UNCLASSIFIED // PUBLIC RELEASERELEASE 01 · MAY 8, 2026
PENTAGON UFO FILE · DOCUMENTUSPER Statement about UAP Sighting
Released in the first PURSUE batch, this redacted document is a timeline written from the viewpoint of a senior U.S. intelligence official (“Witness 1”) who rode in a state-partner helicopter over a government test range in the western United States one evening in 2025. Bracketed placeholders such as [SITE CODE NAME] and [CALL SIGN 1] stand in for names, places and coordinates, and the pages carry SECRET//NOFORN markings. A first-person narrative that appears to cover the same night is ODNI-UAP-D001.
The log, hour by hour
The helicopter left around 1700 to search mountains where personnel had reported orbs and heard thuds; at 1751 the crew spotted a cave entrance. After refueling, at 2141 it checked debris a ground observation post had spotted with infrared and night-vision goggles, and found nothing. Around 2202 the post reported a “super-hot” orb on infrared, hovering at ground level, which sped off and split in two. The post said it rose to within ten feet of the helicopter; the crew could not match its speed and broke off the chase.
From 2218 the official, watching unaided, and the pilots, using night vision, logged a swarm of lights moving in all directions, then repeated displays of four to six orange orbs flaring up one by one in a row and dimming in reverse order, some above military aircraft on a training mission. Low on fuel, the helicopter headed back around 2316.
What the log does not settle
The official notes that the pilots said they were recording, but many sightings were above the helicopter, outside its infrared camera’s view, and some lights called out by the pilots were invisible to the naked eye. The document reports what was seen, and draws no conclusion.
The official description
From war.gov/UFO, released May 8, 2026, quoted in full
This is an FBI 302 interview conducted with a senior US intelligence official regarding his first-hand account of a UAP encounter at a US military facility. USPER relayed to FBI agents that he and other federal and state personnel conducted searches to where orbs had been previously seen. After searching the area with a helicopter, they found a “super-hot” orb hovering over the ground. The orb is reported to have travelled for 20 miles at a speed too fast for the helicopter in pursuit. An additional “swarm” of lights were seen moving in all directions. A total of four or five additional orbs were seen shortly thereafter for a short time, flaring up and then down. This pattern of four or five orbs flaring up, then down continued over the next thirty minutes across the area.
The photos linked in the "Related Media" section are connected to a set of UAP encounters on a sensitive government testing installation in the Western US in 2025. These orb-like UAP were observed at various ranges by multiple, and in some cases simultaneous, government personnel and sensors. The linked narrative is an FBI-collected account from a senior U.S. intelligence community official who witnessed the UAP with the naked eye, while accompanied by two pilots under NVGs. Other pilots in separate aircraft, and ground-based observers with night vision, also witnessed UAP during the exercise. The photos of UAP underneath the helicopter are from this same set of observations, taken through night vision devices by ground-based personnel.