Interesting. I saw similar craft in 2004 while serving in Iraq. Was at the Camp Fallujah billeting area waiting for my ride down to the LZ. It was middle of the night with a rising full moon.

I saw it come in over my left shoulder and enter a circling pattern over the main part of the camp. Was florescent green, like the electroluminescent lights we see on military aircraft.

Thought for a moment it was a jet but then realized there was no noise and was not moving like a jet at that altitude. As it circled it passed in front of the full moon but I could not discern a shape. It made about four circuits then departed strait up, accelerating at unnatural speed, and disappearing into the starry night. Never seen anything like it in my 28 years of service.

There was one other witness. Just as it disappeared my driver walked up behind me and said “holy sh*t sir did you see that! What was that f**king thing!?”

Which is Marine Lance Corporal speak for “sir did we just observe a visual anomaly flying over the camp?”

In any case, I never gave it any thought afterward (had other issues to deal with at the time) until I read the NYT report about the Navy incidents off the coast of CA.

You suggest government skunk works. I have always thought it was AI driven probe from another planet. AI device could tolerate the long time to travel here and the rapid acceleration that we witnessed. But in any case those things are real.