishment at what they are watching.

First Pilot: It’s a [expletive] drone, bro.

Second Pilot: There’s a whole fleet of them look on the ASA.  My gosh!  They’re all going against the wind the wind’s 120 knots out the west.

120 knots is roughly 138 miles per hour.  Highly doubtful a drone could withstand such high winds.

From the New York Times:

Hovering 50 feet above the churn was an aircraft of some kind — whitish — that was around 40 feet long and oval in shape. The craft was jumping around erratically, staying over the wave disturbance but not moving in any specific direction, Commander Fravor said. The disturbance looked like frothy waves and foam, as if the water were boiling.

As Fravor went to get a closer look, the object pealed off.  The pilots and the USS Princeton agreed on a rendezvous point.  Again, the ship picked up the strange object…at the cap point.  However, by the time they got there, the object was gone.

Reflecting on the object, Fravor said:

I have no idea what I saw.  It had no plumes, wings or rotors and outran our F-18s…but I want to fly one.

The footage was part of a top-secret multimillion-dollar program in the DoD.  Their task?  Investigating reports of any and all unidentified flying objects.  The Pentagon called it the Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program.  It ran from 2007 to 2012.

Watch the footage below:

What do you think the object is?