Fact check: Altered video falsely claims to show UFO aboard US aircraft carrier

Chiara Vercellone, USA TODAY
·3 min read

The claim: Video shows UFO stationed aboard aircraft carrier

A video shared on Facebook claims to show evidence the military has stationed UFOs aboard aircraft carriers.

The 40-second video shows a fighter jet, identified by a narrator as an F-18, landing on the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford in 2018, purportedly in the Mediterranean

"As it goes to touch down, we actually see a triangular-shaped UFO, like something that would be right out of an alien movie," says a woman identified as Krissy Eliot.

The video was watched over 10,000 times in less than 24 hours since it was posted on Jan. 19.

The video has been around social media platforms since as early as 2018, when Iranian media published an article about it that made it go viral within a few days.

While the video shows an authentic landing on an aircraft carrier, it has been altered to show the purported triangular UFO.

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USA TODAY reached out to the Facebook user who posted the video for comment.

Video altered to show the purported triangular UFO

An official U.S. Navy video posted on YouTube in July 2017 confirms the jet in the video is a F/A-18F Super Hornet, the service's primary strike and air superiority aircraft.

The video shows the plane approaching the ship and quickly coming to a stop after touching down on the carrier's deck. A helicopter can be seen in the Facebook video next to the purported UFO.

The Navy video depicts the landing from four different angles, and the purported UFO is nowhere to be seen.

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Additionally, the video's caption says the landing is aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford in the Atlantic Ocean, not the Mediterranean.

The Navy didn't immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for comment, but a spokesperson told Lead Stories the video had been altered.

A similar video posted by USNI News, a news outlet affiliated with the nonprofit U.S. Naval Institute, also shows there wasn't a triangular-shaped aircraft aboard the ship.

Our rating: Altered

Based on our research, we rate ALTERED a video that claims to show a UFO stationed aboard an aircraft carrier. An official video posted by the U.S. Navy shows the ship's deck was clear of any triangular-shaped aircraft. The video has been around since as early as 2018 when it gained traction after Iranian media wrote about it.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Altered video claims to show UFO aboard aircraft carrier