UNCLASSIFIED // PUBLIC RELEASERELEASE 01 · MAY 8, 2026
PENTAGON UFO FILE · VIDEO · DOW-UAP-PR046Unresolved UAP Report, INDOPACOM, 2024
U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM), the military command responsible for the Pacific and much of Asia, gave AARO this nine-second infrared clip from 2024, and the collection places it over the East China Sea. It was part of the first PURSUE release, on May 8, 2026. Nobody involved supplied a spoken or written account, so the footage stands entirely on its own.
The shape on screen
The clip is notable for showing a definite shape rather than a dot. AARO describes a patch of contrast like a football, an elongated oval, with three arms sticking out: one pointing straight up and two angled downward at 45 degrees to the body’s long axis. The sensor stays on it for the whole clip, and the description mentions no motion, mode change or second object.
Why a shape is not an identification
An infrared picture shows temperature differences, so an outline may trace the warmer or cooler parts of an object rather than its whole physical form, and the release gives no range, size or altitude. With no operator narrative, no mission report and only nine seconds of footage, there is nothing on what the platform was doing or how the object behaved before or after. AARO lists the case as unresolved and stresses that its description is not an analytical judgment. More on the sensors is under FLIR; other footage is at videos.
The official description
From war.gov/UFO, released May 8, 2026, quoted in full
The United States Indo-Pacific Command submitted a report of an unidentified anomalous phenomenon to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) consisting of nine seconds of video footage from an infrared sensor aboard a U.S. military platform in 2024. The reporter did not provide any oral or written description of the observation.
Video Description: 00:00-00:09: The sensor focuses on an area of contrast that resembles a football-shaped body with three radial projections: one oriented vertically, and two oriented downward at a 45-degree angle relative to the major axis of the main mass.
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.