UNCLASSIFIED // PUBLIC RELEASERELEASE 06 · SEPTEMBER 18, 2026
PENTAGON UFO FILE · DOCUMENT · DOW-UAP-D124AAWSAP DIRD, Space Access: Where We’ve Been and Where We Could Go, March 2010
Dated March 8, 2010, this reference paper is less a technical survey than an argument. Written under AAWSAP for the Defense Intelligence Agency, it looks back at how the United States has reached space and makes a case for doing it differently. It has nothing to do with UFO reports.
The argument
The paper’s diagnosis is that routine access to low Earth orbit has been held back by a failure to build durable, dependable working hardware and the ground and orbital infrastructure needed for regular flights there and back. It revisits earlier launch and aerospace concepts, particularly reusable and aircraft-like designs, and contends that U.S. development leaned too heavily on single-use rockets descended from ballistic missiles instead of vehicles designed from the start for repeated trips.
Its prescription is a purpose-built transportation system, with frequent round trips and support networks in orbit, in place of one-off launchers. When it was written, the Space Shuttle, the main reusable U.S. system, was nearing its retirement in 2011.
A note on tone
Unusually, the release’s summary flags the paper’s slant: it calls the case forceful and says its account of past U.S. choices goes further than a strictly neutral history would. A DIRD is meant to be a reference synthesis, so that caveat matters when weighing its history. The release also cautions that the summary reflects the paper’s framing at the time, and the released copy is partly redacted. For a propulsion-focused paper from the same month, see positron propulsion.
The official description
From war.gov/UFO, released September 18, 2026, quoted in full
This document is a Defense Intelligence Reference Document (DIRD), a technical reference format used by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) to capture baseline knowledge on a specific topic for later analytic use. DIRDs are best understood as reference and synthesis products rather than as original research. It is one of 38 DIRDs produced under the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) between 2009 and 2011. Because AAWSAP’s scope permitted a broad range of supporting topics, not every DIRD in the series directly concerns aerospace systems or future threat assessment. The following summary reflects the DIRD’s scope and framing at the time of writing and should not be read as implying current validation of the concepts discussed.
This DIRD is a historical and conceptual survey of space access systems, contending that the main barrier to routine access to space is a failure to build durable, reliable, operational hardware and the supporting infrastructure needed for regular service to and from low Earth orbit. The report reviews earlier launch and aerospace concepts, especially reusable and aircraft-like approaches, and suggests that U.S. space access development became too strongly centered on expendable rockets derived from ballistic missiles rather than bespoke systems designed for repeated space access and payload delivery. Its central claim is that meaningful future progress will depend on creating a purpose-built space transportation infrastructure, including frequent round-trip capability and orbital support networks, rather than continuing to rely on one-off launch vehicles. Overall, the document presents a forceful case for infrastructure-first space development, though its characterization of past technological choices is more assertive than a fully neutral account of past U.S. space programming.