Dark Circle Over Western Range, System Clock Unset

Brief

The FBI forwarded this image to AARO as a UAP report; the original imagery was redacted prior to submission and no accompanying mission report was provided. The operating crew could not positively identify the object. The timestamp embedded in the image is acknowledged to be incorrect because the system clock had not been properly set. The image itself is a grainy monochrome frame centered on a crosshair reticle, with a small dark circular object visible in the upper right quadrant against what appears to be a mountain backdrop.

Metadata

Agency

FBI

Release

5/8/26

Incident

Late 2025

Location

Western United States

Type

PDF • .pdf

Length

1 pages

Classification

UNCLASSIFIED

Programs

AARO

Tags

circular, dark object, monochrome still image, crosshair reticle, mountain range, western United States, 2025, FBI-submitted, AARO, redacted imagery, military imaging system

Key points

• The image originated from a U.S. military system and was altered with redactions before FBI submission to AARO.
• No accompanying mission report was provided alongside the imagery.
• The operator on record was unable to positively identify the UAP.
• The embedded date/timestamp in the image is incorrect due to the system clock not having been set.
• The object appears as a small, dark, circular shape in the upper right quadrant of the frame.
• The background suggests a mountain range in the western United States, though the terrain is indistinct.
• The war.gov listing explicitly states the narrative description does not constitute an analytical judgment or factual determination about the event.

Most interesting

• The FBI acted as the submitting agency to AARO rather than the originating military branch, which is atypical and suggests the source unit routed through FBI channels.
• The system clock was not set on the originating military platform, meaning the only temporal anchor for the incident is the operator's report of 'late 2025' — the embedded timestamp carries no evidentiary weight.
• The image was redacted before being passed to AARO, meaning the oversight body received a degraded version of its own evidence record.
• A crosshair reticle centered in the frame is consistent with a targeting, tracking, or surveillance optic — the object falls outside the reticle center, placing it in the upper right quadrant rather than tracked center.
• The circular morphology and monochrome presentation are consistent with either electro-optical or thermal imaging, but the document does not specify sensor modality.