Ex-Navy Pilot Ryan Graves Tries to Explain Mysterious Aerial Phenomena

With the recent takedowns of unexplained flying objects in the sky -- and mass speculation they may be of another world -- one former Navy pilot says the convo is long overdue.

We talked to Ryan Graves -- a retired naval lieutenant who used to fly F-18s and who's attested to seeing UAPs -- to help make sense of these latest mysterious incidents ... namely, the U.S. government shooting objects down but not knowing what they are.

On "TMZ Live" Wednesday, Graves weighed in on the latest piece to this wonky puzzle ... the alarming cockpit audio that was just released, where the pilots are baffled by what they were seeing over Lake Huron this past weekend ... ultimately calling it an apparent balloon.

According to RG, they probably only landed on "balloon" because that's the best thing they could refer to describe this -- even though it's clear that whatever they saw fell outside the parameters of a typical orb they might normally see floating around.

With the White House now explicitly saying "alien" -- specifically, to deny that the UFOs that were shot down were E.T.-related in any way -- Graves says this topic is finally breaking through in a meaningful way ... this after years of military personnel having seen them.

He tells us there are likely things in this world, and universe, that we simply don't understand and can't quite explain ... and now that we're zeroing in on some of this stuff -- by actually seeking it out, he adds -- it's going to be a difficult road in making sense of it all.

The best thing Uncle Sam can do, he suggests, is to be upfront and transparent about what we know or don't ... as that's the best way to maintain trust and get to the truth.