Defense officials are investigating radar footage showing a fleet of UFOs being chased by fighter jets. In 2008, up to 300 people witnessed the two F-16 jets chasing up to 12 unidentified objects.

The implausible claim became plausible to those who saw it when the US Air Force denied it had jets in the air, only to later concede its aircraft was in the sky.

According to Express, Despite what they called an internal communications error, military chiefs refused to acknowledge the mile-wide line of purported UFOs near the remote town of Stephenville, Texas.

Now, 15 years later, footage from the incident is being probed by the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office on behalf of the US Defense Department.

National Geographic’s new series UFOs: Investigating The Unknown confirmed the existence of the radar footage and also had an eyewitness describe the close encounter.

Lee Roy Gaten, a police officer, said he looked out of his car and saw 10 to 12 fluorescent orbs. He said: “They were moving really quickly and then they stopped and then all of a sudden they shot off.”

Private airline pilot Steve Allen, who was camping out with pals nearby, also told the series he “noticed some lights coming at us at a very high rate of speed”. He added: “We saw craft coming from the east going west. They had extremely large lights like a magnesium flare. It almost burnt your eyes to look at it.

“It was moving extremely fast – faster than any normal aircraft. “As we watched it we saw there were two F-16 jets in hot pursuit after it chasing it. “It was unbelievable. It left us all in shock. It was out of this world.”