UNCLASSIFIED // PUBLIC RELEASERELEASE 01 · MAY 8, 2026
PENTAGON UFO FILE · VIDEO · DOW-UAP-PR045Unresolved UAP Report, Middle East, 2020
The Department of the Air Force sent this video to AARO as a UAP report without a single written or spoken word from whoever recorded it. All that came with it was 58 seconds of infrared footage from a U.S. military platform, dated to 2020. The location is muddled: the file is titled “Middle East,” while the release metadata gives the place as the southern United States, and nothing in the record resolves which is right.
Locked on and closing
From the opening seconds the sensor is tracking a patch with a reticle lock, meaning the targeting system has latched onto it and is following it automatically. Over the next half-minute the patch becomes steadily clearer against the background. At 31 seconds the operator narrows the field of view, and from then on the patch keeps growing in apparent size and sharpness until, in the last two seconds, it slides off-center and leaves through the bottom right corner.
AARO’s one comment
AARO adds a single note: the growth in apparent size is “likely” at least partly down to the American platform getting nearer to whatever it was tracking. On that reading, the growth reflects closing distance rather than any change in the object itself. AARO still lists the case as unresolved. “Area of contrast” is AARO’s deliberately neutral phrase for anything that stands out from the background in a sensor image; on an infrared camera that usually means something warmer or cooler than its surroundings. See also FLIR.
The official description
From war.gov/UFO, released May 8, 2026, quoted in full
The Department of the Air Force submitted a report of an unidentified anomalous phenomenon to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) consisting of 58 seconds of video footage from an infrared sensor aboard a U.S. military platform in 2020. The reporter did not provide any oral or written description of the observation.
Video Description: 00:00-00:03: The sensor tracks an area of contrast acquiring a reticle lock. 00:04-00:30: The area of contrast gradually increases in distinctiveness against the background. 00:31: The sensor narrows its field-of-view to zoom in on the area of contrast. 00:32-00:56: The area of contrast increases in apparent size and distinctiveness. 00:57-00:58: The area of contrast leaves the center of the frame and passes out of the sensor field-of-view, exiting the scene in the bottom right corner of the screen.
This video description is provided for informational purposes only. Readers should not interpret any part of this description as reflecting an analytical judgment, investigative conclusion, or factual determination regarding the described event’s validity, nature, or significance.
AARO Comment: The area of contrast’s apparent increase in size is likely to be at least partially attributable to the U.S. platform closing the distance between itself and the source of the detection.