The Chilean Navy has released recently-declassified footage of a UFO shot by one of its helicopters. While UFO footage claims are made every day, the official nature of this release and the astonishing nature of the footage suggest this could be the real thing. Whatever the object in the footage is, it’s certainly unlike any other known natural or man-made flying object. Whether it’s of extra terrestrial origin remains a mystery. Whatever the object in the video is, it’s absolutely bizarre.

The footage was released by the Comité de Estudios de Fenómenos Aéreos Anómalos (CEFAA) (Committee for the Study of Anomalous Aerial Phenomenon), a branch within the Chilean Air Force, which oversees air traffic and safety within Chile. General Ricardo Bermúdez, Director of CEFAA, told Huffington Post’s investigative UFO journalist Leslie Kean that the nature of the object in the footage remains a mystery:

We do not know what it was, but we do know what it was not.

The footage was shot on November 11, 2014 by a Chilean Navy helicopter which was on a routine survey mission of the Chilean coast. Luckily, the day was clear, providing great video conditions. While the helicopter was flying at 4,500 feet, its infrared cameras caught sight of a strange, otherworldly object flying at the same altitude as the helicopter. The helicopter’s radar did not pick up the object, nor did nearby airports’ radar towers. Shortly after the infrared cameras spotted the orb, crew members got visual confirmation on the object and attempted to make contact by radio. No reply was made. Twice in the ten minute-footage, the craft emits two strange bursts which leave a thermal trail behind the craft:

Initial skeptical analyses claimed the object was likely an aircraft approaching Santiago airport which had simply dumped waste water before landing. However, further investigations throughout the two year analysis of the footage determined that the craft did not appear on any radar, no weather balloons were in the skies at the time, and there was no reported drone activity. Other claims suggested the object could be a meteorite, falling space debris, or even a loose parachute, but all of these were debunked by analyses of the object’s speed and movements.

Could this be the real deal? The footage seems to suggest so, and even several investigations by Chilean government agencies and international experts could find no plausible explanations other than an unidentified aerial phenomenon. With so many other recent UFO sightings in Chile and neighboring country Peru, this footage seems to suggest that South America has become the next big UFO hotspot.