157 of 157 FILES

A four-page AARO summary of seven federal law enforcement agents who independently reported four distinct UAP encounter categories, orbs emitting sub-orbs, a large silent hovering orb, and two kite-shaped low-altitude objects, in the western United States over two days in 2023.

• orbs
• sub-orb emission
• kite-shaped

A U.S. Air Force long-endurance reconnaissance aircraft operating over Iraq on 20 May 2022 observed a single UAP flying north to northeast at 2043Z; the screener could not positively identify it.

• UAP unidentified
• north-northeast trajectory
• FMV sensor

A 1955 Air Intelligence Information Report documenting an eyewitness account of an unconventional aircraft ascending and flying over the trans-Caucasus region of the USSR, filed under Department of War numerical filing system.

• unconventional aircraft
• trans-Caucasus
• Azerbaijan

A two-page Department of State memorandum from July 18, 1952 cataloguing explanations for the surge in UFO sighting reports, drawing on technological factors, historical precedent, and U.S. Air Force assessments.

• UAP
• 1952 Washington wave
• Department of State

A U.S. military operator filed a standardized Mission Report documenting a UAP observation over or near the Strait of Hormuz on October 1, 2020.

• Strait of Hormuz
• October 2020
• MISREP

A USCENTCOM Mission Report (MISREP 4782130) documenting a 482nd Attack Squadron ISR aircraft's FMV observation of a UAP over the Strait of Hormuz on 16 September 2020, during a 20-hour, 56-minute reconnaissance sortie in support of NAVCENT.

• UAP
• FMV observation
• Strait of Hormuz

A U.S. Air Force 89th Attack Squadron ISR asset on a 21-hour Operation INHERENT RESOLVE sortie over Syria filed a MISREP reporting a UAP that moved north to south in under one minute on July 31, 2022.

• UAP direction N-to-S
• sub-minute duration
• no RF signature

A USCENTCOM mission report documenting a brief, unresolved UAP sighting over Syria at 0239Z on July 31, 2022, observed during a 21-hour armed reconnaissance sortie flown by the 89th Attack Squadron under Operation INHERENT RESOLVE.

• UAP
• Syria
• north-to-south trajectory

A U.S. Central Command report to AARO documenting a SWIR-only-detectable UAP over Greece in January 2024, accompanied by 65 seconds of multi-sensor video from an unidentified military platform.

• diamond-shaped
• SWIR-only
• Greece

A SECRET USCENTCOM mission report (MISREP) from the 12th Special Operations Squadron documenting an FMV-camera observation of a light/glare phenomenon of unknown origin during an ISR orbit over Syria on October 20, 2024, submitted to AARO with an accompanying five-second video clip.

• white light ball
• light/glare halo
• plasma classification

USCENTCOM mission report documenting a UAP event, formally categorized as plasma, described as a misshapen ball of white light, observed via FMV camera during an AFSOC ISR sortie over Syria on 20 October 2024.

• white light ball
• plasma
• light/glare

A USCENTCOM mission report documenting repeated unexplained light and glare anomalies captured on an FMV camera during a 20-hour ISR sortie over Syria on 20 October 2024, under Operation INHERENT RESOLVE.

• ball of light
• plasma (field-reported)
• halo effect

A January 31, 1994 U.S. Embassy Dushanbe diplomatic cable reporting that a Tajik Air chief pilot and two American colleagues observed an unidentified aerial object for approximately forty minutes while flying a Boeing 747SP at 41,000 feet over Kazakhstan on January 27, 1994.

• bright light
• bow wave
• contrails at 100,000 ft

A 1:59 infrared video submitted by INDOPACOM to AARO in 2023 shows three distinct areas of contrast maintaining fixed relative positions, with no accompanying oral or written witness description.

• three contacts
• infrared
• fixed relative formation

A U.S. military MISREP documenting three UAP encounters by a single operator in the Persian Gulf on July 16, 2020, at 1830Z, 1920Z, and 2345Z.

• Persian Gulf
• 2020
• MISREP

A U.S. Navy O-3 helicopter pilot assigned to HSM-73 filed a Range Fouler Debrief Form documenting a night encounter with three small unidentified air contacts over the North Arabian Sea on 24 August 2020, with all radar, IFF, and electronic support returns negative.

• small air contacts
• wings/airframe
• North Arabian Sea

A U.S. Navy O-2 pilot's Range Fouler Debrief documenting sensor-display contact with three UAP of undetermined shape that maneuvered at high relative speed during a dusk sortie in the Arabian Gulf on August 31, 2020.

• three contacts
• sensor display
• Arabian Gulf

Compiled excerpts from technical crew debriefings for all three Skylab missions (1973–1974) documenting unexplained light flashes, a bright reddish object in near-identical orbit to the station, and flashing lights exhibiting definite motion relative to the vehicle.

• light flashes
• reddish object
• near-identical orbit

A November 1948 Air Force intelligence report, filed within a Top Secret continuation series on intelligence collection and dissemination, addressing unidentified flying objects and flying saucers over or near the Netherlands.

• flying saucer
• Netherlands
• 1948

A SECRET//NOFORN Mission Report in which a U.S. military operator, returning to base over the Mediterranean, reports observing a single triangular, metallic UAP at 24,989 feet MSL traveling at 168 knots.

• triangular
• metallic
• Mediterranean Sea

A 2004 US Embassy Ashgabat cable reporting on the Union of UFOlogists of Turkmenabat, an NGO that leverages its UFO branding for political goodwill while functioning as one of USAID's most effective civil-society implementers in Turkmenistan.

• Turkmenistan
• airspace anomalies
• Central Asia

USCENTCOM MISREP documenting two solid, thermally anomalous UAPs observed 41 minutes apart during a 20-hour ISR mission over the Persian Gulf on 24 October 2023.

• solid-UAP
• thermal-cold-signature
• Persian Gulf

A USCENTCOM Mission Report documenting two FMV-detected UAP observed over the Arabian Gulf during a 20-hour armed reconnaissance sortie on November 2, 2020.

• UAP x2
• FMV
• Arabian Gulf

A U.S. Navy O-3 aviator filed a standardized Range Fouler Debrief documenting a night encounter with two UAP exhibiting anomalous motion, apparent noise jamming, and IR signatures at 26,000 feet during a Defense Combat Air Patrol on 27 October 2020.

• balloon-shaped
• metallic
• reflective

A Department of the Army infrared sensor video, 1 minute and 49 seconds long, documenting two unidentified areas of contrast tracked by a U.S. military platform over North America in 2026, submitted to AARO with no accompanying reporter description.

• dual-object
• infrared
• North America

A USCENTCOM mission report documenting two UAP contacts observed by an airborne ISR platform over the Persian Gulf on October 24, 2023, during a 20-hour IMINT collection mission supporting OP SPARTAN SHIELD.

• IR thermal
• cold thermal return
• solid object

A U.S. military MISREP documenting a 1653Z observation of two round, white-hot UAPs traveling south at approximately 240 knots over a grid location consistent with the eastern Mediterranean.

• round
• white hot
• IR thermal

A USCENTCOM mission report documenting two UAP sightings by a U.S. Air Force ISR aircraft operating over the UAE during a 20-hour, 43-minute OP SPARTAN SHIELD mission on October 24, 2023.

• infrared
• thermal-cold
• solid

A two-email SECRET//NOFORN exchange between 15th Air Force intelligence staff negotiating disclosure approval for the year of a 31 October 2024 mission report in which a U.S. aircraft tracked an oval/orb UAP at low speed for over two hours.

• oval/orb shape
• low speed
• airborne visual observation

A USCENTCOM MISREP covering a 21-hour AREC sortie over the Arabian Gulf on August 26-27, 2020, during which aircrew observed an unidentified formation of flying objects traveling along the Persian Gulf coast for approximately two minutes before cloud cover ended all tracking.

• formation
• Persian Gulf
• Arabian Gulf

A two-second infrared clip from a U.S. Africa Command platform near Djibouti captures an unidentified area of contrast traversing the sensor field-of-view; submitted to AARO with no reporter description attached.

• infrared
• Djibouti
• Africa

A U.S. Air Force ISR crew operating over the Gulf of Aden filed a SECRET MISREP documenting a single UAP observed at low altitude moving northwest faster than the observing aircraft, assessed as benign, and tracked until it outpaced pursuit.

• straight flight path
• low altitude
• speed anomaly

A 1949–1950 Department of War compilation of military and CAA UFO incident reports filed under Flight Service Regulation 200-4, supplemented by MATS and AACS traffic, intelligence annexes, diagrams, and a Japanese weather station report.

• flying disc
• military witness
• CAA witness

A USCENTCOM recommendation to AARO for an unresolved 2022 UAP report from Iraq, consisting of a single digitally annotated still image of an elongated anomalous object, signed by MG Richard A. Harrison on 8 October 2025.

• still image
• elongated contrast
• north-to-northeast movement

Official chronological registry of all major launch operations at Vandenberg AFB from 1958 through February 2000, compiled by the 30th Space Wing Office of History, contains no UAP content.

• launch-registry
• Vandenberg-AFB
• 1958-2000

A U.S. military aircrew over the Arabian Gulf in 2020 achieved a weapons-quality fire control lock on a balloon-like UAP at 31,000 ft MSL and visually confirmed it via TFLIR.

• balloon-like
• TFLIR
• Arabian Gulf

A July 1963 memorandum from the National Aeronautics and Space Council addresses contingency thinking around the discovery of extraterrestrial intelligence, touching on scientific, diplomatic, and policy dimensions including the possibility of life on Mars.

• extraterrestrial intelligence
• Mars
• alien contact contingency