Pentagon Releases Fifth Batch of Declassified UFO Files
The 41 new documents, images and videos include an unresolved sighting over Afghanistan and sensor footage from the Middle East, officials say
Synopsis
The US Department of War has released 41 documents, images and videos of UFOs in its fifth tranche of declassified files, bringing the count to 894 to be housed in a public archive created under a presidential directive on transparency. The files cover seven decades of time and contain an FBI logged pilot report of an unidentified object over Afghanistan and military sensor footage from the Middle East. Most cases turn out to be the “old fashioned” sort, but some don't.
AdvertisementFifth Disclosure Since May Directive
Pentagon officials, which are now known as the Department of War, released 41 new records on August 7, 2026, concerning Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP), the government's official name for what was once called UFOs.
The release comes to mark the fifth disclosure in a series of five since President Donald Trump issued an executive order to make records relating to UAP and extraterrestrial-related investigations available to the public.
AdvertisementThe documents all come from the Pentagon, FBI, CIA, State Department and the Executive Office of the President and span the years from 1950 to accounts from earlier this year. They're housed in a dedicated public database, PURSUE, that's available at war.gov/ufo and says it will be updated "on a rolling basis.
The contents of the New files
One of the most interesting items is an FBI interview summary of a 2002 account by a military pilot of a “silent 500-foot triangle” that covered the stars over Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, that was corroborated by “a second witness,” according to the document. The other clip, provided by US Central Command (CENTCOM), is footage of another incident in the Middle East in 2025 over a populated area.
According to multiple outlets reporting on the disclosure, one of the released reports confirms that the UAPs were seen as ‘cold orbs’ in flight at lower altitudes (250 to 1300 MPH) in various formations, as well as aggressively manoeuvring.
All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), the Pentagon's task force on UAPs, stated that the encounter was "not easily resolved.
AdvertisementThere is no evidence of extraterrestrial origin
In spite of all the new material that is now available, AARO has repeated that most cases in its file would lead to "conventional explanations: drones, balloons, birds, weather phenomena, or sensor artefacts. But officials have been firm since the original release on May 2026 that the files contain no evidence of any government contact with ET life.
Some cases, however, have no conventional explanation so far, a smaller part of the larger ones, including formation flying over Iran, and an instant-acceleration event in Syria, were reportedly reported.
Congressional Pressure Continues
The disclosures come after much pressure from a Congressional oversight task force in a letter dated March 2026 to the Department of War, highlighting whistleblower claims that AARO had more hidden video records. Additional tranches will come in the future when review and redaction work is finalized, the Department has said.
