UAP Release
What government UAP file releases are, what types exist, how declassification works, and where to find the latest officially released records.
UAP stands for Unidentified Aerial Phenomena(also now “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena” in broader usage). It is the current official U.S. government terminology for what was historically called a UFO (Unidentified Flying Object). The term was adopted to move beyond the cultural stigma of “UFO” and to allow more precise scientific and national security investigation.
AARO and other agencies publish annual reports to Congress summarizing case intake, resolutions, and ongoing investigation.
Official military sensor recordings (FLIR, radar) released after classification review. Examples: Gimbal, GoFast, FLIR1.
Transcripts from public and classified hearings where military, intelligence, and scientific officials testify about UAP.
Records released in response to Freedom of Information Act requests, often partially redacted.
Declassified historical records such as Project Blue Book case files, now available at the National Archives.
Directives, memoranda, and policy records related to UAP reporting, investigation, and inter-agency coordination.
U.S. Department of War (DOW)
PURSUE Release 04 is a historically rich and geographically diverse tranche. Its most striking contribution is a set of three photographs from NASA's STS-80 Space Shuttle Columbia mission…
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) / Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)
DOE-UAP-D004 is a transmittal letter from the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) — the predecessor to the Department of Energy — dated March 22, 1949, concerning a conference on aerial phenomena…
U.S. Department of War (DOW) / U.S. Army
DOW-UAP-D094 is a 1949 U.S. Army analytical document on flying object incidents in the United States. The visible page includes a hand-drawn sketch of a cylindrical object labeled 'Fig. 8,'…
The U.S. Department of War published its first UAP release under the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE). Release 01 contains approximately 49 individually numbered unresolved case reports, infrared imagery, sensor stills, and video from military operators across multiple global locations. Secretary Pete Hegseth announced rolling releases to follow every few weeks.
Official source ↗The U.S. Department of War published its second PURSUE UAP release on May 22, 2026 — the first to include records from multiple agencies. CIA, ODNI, NASA, and the Department of Energy contributed records alongside DOW. Highlights include video of a four-UAP formation over Iran (PR050), a Syrian UAP exhibiting instant acceleration (PR051), a USAF-ANG F-16C shoot-down of a UAP (PR071), a December 2019 East Coast case (PR086), and historical documents from Sandia Base (1948–1950), a 1973 CIA USSR intelligence report, an ODNI senior official USPER narrative, an Apollo 12 medical debriefing, and DOE PANTEX radar tower imagery. war.gov/UFO has received over 1 billion hits since Release 01. Release 03 is in development.
Official source ↗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 ↗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 ↗