Pentagon releases new batch of UFO files: "Did you see that?"
Washington — The Pentagon on Friday released a new batch of documents and images related to UFOs, also known as unidentified anomalous phenomena or UAP, including a military pilot's recollection of a huge, strange triangle that blocked out the stars over Afghanistan in 2002.
The 41 new files, posted on the Pentagon's UFO website, include a mix of documents, images and videos. The records come from the Pentagon, FBI, CIA, State Department and Executive Office of the President, with the oldest being from 1950 and the most recent being from this year.
The disclosure is the fifth release under an executive order President Trump signed in January directing the military and other agencies to produce more documents related to UFOs.
What's in the new UFO files?
The bulk of Friday's release includes the type of grainy videos that have been the hallmark of past disclosures, showing flying objects captured by military sensors and cameras.
Six of the videos show different versions of the same incident — an encounter over the Gulf of Oman by Special Operations forces on an AC-130J gunship in September 2021. The clips are cellphone videos of screens on the gunship, showing objects picked up by its infrared and other sensors.
An accompanying intelligence report sheds more light on the footage. The report said the forces onboard the gunship "observed approximately 25 instances of UAPs while conducting a live fire exercise in the Gulf of Oman."
"The UAPs were observed as cold orbs flying at lower altitudes between 250 to 1300 MPH in different formations as well as maneuvering aggressively. UAPs also appeared to react to the aircraft firing its main cannon," the report said.
The encounter could not be resolved by the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, the Pentagon's UAP investigative arm.
One clip submitted by U.S. Central Command shows footage captured by a military aircraft over a populated area in the Middle East in 2025. The video shows what appears to be an object zooming across the screen. The incident also remains unresolved.
Another video shows footage captured by a "U.S. Government Special Agent" in the western U.S. this year. The Pentagon said the video "features two, slow-moving 'black-hot' areas of contrast, visible in infrared imaging."
A partially redacted report about that encounter said the agent received a report about a radio frequency being detected and soon pointed a handheld infrared sensor in its direction.
"He saw a black object in the sky. It was not moving fast. He took pictures using the optical device. While observing he saw a second object to the right of the first and took additional photos/videos. The objects were moving together at the same speed," the FBI report said. "Both were black hot. He lost view of the objects when they traveled a distance out of view. Total observation time was approximately 5 - 10 minutes."
Friday's release includes eight 302 forms, which the FBI uses to record the details of witness interviews. All eight include redactions to shield confidential information, and most are paired with artist renderings from the bureau showing the objects that the witnesses described. Others were released along video footage that the interviewees captured, showing what appear to be orbs and other light sources in the sky.
One noteworthy 302 report records an interview with a former military pilot in 2024. The pilot told an agent that military pilots began seeing strange lights in the sky between midnight and 3 a.m. the year before. The pilot said he first saw the lights during a flight from Massachusetts to Ireland in October 2023.
"[Redacted] was at an elevation of 37,000 feet and believed the lights were higher than him, probably at 50,000 feet or higher. The lights were white in color, would start out as dim, and get brighter before they eventually faded out," the report said. "The full cycle of the lights would range from 10 seconds to one minute."
The pilot said he saw the lights roughly 10 times after that first experience.
He also told the agent about something he saw while serving in Afghanistan in 2002.
"At approximately 4:30 AM local time, [redacted] noticed that the stars were getting blacked out over Bagram. It appeared as if something huge went overhead, from west to east, and was an equilateral triangle shape. The object was moving silently, at a consistent speed and altitude, possibly 150 knots, with no lights visible," the agent wrote.
The pilot "estimated it was 500 feet in size, but he could not fully see the shape of the object." He reported that the pilot he was with "also observed the triangle, and when it passed over stated, 'did you see that?'"
The FBI produced this artist's rendering of the object:
The Pentagon said that Friday's document disclosure won't be the last under Mr. Trump's executive order, with a spokesman saying the department "will release additional files on a rolling basis."
