Summary:
The United States Department of War released the fifth tranche of declassified Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena records on 7 August 2026 under the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters. The tranche comprises approximately 41 files—documents, digital renderings and videos—spanning 1946 to 2026 and is available at war.gov/UFO. Records drawn from the Department of War, Central Intelligence Agency, Department of State, Executive Office of the President and Federal Bureau of Investigation interleave early Cold War archival material with recent operational and investigative reports. The collection includes 1946–1947 Scandinavian Ghost Rocket reporting, the 1947–1948 Project SIGN compilation of roughly 180 incidents, high-speed film analysis from the early 1950s, a 1963 Brazilian case later established as fabricated, 1965 Puerto Rico radar-visual intercepts, a detailed 2021 Gulf of Oman AC-130J gunship encounter with approximately 25 cold orbs, and multiple FBI interviews describing triangular and multi-light objects between 2002 and 2026. Most modern cases carry no official analytical resolution.
Detailed Report
1. Release Overview and Program Context
On 7 August 2026 the Department of War published the fifth tranche of PURSUE records on the official portal at war.gov/UFO. The materials originate with the Department of War, Central Intelligence Agency, Department of State, the Executive Office of the President / Foreign Broadcast Information Service, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. As with previous releases, the collection mixes early Cold War archival records with contemporary operational reports and FBI case files. All items have been reviewed for security. Many modern files carry the standard All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office disclaimer that the descriptions are informational only and do not constitute analytical conclusions.
Prior coverage of the programme:
2. Scandinavian Ghost Rockets, 1946–1947
The earliest record is DOW-UAP-D099, an eight-page War Department Intelligence Division review (Intelligence Review No. 47, dated 9 January 1947, originally classified SECRET). Its feature section documents flying missiles first reported over southern Sweden in late May 1946, with reports extending to Finland and Denmark in June, rising sharply in July, and some Norwegian sightings following.
Most observers were untrained and descriptions varied, but two forms recurred most frequently: a ball of fire with a tail and a shiny cigar-shaped object. Reported altitudes ranged from treetop height to 160,000 feet; speeds from 65 mph to “lightning fast.” Flight was mostly horizontal, though some objects were reported diving into the ground or lakes or exploding in the air. No fragments were recovered except bits of non-metallic slag.
One higher-quality account was recorded on 14 August 1946. A Swedish Air Force pilot flying at 650 feet over central Sweden observed a dark cigar-shaped object approximately 50 feet long by 3 feet in diameter, holding constant altitude roughly 200 feet above him at an estimated 400 mph and roughly 6,500 feet distant. No wings, rudder, flame or light were visible. The pilot noted that the object’s maintenance of constant altitude over the terrain raised questions about wingless flight capability. Scandinavian press initially attributed the objects to Soviet missiles, and partial censorship on exact details and localities was imposed in August 1946.
3. Project SIGN Establishment and Analysis, 1947–1948
The largest document in the tranche, DOW-UAP-D100, is a 245-page Air Materiel Command / Project SIGN compilation. Its covering letter from Director of Intelligence Major General C. P. Cabell (4 November 1948) states that the conclusion appears inescapable that some type of flying object has been observed, while identification and origin remained not discernible. Cabell noted that the press was about to take the matter into its own hands and that official silence would not long be acceptable.
Air Materiel Command reported that it had studied approximately 180 incidents, sorted into four classification groups by shape: flat discs of circular or approximately circular shape; torpedo or cigar-shaped objects with no visible wings or fins; spherical or balloon-shaped objects; and balls of light with no apparent form attached. Some objects were identified as balloons or astrophysical phenomena such as Venus, but a residual number of reports had no reasonable everyday explanation. No physical evidence had been obtained. Available information indicated that the discs, cigar-shaped objects and balls of light were not of domestic origin. The possibility that the objects were vehicles from another planet had not been ignored, though tangible evidence was completely lacking.
Formal conclusions held that observers had sighted some type of flying object they could not classify within their personal experience, that there was no conclusive proof such objects were real aircraft, and that their exact nature could not be established absent physical evidence such as would result from a crash.
Internal correspondence sharpens the record. A Memorandum for the Director of Central Intelligence (28 October 1948) requested any CIA evidence indicating a domestic origin for the flying discs. A parallel Request for Study by the Rand Project (22 October 1948) reasoned that if experimental spaceships or test vehicles had genuinely been sighted, it was believed more likely that they represented the effort of a foreign nation rather than a product from beyond the Earth.
The compilation also preserves civilian and military correspondence. Mrs. Ruth Shook of Hiawassee, Georgia, described objects round and long somewhat like a giant cigar with a motorcycle-like motor. John Jamnicky, Jr., of Dravasburg, Pennsylvania, reported a star-like light that repeatedly stopped and changed course on the night of 4 July 1948. Navy pilot Lieutenant Commander Marcus L. Lowe, Jr., on 30 April 1948 tracked a yellow sphere estimated at 25–40 feet in diameter holding a constant course near Anacostia Naval Air Station and entering the prohibited Capitol–White House area.
4. Utah and Montana Film Analysis, 1950–1952
Document DOW-UAP-D098, a 23-page report by the U.S. Naval Photographic Interpretation Center (Serial 0105, dated 4 May 1953), analysed approximately 30 feet of 16 mm colour motion-picture film of unidentified objects taken in Utah on 2 July 1952, together with additional Montana footage from 1950. The objects appeared blue-white and were assessed as oblate or disk-shaped.
Under stated assumptions the Utah objects reached a maximum velocity of 2,457 mph, with accelerations near 965 g and decelerations near 1,479 g. The Montana film yielded maximum velocities of 1,374 mph and 1,117 mph, with accelerations up to approximately 639 g. Reflective-surface, bird, conventional-aircraft and balloon hypotheses were ruled out under the recorded conditions. Cleared experts in astronomy and physics consulted during the study could not identify the objects. The report concluded that it appears as if the objects are of a nature which we are not able to identify in terms of natural phenomena or commonly known man-made objects.
5. Bahia, Brazil Reported Sphere, 1963
Documents EOP-UAP-D001, DOS-UAP-D001 and DOS-UAP-D002 comprise FBIS and State Department reporting on a claimed large metal sphere—with window-like openings and a human body inside—said to have fallen near Conde, Bahia, in November 1963. Subsequent consular investigation and local press established the story as fabricated. The U.S. Consul in Salvador, Harold Midkiff, reported that the account had apparently been invented in Rio. Clippings from Diario de Noticias and Jornal da Bahia confirmed the Ministry of Aeronautics’ denial and the absence of any verified object. The case is retained as an example of reporting resolved as fabricated.
6. Puerto Rico USS Gyatt Intercepts, 1965
Documents CIA-UAP-D022 and CIA-UAP-D023 comprise briefing notes prepared for Walter N. Elder concerning intercepts near Puerto Rico between 16 and 24 November 1965. The destroyer USS Gyatt, a Navy Surface-to-Air Missile Destroyer equipped with the latest and most accurate radars then available, tracked a contact moving in excess of 3,800 knots. The object slowed and maintained position relative to an F-8 Crusader at approximately nine miles’ distance, then accelerated in a 20-degree climb and pulled away when the fighter attempted to close. On return to Roosevelt Roads it again closed from astern to four miles. The pilot, observing in full moonlight, described a delta-shaped object about the size of a jet fighter and estimated its speed in excess of Mach 3. Radar scope films were obtained. A similar high-speed track was recorded on 24 November against a second Crusader flying at Mach .99 at 45,000 feet.
7. Gulf of Oman AC-130J Gunship Encounter, 2021
Document DOW-UAP-D101, an Intelligence Information Report supported by six secondary video captures (DOW-UAP-PR117 through PR122), documents an encounter on 8 September 2021 during which a United States Special Operations Forces AC-130J gunship was conducting live-fire training in the Gulf of Oman in darkness.
After the aircraft dropped a water-activated flare as a mock target and entered an orbit, the Combat Systems Officer, scanning in infrared, observed two approximately four-foot-diameter cold orbs hovering between 0 and 20 feet above the water over the flare for roughly 15 seconds. Immediately upon the officer pulling the trigger of the 105 mm cannon—during the slight delay before recoil—the pair rapidly departed the sensor feed without changing altitude.
Over the sortie the crew observed approximately 25 cold orbs in infrared (in both white-hot and black-hot modes). Several moved in a coordinated dolphin-like formation, rising and falling in wave-like motion while manoeuvring around, over and under one another, at calculated speeds of 250 to 1,300 mph with no visible propulsion. The source commented: “They knew they were flying together.” The aircraft’s own digital video recorder failed and its footage was corrupted. The surviving material consists of lower-fidelity secondary cellphone captures of the infrared sensor display, carrying explicit fidelity caveats in the official captions.
8. FBI Triangle and Multi-Light Cases, 2002–2026
The FBI-UAP-D024 through D042 series comprises FD-302 interview reports and accompanying digital renderings documenting modern, witness-based sightings of triangular and multi-light objects.
- 2002, Bagram: large equilateral triangle estimated at approximately 500 feet that blacked out the stars, silent and without visible lights
- 2011: large black isosceles triangle with three lights
- October 2023, Colorado Springs: translucent, hazy triangle with surface distortion and ripples, plus a band of silverish-blue light on its trailing edge; passed low and silent before banking almost vertical. A separate large dark-grey triangle with red lights was also observed
- 2026, Western United States: thermally elevated black-hot objects (one estimated at roughly half the size of a Black Hawk helicopter used as a simultaneous reference) and multiple dull-red, dash-shaped lights that appeared orb-like through night optical devices. At times the lights appeared to sync up and travel together along ridgelines; one was observed descending rapidly an estimated 1,000 feet before disappearing
These cases are recent, first-hand, and largely unresolved.
Conclusion
The 7 August 2026 fifth tranche under PURSUE places both early Cold War archival records and recent unresolved operational and investigative files into the public domain. The material spans eight decades. Most of the modern cases carry no official analytical resolution. Processing of additional records for subsequent releases continues.