On August 7, 2026, the Pentagon released its fifth collection of declassified records concerning UFOs, officially termed unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP). This disclosure included 41 new files: over a dozen videos, three images, and numerous government documents. These records cover unexplained sightings from 1950 to 2026.
The records originated from several U.S. agencies, including the Pentagon, FBI, CIA, State Department, and Executive Office of the President. Their release through the Pursuit Program followed President Donald Trump’s January 2026 order for additional UAP disclosures.
One notable incident detailed is a September 2021 encounter over the Gulf of Oman. During a live-fire exercise, a U.S. Special Operations AC-130J gunship reportedly observed approximately 25 “cold orbs.”
Six videos offer different perspectives of this event. The objects were detected at various altitudes, with estimated speeds from 250 to 1,300 mph. Some appeared to maneuver aggressively or react to cannon fire. The Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) has not yet resolved this case.
Another account comes from a former military pilot interviewed by the FBI in 2024. The pilot described witnessing a massive triangular object over Bagram, Afghanistan, in 2002. According to an FBI Form 302 report, the silent object, estimated at 500 feet across and shaped like an equilateral triangle, appeared to block out stars as it travelled from west to east at around 150 knots without visible lights. Another pilot reportedly witnessed it, and the FBI later produced an artistic rendering.
More recent cases include a 2025 U.S. Central Command video showing a spherical object moving across a populated area in the Middle East. Additionally, separate infrared footage recorded by a U.S. government special agent in the western United States in 2026 reportedly shows two slow-moving “black-hot” objects observed for roughly five to ten minutes after a radio-frequency detection.
The release also contains eight FBI Form 302 witness-interview reports. One former military pilot reported unusual lights during flights beginning in October 2023, generally between midnight and 3 a.m. The lights reportedly shifted from dim to bright before disappearing, with similar encounters occurring approximately ten times.
Historical records include a 1953 U.S. Naval Photographic Interpretation Center memo examining footage captured in Montana in 1950 and Utah in 1952. Investigators noted that the characteristics of the observed objects appeared inconsistent with natural phenomena. A separate 2019 Pacific Ocean video appears to show a black sphere briefly disappearing before reappearing.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell stated that more records would be released on a rolling basis, with another tranche expected in the coming weeks.
