UNCLASSIFIED // PUBLIC RELEASERELEASE 02 · MAY 22, 2026
PENTAGON UFO FILE · VIDEO · DOW-UAP-PR08118 Oct 2020 [CALLSIGN] observes UAP
This file comes from a part of the world that is rare in the collection. AARO places it in the area of U.S. Africa Command, AFRICOM, which is responsible for U.S. military operations across most of the African continent, in 2020. The uploader dated it 18 October 2020 and redacted the callsign. AARO believes an infrared sensor on a U.S. military platform recorded it, and it was posted to a classified network the same month.
Five seconds in five minutes
The recording is almost entirely empty. For the first 57 seconds, AARO describes nothing. Between 00:58 and 01:03 a patch of contrast enters close to the picture’s top left corner and leaves near the bottom right, a diagonal pass across the whole view. AARO records no attempt to track it, and the remaining four minutes are described as having no content.
Related files and limits
Two days earlier, according to its title, another AFRICOM recording was made: DOW-UAP-PR082, which also shows a single brief crossing. The release does not say whether the two involve the same platform or location, and much later AFRICOM footage from Djibouti appears as DOW-UAP-PR043. A single untracked pass gives no range, size or speed, and there is no crew report or mission report attached. AARO describes the footage without judging it, and the case remains unresolved in the release.
The official description
From war.gov/UFO, released May 22, 2026, quoted in full
On March 6, 2026, eight members of the U.S. House of Representatives requested access to 51 potentially UAP-related records allegedly held by the Department of War and the Intelligence Community. The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) identified a collection of responsive materials held on a classified network. Many of these materials lack a substantiated chain-of-custody.
AARO assesses that this video, whose uploader-defined title is, “18 Oct 2020 [CALLSIGN] observes UAP,” is likely derived from an infrared sensor aboard a U.S. military platform operating within the United States Africa Command area of responsibility in 2020. A user uploaded this video to a classified network in October 2020.
Video Duration: 00:04:59 Video Description: 00:00-00:57: No content. 00:58-01:03: An area of contrast transits the sensor field-of-view, entering from near the top left corner of the screen and exiting near the bottom right corner of the screen. 01:04-04:59: No content.
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.