UAP Disclosure
UAP Disclosure: What Has Been Released
The modern official term for UFO transparency. What the U.S. government has actually published, what legislation governs it, and what remains unresolved.
Why “UAP” Instead of “UFO”?
The U.S. government formally adopted the term UAP (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) to move beyond the cultural stigma attached to “UFO.” The shift also reflects a broader definition: UAP now includes submerged, transmedium, and space-domain observations, not only aerial sightings.
The AARO, ODNI, NASA, and Congress all use UAP as the official designation. Publicly, the older term UFO remains widely recognized and is used interchangeably in common usage.
Key UAP Disclosure Milestones
- 2017 — New York Times reporting reveals AATIP and leaks Navy UAP videos, triggering congressional and public interest
- 2020 — DoD officially releases three Navy UAP videos (Gimbal, GoFast, FLIR1)
- 2021 — ODNI publishes preliminary assessment of 144 UAP reports
- 2022 — AARO established; FY2023 NDAA expands UAP reporting requirements
- 2023 — NASA publishes independent UAP study; high-profile congressional hearing held
- 2024 — AARO publishes Historical Record Program Volume 1; UAP Disclosure Act provisions enacted in NDAA
Recent Timeline
Department of War — PURSUE Release 03: First FBI Records and Intelligence Community Assessment Published
The U.S. Department of War published its third PURSUE UAP release on June 12, 2026. Release 03 is the first to include FBI-contributed records and the first to include a formal Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) on a specific UAP incident. The 10-file release documents the 2022 Colorado Springs UAP incident (FBI FD-1057 interview, digital rendering, and ICA analysis), multiple 2025–2026 Northeastern U.S. orb sighting field reports and video, a 2024 FBI orb video, a Cold War-era CIA intelligence cable related to Zimbabwe, the 1949 U.S. Army Flying Saucer Study, and a 1949 FBI correspondence referral.
Official source ↗Department of War — PURSUE Release 04: STS-80 Columbia Photographs and 1948 Project Sign Report Published
The U.S. Department of War published its fourth PURSUE UAP release on July 10, 2026. Release 04 includes three declassified photographs of unidentified objects in low-Earth orbit from Space Shuttle Columbia's STS-80 mission (November 1996), two 2025 infrared video cases from the Yellow Sea and East China Sea, a 1996 Western U.S. dual-object infrared video with HUD elements, a 2019 Gulf of America infrared video, the 1948 Project Sign Progress Report, the 1949 Analysis of Flying Object Incidents in the U.S., and the 1949 Atomic Energy Commission transmittal letter regarding a Los Alamos conference on aerial phenomena.
Official source ↗Department of War — PURSUE Release 05: FBI Triangle Cases and Gulf of Oman Videos Published
The U.S. Department of War published its fifth PURSUE UAP release on August 7, 2026. The portal lists 41 records, led by FBI reports and digital renderings of triangular objects and multiple red-light observations, a 1953 analysis of films from Montana and Utah, a 2021 Gulf of Oman intelligence report with six associated videos, CIA records concerning the Caribbean, and two 1963 State Department cables from Bahia, Brazil.
Official source ↗Department of War — PURSUE Release 06: AAWSAP Documents and the 1952 Tremonton Film Published
The U.S. Department of War published its sixth PURSUE UAP release on September 18, 2026. Release 06 introduces documents from the Pentagon's Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) — its Statement of Objectives, contracting paperwork, and two Defense Intelligence Reference Documents on metallic glasses and metallic spintronics — alongside a Project Blue Book file and archival film of the 1952 Tremonton UFO case in Utah, a 1952 presentation transcript from Project Blue Book's first director Captain Edward J. Ruppelt, and two new LLE-prefixed unresolved reports from Colorado in October 2023.
Official source ↗Department of War — PURSUE Release 07: Triangle Report, Utah Ranch Files, and Cold War Cases Published
The U.S. Department of War published its seventh PURSUE UAP release on October 23, 2026. The 28-document tranche includes linked AARO and FBI records about a triangular object reported in the western United States in 2026, nine AAWSAP and BAASS contractor records including the Utah Ranch Investigation Report, ten 1950s Air Force intelligence reports, four Catalina Island cases from 1949–1955, and two executive-branch records about responsibility for recovered space debris.
Official source ↗