Evidence Room

UnresolvedNov 14, 2004 · Pacific Ocean, off San Diego

FLIR1: the Nimitz "Tic Tac"

Infrared footage from a Navy F/A-18F during the USS Nimitz encounter, when pilots including Cmdr. David Fravor reported a white, wingless object that outmaneuvered their jets. It is the only official footage from that day.

The Pentagon released it in April 2020 and still lists the object as unidentified. Skeptics argue the video alone shows a distant object that could be an aircraft; the pilots' eyewitness accounts are what make the case stand out.

Source: U.S. Navy (NAVAIR FOIA) · Public domain · File details

DisputedJan 2015 · Atlantic Ocean, off the U.S. East Coast

Gimbal: the rotating object

A Navy jet's targeting pod tracks a dark object with a glowing outline that appears to stop and rotate in mid-air. Aircrew on the recording can be heard reacting to it.

Officially unidentified. Independent analysts argue the rotation is an artifact of the camera's gimbal mount and the glare of a distant jet engine, which would make the "rotation" a camera effect rather than the object turning.

Source: U.S. Navy (NAVAIR FOIA) · Public domain · File details

Analyzed2015 · Atlantic Ocean, off the U.S. East Coast

GoFast: the object over the water

A small object appears to race low over the ocean as a Navy F/A-18's sensor locks onto it.

The Pentagon lists it as unidentified, but NASA's 2023 UAP study team worked through the camera data and estimated the object was about 13,000 feet up and moving around 40 mph, consistent with something drifting on the wind. The "speed" comes from the jet's own motion.

Source: U.S. Navy (NAVAIR FOIA) · Public domain · File details

UnresolvedOct 2023 · Near Greece

Small circular object heading for land

24 seconds of infrared video from a U.S. military platform. The mission report describes the object as small and circular, flying near the surface of the ocean toward land, and the sensor follows it as the background changes from water to coastline.

Released by the Pentagon in its public UAP archive as an unresolved report (DOW-UAP-PR035). No explanation has been given.

Source: U.S. Central Command via AARO · Public domain · File details

Unresolved2023 · Indo-Pacific region

Two minutes of an unexplained infrared track

One minute and 59 seconds of infrared footage from a U.S. military platform, submitted by U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.

Unresolved (DOW-UAP-PR047). The person who reported it gave no written or spoken description, which is one reason cases like this stay open: there's little context to test explanations against.

Source: U.S. Indo-Pacific Command via AARO · Public domain · File details

Unresolved2020 · Middle East

Air Force sensor locks onto an unknown

58 seconds of infrared video. The sensor locks onto an area of contrast, then zooms in as the object grows larger and clearer in the frame.

Unresolved (DOW-UAP-PR045), submitted by the Department of the Air Force with no accompanying description.

Source: U.S. Air Force via AARO · Public domain · File details

Unresolved2022 · United Arab Emirates region

The circled streak

A still image from a U.S. military system showing an elongated streak of contrast. The mission report says the object moved from north to northeast and the operator couldn't identify it.

Unresolved (DOW-UAP-PR026). Note the red circle: the original reporter drew it on the image before submitting it, and the Pentagon says so in its release.

Source: U.S. Central Command via AARO · Public domain · File details

SolvedJan 15, 2023 · South Asia

The "wake" that was an airliner

An MQ-9 drone's infrared camera caught an object with what looked like a wake trailing behind it. AARO's director showed it to the Senate Armed Services Committee in April 2023.

Solved. Longer-range footage and commercial flight data led AARO to conclude it was most likely a commercial airliner. A good example of how strange a normal plane can look on infrared.

Source: AARO via DVIDS · Public domain · File details

Solved2021 · Western United States

Three dots over a military range

Infrared video of three unidentified objects, shown at a public meeting of NASA's UAP study team in May 2023.

Solved. Radar tracks for commercial flights lined up with all three objects, which looked like dots only because they were so far from the sensor. AARO concluded they were three separate airliners.

Source: AARO via DVIDS · Public domain · File details

DisputedMay 11, 1950 · McMinnville, Oregon

The McMinnville photo

Farmer Paul Trent took two photos of a disc-shaped object over his farm, and LIFE magazine published them a month later. They remain among the most studied UFO photos ever taken.

Still debated after 75 years. The government-funded Condon study in 1969 called it one of the few cases where all the factors it checked were consistent with the witnesses' account. Skeptics argue it was a small model hung from overhead wires.

Source: Paul Trent; scans via Internet Archive · Public domain · File details

All media here is in the public domain: the videos are works of the U.S. government, released through the Navy, the Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) and its public UAP archive. Files are hosted by Wikimedia Commons, and each card links to its original source. Videos play in most modern browsers; if one doesn't, use the file details link. See the UAP timeline for how these fit into the bigger story, or check your own sighting.