UNCLASSIFIED // PUBLIC RELEASERELEASE 06 · SEPTEMBER 18, 2026
PENTAGON UFO FILE · DOCUMENT · DOW-UAP-D129AAWSAP DIRD, Metallic Spintronics, March 2010
This March 2010 DIRD is a straightforward survey of a branch of solid-state physics, written for the AAWSAP program. The release’s summary of it mentions no sightings. Its subject is spintronics in metals: devices that store and move information using the magnetic orientation, or spin, of electrons as well as their electrical charge.
Two effects at the center
The paper builds on two phenomena. Giant magnetoresistance is the effect that made high-capacity hard-disk read heads possible: a layered metal structure changes its electrical resistance depending on how its magnetic layers are aligned, so magnetic data can be read as a current. Spin-transfer torque works the other way round, letting a current flip the magnetic state, so data can be written without a separate magnetic field.
The author walks through the physics of both, the experimental results of the time, and candidate uses: memory chips, sensors, oscillators and logic. The case made for the field is speed, low power draw and resistance to radiation compared with conventional semiconductor chips.
How far along it was
The release notes that the paper presents spintronics as promising but treats many of its more ambitious applications as needing a lot more development. Spin-based magnetic memory has since reached commercial products, though that is outside the paper itself. A neighboring materials paper in the series is Metamaterials for Aerospace Applications.
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 surveys metallic spintronics, a branch of electronics that seeks to use both the electric charge and the magnetic spin of electrons to store, detect, and manipulate information, and argues that the field could lead to faster, lower-power, and more radiation-resistant devices than conventional semiconductor electronics. The report focuses on two main effects: giant magnetoresistance (GMR), which allows magnetic states to be read through changes in electrical resistance, and spin-transfer torque (STT), which allows electrical currents to change those magnetic states. The DIRD reviews their underlying physics, the experimental work then available, and possible applications in memory, sensors, oscillators, and logic devices. The document treats metallic spintronics as a promising field while emphasizing that many of its more advanced proposed applications still require substantial further development.