UNCLASSIFIED // PUBLIC RELEASERELEASE 06 · SEPTEMBER 18, 2026
PENTAGON UFO FILE · DOCUMENT · DOW-UAP-D111AAWSAP Solicitation and Original Order, September 2008
This file is the original contract award behind the Defense Intelligence Agency’s AAWSAP study, dated September 22, 2008. It is the second step in the paper trail: the DIA first set out what it wanted in a Statement of Objectives (DOW-UAP-D110), and this order turned that wish list into a contract with Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS), the Las Vegas company set up by hotel entrepreneur Robert Bigelow.
What the award contains
According to AARO’s description, the order folds BAASS’s proposal into the contract by reference rather than reproducing it, and sets prices for each deliverable as a contract line item. The base year is divided into deliverables: monthly status reports; a management plan and a research report for each of the 12 technical areas; one overall threat assessment that pulls them together; plus travel and other direct costs. Matching line items cover the option years, so the program could be extended a year at a time if the government chose.
Where it leads
Later contract changes in the release show those options being exercised, funded and stretched, starting with modification P00001 (DOW-UAP-D112). AARO’s description of this file does not give the dollar amounts; the later modifications show the figures for the first option year.
The official description
From war.gov/UFO, released September 18, 2026, quoted in full
This document is an administrative or programmatic record related to the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP), a Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)-administered program active from 2008 to 2012. AAWSAP’s official scope of work identified 12 technical research areas relating to potential aerospace threats over a time horizon of more than 40 years. As an administrative record, the file documents how AAWSAP was scoped, organized, tasked, funded, or described at a particular point in time.
This September 2008 solicitation/contract/order document serves as the original contract award instrument for AAWSAP work performed by Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies, Inc. (BAASS), incorporating the contractor’s proposal by reference and translating the earlier Statement of Objectives (DOW-UAP-D110) into priced contract line items. The file breaks the base year into specific deliverable categories, including monthly status reports, program management plans for the 12 technical areas, research reports, a comprehensive integrated threat assessment, travel, and other direct costs, and corresponding option-year line items for follow-on performance.