The Pentagon on Friday released a fresh batch of files on unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs), commonly known as UFOs. It included a report from a military aviator who described encountering an object "unlike anything I had seen" during his 28 years of service.
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Friday's release comprises 40 files, including 14 documents, 19 videos, four audio recordings and three images. The material originates from multiple US government agencies, including the Pentagon, Nasa, the CIA, the FBI and the Department of Energy, as cited by CBS News.
The Pentagon uploaded the files to its official UAP (unidentified anomalous phenomena) website, where records are being made public under an executive order signed by President Donald Trump earlier this year.
The Pentagon said Friday's disclosure would not be the final release under the president's executive order, indicating that additional records on UAPs are expected.
"The Department of War and our agency partners are actively working on the next release of UAP files," Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement.
The latest disclosure mirrors previous releases, comprising a mix of largely unredacted historical documents, videos and records detailing more recent incidents.
Among the most notable files is a Department of Energy report describing an intrusion by an unidentified object into the airspace above the Pantex nuclear weapons facility near Amarillo, Texas, in September 2015. The document includes accounts from two officers who pursued the object while the facility was placed under lockdown.
"Although they were unable to catch up to the object, they stopped their vehicle and got out. Once outside, they noted that the object did not make any sound. Furthermore, the [officers] stated that they were unable to identify any type of propulsion system on the object while using binoculars to assess the object," the report stated.
"After viewing it for 1-2 minutes, the object then continued north offsite."
Roughly half of the newly released files are dated 2010 or later and include infrared footage captured by military sensors. The grainy videos depict unexplained objects and encounters recorded in different parts of the world, including over the western Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean and the Middle East.
The most recent incidents documented in the latest batch of files date to 2025 and occurred near China under the US military's Indo-Pacific Command. One video shows a military sensor tracking "an area of contrast resembling a six-pointed star" over the Yellow Sea, while another appears to follow an unidentified object over the East China Sea for several minutes.
The historical records also include the transcript of a 1949 conference held in Los Alamos, New Mexico, attended by leading physicists and scientists, including members of the Manhattan Project. During the meeting, participants attempted to explain reports of mysterious "green fireballs" observed over the Los Alamos nuclear laboratory but were unable to reach a definitive conclusion.
One theory suggested the objects were meteors entering Earth's atmosphere. However, a prominent astronomer at the conference challenged that explanation, noting that "nothing like this … has ever been observed in the case of meteorite drops."
