WATCH: US government releases eerie footage of Navy pilots spotting UFO
Previously classified footage has recently emerged showing U.S. fighter jet pilots sighting an unidentified flying object (UFO) alongside news of the Pentagon's $22 million program dedicated to investigating aerial phenomena.
The eerie footage in question was released by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and shows Navy pilots appearing to react with astonishment as they track a mysterious white flying object hovering off the coast of San Diego in 2004, The New York Times reported Saturday.
RELATED: A look at military aircraft
"This is a f–king drone, bro," one of the pilots is heard muttering in the Navy F/A-18F fighter jet.
"There’s a whole fleet of them," another person says before shouting, "It’s rotating!"
The video was studied by the Pentagon's multimillion-dollar program tasked with investigating reports from military and commercial pilots of UFOs -- a program which the Defense Department initially acknowledged for the first time this month.
SEE ALSO: Ex-Navy pilot describes strange encounter with aircraft with 'no plumes, wings, or rotors'
According to the Times, the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program was launched roughly a decade ago at the urging of then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
The program had reportedly run in secrecy with a well-hidden $22 million budget for several years by military intelligence official, Luis Elizondo, deep within the Pentagon's maze on the fifth floor of the C Ring and far from the building's busiest corridors.
Check out these alien-looking landscapes found on Earth:
