DISCLOSURE / FILEINDOPACOM Yellow Sea Duplicate Clip January 2023
DOW-UAP-PR057b, "[Platform] Observes UAP in East China Sea 05 JAN 2023 INDOPACOM"
A 1:10 infrared video uploaded to a classified network in June 2024, assessed by AARO as likely captured above the Yellow Sea in January 2023, released as a duplicate of DOW-UAP-PR57a under a different user-assigned title.
Brief
Eight members of the U.S. House of Representatives formally requested access to 51 potentially UAP-related records on March 6, 2026, prompting AARO to identify responsive materials on a classified network, many of which lack a substantiated chain-of-custody. This video — user-titled 'Spherical UAP in clouds' and uploaded to that classified network in June 2024 — is assessed as likely derived from an infrared sensor aboard a U.S. military platform operating above the Yellow Sea in January 2023. AARO's frame-by-frame description characterizes the subject solely as 'an area of contrast,' declining to adopt the uploader's 'spherical' label. The release is a confirmed duplicate of DOW-UAP-PR57a, the discrepancy arising from two users assigning different titles to the same underlying material on the classified network.
Metadata
- Agency
- Department of War
- Release
- 5/22/26
- Incident
- 2023
- Location
- Yellow Sea
- Type
- VIDEO • .mp4
- Length
- 1:11
- Programs
- AARO
- Tags
- infrared, Yellow Sea, East China Sea, 2023, spherical (uploader label), classified network upload, INDOPACOM
Key points
- Eight House members submitted a formal request on March 6, 2026 for access to 51 potentially UAP-related records held by the Department of War and the Intelligence Community.
- AARO assessed the video as likely captured by an infrared sensor aboard a U.S. military platform operating above the Yellow Sea in January 2023 — though the file's own title references the East China Sea, a geographically distinct body of water.
- Many of the responsive materials AARO identified on the classified network lack a substantiated chain-of-custody.
- The video was uploaded to a classified network by an unidentified user in June 2024, more than 18 months after the incident date.
- AARO consistently describes the subject as 'an area of contrast' rather than adopting the uploader-defined label 'Spherical UAP in clouds.'
- This release is a duplicate of DOW-UAP-PR57a; the duplication arose because two separate users titled the same underlying material differently on the classified network.
- AARO's disclaimer explicitly states the frame-by-frame description should not be interpreted as reflecting 'an analytical judgment, investigative conclusion, or factual determination regarding the described event's validity, nature, or significance.'
Most interesting
- The file title references the East China Sea while the body of the release places the incident above the Yellow Sea — adjacent but geographically distinct bodies of water — and the discrepancy is unresolved in the release text.
- AARO's frame-by-frame description never assigns a shape, size, or object classification to the subject; the phrase used throughout is 'an area of contrast' that enters, exits, or becomes indistinguishable against the background.
- The video's provenance is entirely user-driven: uploaded by an unidentified individual to a classified network in June 2024 with no formal military reporting chain documented behind it.
- The duplicate designation (PR57a / PR57b) arose not from a double-collection of the underlying event but from two users independently assigning different filenames to the same clip on a shared classified network.
- The congressional request that surfaced this material was filed by eight House members, bypassing the standard executive-branch UAP reporting channels that would normally feed AARO's intake process.
- Six of the video's 70 seconds contain no content at all — the first six seconds and the final 13 seconds are blank — leaving roughly 44 seconds of active sensor data.