Civilian Witness Reports Bronze Metallic Object, September 2023

Brief

An FBI agent conducted a standard FD-302 interview with a US citizen who witnessed a UAP at a US test site in September 2023. Per the war.gov listing description, the witness characterized the object as metallic bronze in color. Page 2 — the only page with extractable text — records the witness weighing whether the light could have been a meteor approaching on a direct vector and burning up in the atmosphere. The witness name, test site identity, and exact incident date are all redacted in the released version.

Metadata

Agency

FBI

Release

5/8/26

Incident

9/1/23

Location

United States

Type

PDF • .pdf

Length

2 pages

Tags

metallic bronze, US test site, 2023, visual observation, FD-302 interview, USPER witness

Key points

• The document is page 2 of a 2-page FD-302, meaning the core witness account and UAP description on page 1 are not available in extractable form.p.2
• The witness considered a meteor explanation, specifically that the light was 'coming straight toward them and burning up in the atmosphere,' implying a direct approach trajectory before the hypothesis was apparently set aside.p.2
• The incident date is partially redacted on the form itself — day of month withheld — though the war.gov listing records it as 9/1/23.p.2
• The subject is identified only as a US person (USPER); all personally identifying information is redacted.p.2
• The object was described as metallic bronze in color according to the war.gov listing description; this detail does not appear in the extractable page text and cannot be page-cited.

Verbatim

• thought the light might have been a meteor coming straight toward them and burning up in the atmosphere.

  p.2

Most interesting

• The sighting occurred at a US test site — a controlled, restricted facility — which adds operational weight to an already formal FBI investigation.
• The witness's meteor hypothesis is itself notable: the language 'coming straight toward them' suggests the object appeared to close on the observer's position rather than traverse the sky laterally.
• A metallic bronze color description is rare in the UAP literature; most accounts describe silver, white, or dark objects, with bronze implying a warm reflective surface rather than self-luminous emission.
• The FD-302 format is standard FBI investigative interview documentation, indicating the Bureau treated this as a formal case rather than a passive report intake.
• With both the witness identity and the test site name redacted, the two most operationally sensitive data points — who saw it and where — remain protected even in the disclosed release.