Unresolved UAP Report, Atlantic Ocean, 2016

This is one of two Atlantic Ocean clips that U.S. Northern Command submitted to AARO and that appeared in the fourth PURSUE release, and the older of the pair, dating from 2016. It runs 39 seconds, the platform is not named, parts of the record are redacted, and no written report comes with it.

Tracking, then letting go

In the first 11 seconds the operator zooms in and out to stay on a patch of contrast. At about 0:12 the sensor switches modes and a white reticle appears around the target. Then, at 0:30, the sensor stops tracking and the object moves out of the right side of the frame; the release presents this as the tracking ending, not the object suddenly speeding up. In the final second or two a patch of contrast comes in from the right, and the release does not say whether it is the same object.

Reading it

When a sensor stops tracking, whatever it was following drifts out of view according to its motion relative to the platform, so the exit itself says little about the object. The release offers no shape, size, speed or explanation, and the case remains unresolved. The newer Atlantic clip, DOW-UAP-PR116, comes with a debrief that compares its object to a balloon.