Newly Declassified Pentagon UFO Records Reveal Videos, Pilot Reports and Unexplained Sightings
The Pentagon released a new batch of declassified UFO files last week, adding hundreds of pages of reports, videos, and witness accounts to the U.S. government’s growing archive of unexplained aerial phenomena, or UAPs.
The release includes 222 files, more than 50 videos, and dozens of intelligence reports dating back decades. Among the newly public materials are accounts of glowing “green orbs,” “fireballs,” cigar-shaped objects, and unexplained formations seen near military installations, over oceans, and during flight operations.
The documents were uploaded to the government’s new UAP portal, known as the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters, or PURSUE, which launched earlier this month under the Department of War and the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, known as AARO.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a statement that Americans deserve “unprecedented transparency” about what the government knows regarding unidentified anomalous phenomena. The administration has repeatedly insisted the files do not confirm extraterrestrial life, though officials acknowledged that some incidents remain unexplained.
One of the most discussed documents in Thursday’s release is a 116-page report detailing 209 sightings near a secret military facility in Sandia, New Mexico, between 1948 and 1950. Witnesses described fast-moving discs, glowing objects, and aerial lights maneuvering in ways pilots claimed they could not explain at the time.
Another newly released video reportedly shows the February 2023 incident in which a U.S. fighter jet shot down an unidentified object over Lake Huron. Infrared footage appears to show a diamond-shaped object exploding after being hit by a missile. The incident was part of a wave of high-altitude object sightings that drew national attention during the Biden administration.
The files also contain NASA audio from the Apollo era. In one recording from the 1969 Apollo 12 mission, astronauts described seeing “streaks of light” while traveling through deep space. NASA later attributed similar sightings to optical effects and particles interacting with the astronauts’ eyes.
Some of the most recent cases involve military personnel operating in the Middle East. One report describes orange glowing orbs approaching within feet of a helicopter during a late-2025 mission near a sensitive military site. Witnesses said the objects split apart and moved away at high speed, leaving the crew “virtually speechless,” according to the declassified testimony.
The Pentagon said additional releases are expected in the coming months. The first batch of documents, published May 8, included approximately 160 files spanning from the late 1940s to the present day. Those records contained pilot testimonies, military memos, photographs, and previously leaked videos.
Despite renewed public fascination with UFOs, scientists and skeptics cautioned against jumping to conclusions. Former AARO director Sean Kirkpatrick and researchers from the SETI Institute have said the files provide no verified evidence of alien technology or extraterrestrial visitors.
