DISCLOSURE / FILESpherical Object over Afghanistan into Clouds November 2020
DOW-UAP-PR055, "Spherical UAP over AFG in and out of clouds 23 Nov 2020"
A 47-second infrared video, titled by its uploader 'Spherical UAP over AFG in and out of clouds 23 Nov 2020,' retrieved from a classified network as part of a Congressional records request; AARO cannot confirm its chain of custody and notes the footage was digitally altered before upload.
Brief
AARO identified this video while responding to a March 2026 request from eight House members for 51 potentially UAP-related records. The agency assesses it likely originates from an infrared sensor on a U.S. military platform in the CENTCOM area of responsibility in November 2020, but notes that many of these materials lack a substantiated chain of custody. The footage was digitally altered prior to its upload to a classified network in June 2024 — more than three years after the depicted incident — and AARO declines to make any analytical judgment about the object's nature or significance.
Metadata
- Agency
- Department of War
- Release
- 5/22/26
- Incident
- 2020
- Location
- CENTCOM
- Type
- VIDEO • .mp4
- Length
- 0:47
- Classification
- UNCLASSIFIED
- Programs
- AARO
- Tags
- spherical, infrared, CENTCOM, Afghanistan, 2020, cloud-transit, digitally-altered, classified-network-upload
Key points
- AARO assesses the video is likely derived from an infrared sensor aboard a U.S. military platform operating in the CENTCOM area of responsibility in November 2020, but issues no analytical conclusion about the object itself.
- The video was uploaded to a classified network by an unnamed user in June 2024, approximately 3.5 years after the November 2020 incident date named in the title.
- AARO states that many of the 51 retrieved materials 'lack a substantiated chain-of-custody,' raising direct provenance questions about this footage.
- The footage was digitally altered before upload: a zoomed-in clip, a sharpened/motion-tracked/contrast-enhanced slow-motion replay at 60% speed, and a segment labeled 'original video' appear in sequence.
- The video was surfaced by a Congressional records request: eight U.S. House members on March 6, 2026, sought access to 51 potentially UAP-related records held by the Department of War and the Intelligence Community.
- The title 'Spherical UAP over AFG in and out of clouds 23 Nov 2020' is uploader-defined; AARO's description characterizes the object only as 'an area of contrast,' not a sphere.
- In the 'original video' segment, the area of contrast appears near the center-top of the frame, transits downward to the left, then moves right before losing distinctiveness against the background.
Most interesting
- The video was edited into three distinct segments before being uploaded to the classified network — a zoomed-in clip, a reprocessed slow-motion version with sharpening and contrast enhancement, and a final 'original video' segment — with the edits performed by whoever uploaded the file, not by AARO.
- AARO declines to characterize the object as spherical despite the uploader's title, referring to it only as 'an area of contrast' that loses distinctiveness against the background in both processed and original segments.
- The Congressional request that surfaced this file was filed on March 6, 2026 — 77 days before the May 22, 2026 public release date.
- The provenance chain has at least two documented gaps: the 3.5-year interval between the November 2020 incident and the June 2024 classified-network upload, and AARO's explicit acknowledgment that chain-of-custody for the batch is unsubstantiated.
- The disclosure note states the video 'is presented as received,' meaning AARO has not corrected or reversed any of the digital alterations applied by the uploader prior to release.