The internet is awash with videos appearing to show UFOs flying near high-speed planes, warheads and even nuclear reactors - and experts have an alarming theory for why these locations are being targeted.
In 1976, British Airways aired an ad for their Concorde flight in which an orb-like UFO darts toward the aircraft at an incredibly high speed, seemingly analyzes the plane and then accelerates away.
The unconfirmed UFO appearance - which has resurfaced on Reddit's UFOs subchannel, where alleged videos of craft are shared, debunked or given the upvote if they're deemed to be legitimate - is one of many that shows the odd, almost inquisitive behavior of these unknown objects.
In June 2022, at the Queen's Jubilee, the longest-serving royal monarch was honored by a cadre of nine fighter jets spewing streams of smoke in the Union Jack's red, white and blue colors — and one unidentified disc.
Despite it making the rounds on media, no clear answer has ever been provided as to what it was.
In 1976, British Airways aired an ad for their Concorde flight in which an orb-like UFO darts toward the aircraft at an incredibly high speed, seemingly analyzes the plane and then accelerates away
In June 2022, at the Queen's Jubilee, the longest-serving royal monarch was honored by a cadre of nine fighter jets spewing streams of smoke in the Union Jack's red, white and blue colors — and one unidentified disc
Even more curious is the nearly dozen UFOs that appeared above Japan's Fukushima lab after its nuclear disaster in 2011. Witnesses told the Netflix docuseries, Encounters, that the UFOs saved them by lowering radioactivity levels.
Local outlets caught several glimmering white orbs above the plant — extremely similar to the previous instances — dipping into the lab before emerging again, in a sort of assembly line.
In pop culture, the History Channel show The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch has features dozens upon dozens of similar UFOs over their five seasons, with many appearing after a rocket has been test-fired by their scientists into the air.
There has been a litany of explain-away reasons for these various occurrences provided by skeptics, from bugs to balloons. But for researchers who have dedicated their lives to this phenomenon, there is much more to theses videos than on their face value.
The question emerges: are UFOs approaching high-speed aircraft because they are concerned they contain nuclear capability?
Experts in the field have already analyzed similar behavior as proof that whatever is up there is concerned about us, especially when it comes to the prospect of blowing ourselves up with nukes.
Some dozen UFOs appeared above Japan 's Fukushima lab after its nuclear disaster in 2011. Witnesses told the Netflix docuseries, Encounters, that the UFOs saved them by lowering radioactivity levels
UFO sightings over America's nuclear arsenal appeared to shift their interest from the making of the bombs to silos and bomber bases as the Cold War arms race grew (above)
UFO activity and nuclear devices and sites have been intertwined since the invention of the Atom Bomb in 1945. And the phenomenon been observed by civilians and military personnel alike.
'All of the nuclear facilities — Los Alamos, Livermore, Sandia, Savannah River — all had dramatic incidents where these unknown craft appeared over the facilities and nobody knew where they were from or what they were doing there,' investigative journalist George Knapp told History.com.
The former head of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, Lue Elizondo, agreed that there 'seems to be a lot of correlation' between UFO appearances and nuclear sites.
And independent researcher Robert Hastings, who has been working toward full government disclosure of UAP activity, said in 2010, 'Declassified US government documents and witness testimony from former or retired US military personnel confirm beyond any doubt the reality of ongoing UFO incursions at nuclear weapons sites.'
Now, new research — in the form of three studies helmed by a retired US Air Force staff sergeant, Larry Hancock, and a data analyst affiliate with Harvard's UFO-hunting Galileo Project, Ian Porritt — shows that not only has there been unusual activity around nuclear weapons and facilities, it's shifted over the years.
At first seemingly interested in the production of nuclear weapons, UFOs later sprouted up around silos and bomber bases.
'You would see this interest' at silos when they were being installed before 'the activity would drop off,' Porritt previously told the DailyMail.com.
Independent researcher Robert Hastings (pictured), who has been working toward full government disclosure of UAP activity, said in 2010, 'Declassified US government documents and witness testimony from former or retired US military personnel confirm beyond any doubt the reality of ongoing UFO incursions at nuclear weapons sites'
These patterns in the historical UFO record, according to the researchers, was also accompanied by another clear trend: As the UFOs appeared more and more over armed and ready nuclear weapons sites, the apparent craft also started to appear more at night (above)
And when a new arsenal of ICMBs was built in the 1960s, UFOs became 'much more intrusive' in their approach of ICBM bases, Porritt said. 'They're very low altitude, they penetrate the security perimeters of the base.'
Two Air Force veterans previously told DailyMail.com they have testified to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) in June 2023 that UFOs turned off their nuclear warheads.
On top of that, former US Air Force ICBM launch officer Robert Salas said he was contacted by the AARO in an email to gather information after he said he an orange flying disc shut off 10 warheads at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana in 1967.
Despite a thorough investigations by the military, no conclusion was drawn, but not before Salas said he was forced to sign an NDA on the matter by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.
This echoes what former US Air Force First lieutenant Robert Jacobs said happened in 1964, when a UFO 'deactivated' an unarmed warhead in 1964.
Ex-First lieutenant in USAF Robert Jacobs, pictured middle bottom row, with his crew
'Now remember, all this stuff is flying at several thousand miles an hour. So this thing fires a beam of light at the warhead, hits it, and then it moves up… fires another beam of light… goes down and fires another beam of light, and then flies out the way it came in. And the warhead tumbles out of space,' he said in a 2000 interview.
Jacobs said he was later told to 'never speak of this encounter' again.
Eerily similar to these encounters are the instances of UAPs following fighter jets that were disclosed by the UAP Task Force, including a 'giant Tic Tac' UFO witnessed by Navy veteran fighter pilot Commander David Fravor in 2004.
Like the other craft pictured above, Fravor's fellow co-pilot Chad Underwood witnessed the 'perfectly white' wingless oblong that was captured from his cockpit's in-flight video.
Given the shared similarities, there seems to be a connection between the behavior of UFOs toward aircraft and nuclear weapons — and it may come from the very same reason.
