UNCLASSIFIED // PUBLIC RELEASERELEASE 01 · MAY 8, 2026
PENTAGON UFO FILE · DOCUMENTFBI Photo B007
This still is one of the B series the FBI passed to AARO: images from a U.S. military system, set in the western United States in 2025, submitted because the operator could not make a positive identification. What sets this frame apart is that AARO’s own description points to a familiar aircraft.
A helicopter and a dot
In the upper-right quadrant is a dark object that AARO says is consistent in appearance with a helicopter. Below the crosshair reticle is a second, smaller, dark round object. The rest of the grainy monochrome frame is indistinct.
That combination raises a question the release leaves open: which object was the unidentified one? The submission speaks of a single UAP, but this frame contains a helicopter-like shape and a dot, and AARO does not say which one the operator meant. The previous frame, B006, also has two objects, one of them a dark shape with a side appendage.
Limits
AARO’s comparison to a helicopter is a description of appearance, not a finding, and the release offers no conclusion. The image was redacted before submission, no mission report came with it, and the date shown on the display is wrong because the system clock had not been set. Without range or scale, the sizes of the two objects cannot be compared.
The official description
From war.gov/UFO, released May 8, 2026, quoted in full
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) submitted a report of an unidentified anomalous phenomenon (UAP) to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) consisting of a still image derived from a U.S. military system in 2025. The original imagery was altered with redactions before being submitted to AARO. An accompanying mission report was not provided. The operator reported that they were unable to positively identify the UAP. The date in the image is incorrect due to system date/time not being set.
Narrative Description: The monochrome image displays a grainy texture with a central crosshair reticle. A dark object, consistent in appearance with a helicopter, is visible in the upper right quadrant. A second, smaller, dark circular object is visible below the reticle. The background is indistinct. This narrative 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.