What the Pentagon UFO files include
The modern federal UFO record is spread across several official systems rather than one complete archive. The Department of War PURSUE portal publishes rolling tranches of documents, imagery, video, and other media. AARO maintains its own case imagery, report documents, information papers, and congressional products. The National Archives is separately assembling Record Group 615 from records transferred by federal agencies. Probed connects those collections without pretending that they are interchangeable or complete.
This page concentrates on records released by defense and intelligence organizations and on the official context needed to interpret them. Every file card links to a Probed record that preserves the originating release, agency label, file type, source URL, and available analysis. The source link remains the authority for the underlying record; Probed adds navigation, transcription, cross-references, and clearly labeled editorial assessment.
How the release system works
PURSUE began with an initial release on May 8, 2026 and describes the collection as a rolling interagency transparency effort. The official portal organizes material by release date, agency, and file type. That release date is not necessarily the date of the event or the date a document was created. Probed stores those fields separately so researchers can distinguish publication chronology from incident chronology.
A release may combine historical documents, recent mission material, photographs, or video. A file name can be an agency identifier, a descriptive title, or a portal-specific label. For that reason, the tracker keeps the official title and source URL while presenting a clearer display title where an editor has verified one. It also preserves direct file identifiers in search metadata when they are important for exact-match research.
- Release date: when the government published or cleared the tranche.
- Incident date: when the underlying event reportedly occurred, when known.
- Originating agency: the organization associated with the record, not necessarily the organization hosting the download.
- Assessment status: whether Probed has completed a substantive review or only verified metadata.
How to read an official file responsibly
Official release is evidence of provenance, not proof that every claim inside a record is correct. A report may preserve a witness statement, an analyst hypothesis, a historical allegation, or a resolved case. Start with the exact wording and source locator, then separate what the record reports from what an agency concluded. Look for dates, sensor type, chain of custody, redactions, and references to attachments that may not have been released.
Visual material deserves the same caution. Compression, cropping, stabilization, missing telemetry, and unknown viewing geometry can change what a clip appears to show. AARO and NASA both emphasize the importance of better-calibrated, consistently collected data. Probed therefore treats an unexplained label as a status of the available evidence, not as a conclusion about origin.
Where to look beyond Pentagon releases
The National Archives UAP collection is the main federal archival destination created under the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act. Record Group 615 now lists transfers from agencies including the FAA, NRC, ODNI, Office of the Secretary of Defense, NSA, State Department, FBI, and Air Force, with additional transfers expected on a rolling basis. NARA also offers bulk downloads for several UAP-related series and older Project Blue Book holdings.
If a specific record is not public, FOIA.gov recommends first checking existing agency reading rooms and then sending a written request that reasonably describes the records sought. A narrow request with agency, office, date range, record type, and known identifiers is generally easier to process than a request for every record about a broad topic. A FOIA request asks for existing records; it does not require an agency to create analysis or answer research questions.
Curated records
Explore the source files
DOW-UAP-D098, Film Analysis of Unidentified Objects, 1953
A 1953 Naval Photographic Interpretation Center progress report analyzes motion-picture footage recorded in Utah and Montana in 1952. It documents photogrammetric and densitometric methods, describes blue-white disk-like images, and reports calculated motion while retaining assumptions and limits in the analysis.
FBI-UAP-D025, Rendering, “Airborne Triangle,” 2002
The rendering depicts a large, unlit black triangular silhouette occluding a star field. This is an FBI artistic reconstruction rather than a photograph of the reported event; this image is based upon a first-hand description provided by a former military service member, as described in FBI-UAP-D024.
FBI-UAP-D027, Rendering, “Dark Translucent Triangle,” 2023
A five-frame digital reconstruction depicts a dark, low-contrast triangular aerial object crossing a residential night sky. The sequence shows the object at changing positions and orientations but does not establish scale, distance, speed, or physical composition.
FBI-UAP-D029, Rendering, “Dark Triangle with Lights,” 2011
The rendering depicts a dark triangular form with three diffuse white corner lights above a residential night scene. This is an FBI artistic reconstruction rather than a photograph of the reported event; this image is based upon a first-hand description provided by two former U.S. military service members, as described in FBI-UAP-D028.
FBI-UAP-D031, Rendering, “Large Triangle with Red Lights,” 2023
The rendering depicts a dark triangular form with three red corner lights above a lit parking area. This is an FBI artistic reconstruction rather than a photograph of the reported event; this image is based upon a first-hand description provided by a U.S. Person, as described in FBI-UAP-D030.
FBI-UAP-D038, Rendering 1, “Multiple Red Lights,” 2026
A single digital rendering depicts two small red lights above a desert mountain ridge at dusk, viewed from beside a parked vehicle. The image is an illustrative reconstruction and does not independently establish the lights’ distance, altitude, size, or source.
FBI-UAP-D039, Rendering 2, “Multiple Red Lights,” 2026
Three digital renderings present a bright circular light through a binocular or night-optics field, with concentric halo rings and a mountainous horizon. The repeated frames illustrate an optical appearance rather than independently measuring the light’s range, size, or motion.
FBI-UAP-D041, Rendering 1, “Multiple Red Lights,” 2026
A six-frame digital sequence depicts red lights appearing in increasing numbers above a desert mountain ridge while an observer stands beside a vehicle. The rendering illustrates the reported arrangement and progression but cannot establish physical distance, altitude, or object identity.
FBI-UAP-D042, Rendering 2, “Multiple Red Lights,” 2026
A single digital rendering shows a narrow luminous streak rising above a mountainous horizon within a binocular or night-optics field. It is an illustrative reconstruction and does not independently determine the streak’s source, trajectory, distance, or duration.
CIA-UAP-D022, Unidentified Flying Object Reported near Puerto Rico, 1965
A 1965 intelligence memorandum reviews radar photography and pilot observations connected to unidentified-aircraft reports near Puerto Rico in November 1964. It rejects a high-altitude ultra-high-speed interpretation for one track while assessing the November 19 object as probably a high-performance delta-wing fighter.
CIA-UAP-D023, Briefing Notes for Mr. Walter Elder
Briefing notes summarize radar and pilot observations near Puerto Rico during November 1964. They describe a radar contact involving USS Gyatt, a Crusader pilot’s view of a delta-shaped object, and reported performance estimates while noting that naval intelligence had no further information.
DOS-UAP-D001, Diplomatic Cable, Brazil, November 14, 1963
A November 14, 1963 State Department cable relays an unverified telephone report from Bahia concerning a large metal object, an alleged dead crewman, and an impact crater. The cable requests cooperation from air and science attaches and records onward passage to Defense and NASA.
DOS-UAP-D002, Diplomatic Cable, Brazil, November 20, 1963
A November 20, 1963 diplomatic dispatch reports that local inquiries found no support for the alleged object near Conde, Bahia. It cites a consul’s telegram and two newspaper accounts, including a categorical denial by the Ministry of Aeronautics, and characterizes the original story as fabricated.
DOW-UAP-D099, Intelligence Review of “Ghost Rocket” Incidents, 1947
A January 1947 War Department intelligence review assesses the 1946 Scandinavian “ghost rocket” reports. It contrasts highly variable witness accounts with official investigations, notes the absence of recovered direct evidence, and concludes that only a small number may have involved low-flying V-1-type missiles while many high-altitude reports were likely meteors or fireworks.
DOW-UAP-D100, Air Materiel Command Report on Unidentified Flying Objects
This 245-page historical file assembles 1947-1948 Air Force correspondence, sighting reports, investigative requests, policy memoranda, and analytical papers associated with flying-disc inquiries and Project SIGN. It documents how Air Materiel Command gathered reports, coordinated intelligence collection, evaluated possible explanations, and considered the problem unresolved despite identifying some reports as balloons or astronomical objects.
DOW-UAP-D101, Unresolved UAP, Gulf of Oman, 2021
A declassified intelligence information report describes approximately 25 infrared observations during an AC-130 live-fire training mission over the Gulf of Oman on September 8, 2021. It records cold-orb appearances, formation and maneuver observations, crew speed estimates, missing propulsion indicators, and the failure of the aircraft recorder to preserve all footage.
Primary sources
- 01Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters — U.S. Department of War
- 02Initial PURSUE transparency release announcement — U.S. Department of War
- 03Official UAP imagery — All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office
- 04UAP report documents — All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office
- 05Record Group 615: UAP Records Collection — National Archives
- 06Bulk downloads for UAP records — National Archives
- 072024 Consolidated Annual Report on UAP — Office of the Director of National Intelligence
- 08UAP Independent Study and final report — NASA
- 09How to make a FOIA request — U.S. Department of Justice