PURSUE TRANCHE 05
On August 7, 2026, the Department of War published Release 05 of the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters - 41 records (16 videos, 22 PDFs, 3 images) at war.gov/UFO/, drawn from the Pentagon, FBI, CIA, State Department, and the Executive Office of the President and spanning 1950 to 2026. The tranche introduces a new evidence class: eight FBI FD-302 witness-interview forms, most paired with bureau artist renderings of what the witness described, putting first-hand testimony next to the sensor video for the first time. The headline files are six videos of a September 2021 Gulf of Oman encounter in which an AC-130J gunship crew tracked roughly 25 'cold orbs' that appeared to react to cannon fire, and a 2002 FBI interview record describing an enormous silent triangle blacking out the stars over Bagram, Afghanistan. Fourteen files (34%) are partially redacted. The release brings the running PURSUE archive to roughly 375 records.
RELEASE 05 SUPERCUT · ALL 16 VIDEOS · SOURCE FILES: war.gov/UFO/ · COMPILATION FIVE
We plot the 3 most significant cases from this release on the globe and break down 8 highlights below. The full release is 41 files — videos, audio, and documents.
HIGHLIGHTS
8 STANDOUT ITEMSDuring a live-fire exercise, an AC-130J gunship crew logged roughly 25 instances of UAP described as 'cold orbs' flying at low altitude between 250 and 1,300 mph in varying formations and maneuvering aggressively. The orbs were first noticed after the aircraft dropped a water-activated flare as a mock target: two roughly four-foot-diameter cold orbs were hovering about 20 feet above it. When the cannon fired, the objects rapidly flew out of the sensor feed without changing altitude.
↳ Six short clips — cellphone captures of the gunship's infrared sensor displays — plus an intelligence information report. AARO lists the case unresolved.
At roughly 4:30 AM local, a military pilot noticed the stars getting blacked out over Bagram — 'as if something huge went overhead from west to east' in an equilateral triangle, moving silently at a consistent speed and altitude, possibly 150 knots, with no lights visible.
↳ Filed as an FBI interview record with an accompanying bureau digital rendering of the object.
Infrared footage of two slow-moving 'black-hot' areas of contrast crossing the sky. In the paired interview the witness describes pulling over after seeing two unidentified lights, which then moved along a mountain ridgeline; they characterized them as 'orb-like.'
↳ The most recent incident in the PURSUE archive to date. Globe pin uses a representative coordinate.
Eight FD-302s — the bureau's standard witness-interview record — all redacted to shield confidential information, and most paired with artist renderings drawn from the witness's own description. A first for the program, which had until now published almost exclusively sensor and archival material.
The clip that circulated most widely within hours of the drop: infrared footage of a black sphere hanging in the sky — slow-moving, 'black-hot' against the background, and eerily stable.
Pilot sighting reports filed on transatlantic routes, included among the interview records and narrative documents rather than the sensor-video block.
Historical analysis of early-1950s UFO films — the oldest material in the release and a direct link back to the Project Sign / Blue Book era records opened in Release 04.
Additional 2025 infrared sensor video from the CENTCOM area of responsibility, continuing the theater that has anchored every release since Release 01.
SENSOR ARCHIVE BY COMMAND
CENTCOM / MIDDLE EAST
AC-130J gunship vs. ~25 'cold orbs' during a live-fire exercise; objects react to cannon fire.
Further 2025 infrared sensor video carried as unresolved.
FBI WITNESS RECORDS + RENDERINGS
Equilateral triangle blacking out stars, silent, ~150 knots — with bureau digital rendering.
Redacted witness-interview forms, most paired with artist renderings of the described object.
DOMESTIC / 2026 INCIDENTS
Two slow-moving black-hot contacts; witness reports orb-like lights along a ridgeline.
Stationary black sphere in infrared — the most-shared clip of the release.
HISTORICAL — CIA / STATE / EOP
Analysis of early-1950s UFO film, the oldest material in the tranche.
First State Department and Executive Office of the President records to appear in PURSUE.
ALREADY ATTRIBUTED
MUNDANE EXPLANATIONS WITHIN THE RELEASE OR FROM POST-RELEASE ANALYSISThe objects were imaged on infrared as cold against a warm background — consistent with unheated, uncrewed airframes or balloons rather than a propulsion signature. Speed figures come from sensor-derived estimates on a moving platform, which are notoriously unreliable without a second track.
A silent, unlit, star-occluding shape at roughly 150 knots is also the signature of a large aircraft at night with lights out or a high-altitude airship; the account is a single witness recalling the event years later, with no sensor or radar corroboration in the file.
The renderings that accompany the FD-302s are illustrations drawn from witness description after the fact, not photographs or sensor capture, and should not be read as imagery of the object.
AARO's position is unchanged across all five releases: the majority of cases resolve to drones, balloons, birds, or sensor artifacts, and none of the released material constitutes credible evidence of extraterrestrial technology.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and DNI Tulsi Gabbard framed the PURSUE releases as the first of many rolling tranches expected every few weeks. Former AARO director Sean Kirkpatrick has cautioned that records reviewed during his tenure contained no evidence of recovered extraterrestrial technology.