DISCLOSURE / FILESpherical Object Pulsing over Water Military Infrared
DOW-UAP-PR056, "Spherical UAP pulsing over water [CALLSIGN]"
A 3-minute 32-second infrared video of an unidentified spherical object over water, uploaded to a classified network in June 2024 and released by AARO in response to a March 2026 congressional records request.
Brief
AARO released this footage as part of a 51-record collection identified in response to a March 6, 2026 request from eight House members seeking potentially UAP-related records held by the Department of War and the Intelligence Community. The video was uploaded by an unidentified user to a classified network in June 2024 and shows an area of contrast remaining generally centered in the frame throughout its full 3:32 runtime; AARO assesses it likely derives from an infrared sensor aboard a U.S. military platform. The footage was digitally altered before upload and is presented as received, with no restoration. AARO flags that many materials in this collection lack a substantiated chain-of-custody, and the platform callsign in the uploader-defined title is redacted.
Metadata
- Agency
- Department of War
- Release
- 5/22/26
- Type
- VIDEO • .mp4
- Length
- 3:32
- Programs
- AARO
- Tags
- spherical UAP, infrared sensor, over water, 2024 upload, digitally altered, classified network, redacted callsign, AARO
Key points
- Eight House members formally requested access to 51 potentially UAP-related records from the Department of War and the Intelligence Community on March 6, 2026.
- AARO assesses the video likely derives from an infrared sensor aboard a U.S. military platform.
- An unidentified user uploaded the video to a classified network in June 2024.
- The video was digitally altered prior to upload; it is presented as received with no restoration or annotation by AARO.
- Many of the 51 responsive materials in this collection lack a substantiated chain-of-custody, per AARO's own characterization.
- At 00:48–00:52 the sensor briefly switches contrast modes; the area of contrast remains generally centered throughout the mode change and after.
- The originating platform callsign appears redacted in the uploader-defined title, bracketed as '[CALLSIGN]'.
Most interesting
- The uploader-defined title reads 'Spherical UAP pulsing over water [CALLSIGN]' — the bracketed token marks a redacted military platform identifier, meaning the sensor host is known to the classifying authority but withheld from this release.
- AARO states the video was 'digitally altered prior to its upload' without specifying what was changed, removed, or obscured — leaving the alteration's scope and purpose undisclosed.
- Chain-of-custody is flagged as unsubstantiated for many of the 51 materials in this batch, an atypical provenance caveat for a government records release and a meaningful qualifier on evidentiary weight.
- The sensor contrast-mode switch at 00:48–00:52 is consistent with standard infrared white-hot/black-hot toggling, a technique operators use to sharpen contrast on ambiguous thermal signatures against water backgrounds.
- AARO's description closes with an explicit disclaimer that nothing in it should be read as 'reflecting an analytical judgment, investigative conclusion, or factual determination regarding the described event's validity, nature, or significance' — an unusually broad hedge that applies to the description itself.
- The congressional records request that triggered this release was filed on March 6, 2026, and the release shipped May 22, 2026 — a 77-day turnaround for a classified-network retrieval with chain-of-custody questions.