DISCLOSURE / FILECENTCOM Spherical UAP April 2021 Second Object
DOW-UAP-PR060, "Spherical UAP [CALLSIGN] 2021/04/12 obj 2"
A 4-minute-50-second classified video, titled 'Spherical UAP [CALLSIGN] 2021/04/12 obj 2,' captures an unidentified area of contrast tracked by full-motion video and infrared sensors aboard a U.S. military platform in the CENTCOM area of responsibility in April 2021.
Brief
AARO released this footage in response to a March 6, 2026 request from eight House members seeking access to 51 potentially UAP-related records held by the Department of War and the Intelligence Community. The video was uploaded to a classified network in June 2024 — roughly three years after the April 2021 incident — and AARO notes the broader collection of responsive materials lacks a substantiated chain of custody. AARO assesses the footage as likely derived from both a full-motion video camera and an infrared sensor aboard a U.S. military platform, describing the object throughout as 'an area of contrast' rather than echoing the uploader's title. The agency explicitly disclaims any analytical judgment about the event's validity, nature, or significance.
Metadata
- Agency
- Department of War
- Release
- 5/22/26
- Incident
- 2021
- Location
- CENTCOM
- Type
- VIDEO • .mp4
- Length
- 4:50
- Programs
- AARO
- Tags
- spherical, area of contrast, infrared, full-motion video, CENTCOM, 2021, classified network upload, obj 2
Key points
- Eight U.S. House members formally requested access to 51 potentially UAP-related records held by the Department of War and the Intelligence Community on March 6, 2026, triggering this release.
- AARO assessed the video as likely derived from both a full-motion video camera and an infrared sensor aboard a U.S. military platform operating within the CENTCOM area of responsibility.
- The video was uploaded to a classified network in June 2024, approximately three years after the recorded incident date of April 12, 2021.
- AARO explicitly states the collection of responsive materials lacks a substantiated chain of custody, flagging provenance concerns across the broader 51-record set.
- The uploader defined the title as 'Spherical UAP'; AARO's own language substitutes 'area of contrast' throughout, deliberately withholding any shape or materiality characterization.
- The designation 'obj 2' in the title implies at least one companion object or video from the same April 12, 2021 event exists in the collection.
- From 02:05 to 04:50 the sensor refocuses on the original subject matter of the video, suggesting the UAP contact was not the platform's primary tasking at the time of the event.
Most interesting
- The uploader titled the video 'Spherical UAP' but AARO declined to adopt that language, substituting 'area of contrast' — a term that commits to nothing about shape, materiality, or anomalous nature.
- The sensor loses and then reacquires the object, panning and zooming across two separate contact windows — indicating active, sustained tracking rather than a chance frame crossing.
- A three-year gap separates the incident (April 12, 2021) from the upload to the classified network (June 2024), and AARO explicitly flags the chain-of-custody problem for this entire collection.
- The 'obj 2' suffix in the uploader-defined title implies at least one other tracked object from the same date, suggesting a companion record may exist within the 51-document congressional tranche.
- The congressional request that surfaced this video came from eight House members — a bipartisan pressure mechanism rather than a formal committee subpoena — underscoring that the release pathway was political rather than routine declassification.