Freshly released footage shows the moment a US Army Apache attack helicopter encountered three unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) near the Mexican border. 

The video was filmed as midnight approached on November 6, 2018, around 64 kilometers (40 miles) northwest of the Arizonan city of Tucson during a training flight, as first reported by The Debrief. 

Captured through specialized military night vision sensors, three small dots can be seen moving quickly through the air in an unusual and erratic fashion. 

“Wow! Are those three really fast-moving jets up there?” the Apache helicopter’s co-pilot can be heard saying.

“Probably. Probably some A10s or some F-16s, but I’m not looking up there,” responds the Apache’s pilot.

The video was part of a larger article explaining how agents from the US Customs and Border Patrol are frequently spotting UAPs around the southern border, but they lack the means to report the encounters to their higher-ups. 

Speaking to The Debrief, former US Air Force fighter pilot Chris Lehto said the movement of the three objects “doesn’t make sense” and isn’t like anything he’s ever seen in his career as a military pilot. 

“The tracking rate is exceptionally fast,” Lehto said. “Even if they are only a mile away, I calculate they go approximately 1.28M. Well past the speed of sound.” 

However, not everyone is convinced that the footage shows a mystery aircraft, with some commentators speculating that the objects are, in fact, just birds or bats. They believe that the objects are actually a lot closer to the camera and are gliding nowhere near the speed of sound. 

“A, sadly, much-hyped new UFO video turns out to look just like three birds just doing bird things. You don't even need analysis here. Just look at the original video. It simply looks like birds,” tweeted Mick West, an administrator at Metabunk.

“Don't y'all want to be taken seriously?”

Beyond this video, reports of UAPs are being taken more seriously compared to previous years. Earlier this month, the US government had its first public Congressional hearing on UFOs since 1966, highlighting how the US Department of Defense (DoD) has gathered at least 400 sightings in recent times, including 11 near-collisions. 

The hearing didn’t reveal any bombshell announcements, but it did feature two newly released UAP videos filmed by the US military.