The Pentagon has released another batch of declassified UFO-related records, including new videos, images and documents describing unidentified objects seen by US personnel across multiple locations and decades. The latest release comprises 41 files uploaded as the US defence department continues to publish material following an order from President Donald Trump earlier this year. It is the fifth tranche in a wider, multi-stage programme that has so far produced hundreds of documents. Pentagon Release and File DetailsThe department previously uploaded an initial set of 161 files on 8 May, and said more would follow. This fifth drop includes more than a dozen videos, three images and around a score of PDF documents. The documentation spans from 1953, the earliest item, to material dated this year. Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said the department will continue releasing additional documents on a “rolling basis” as further records are made public. Gulf of Oman and Middle East VideosOne video described in the new set was recorded over the Gulf of Oman in 2021 and shows what it characterises as a dark “cold orb” moving in irregular patterns. The file says that, at first glance, the movement resembles a housefly crossing the frame, and estimates the object at about 4 feet (1.2 metres) in diameter. The records use the US government’s terminology “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena” (UAP), which is applied to objects that have not been identified. UAP can occur over land and at sea, and are described in airspace as well as underwater contexts, according to the documentation. Another video, captured by a US military sensor camera at an undisclosed location in the Middle East in 2025, shows a round sphere travelling in a straight line over an area that appears to be residential. Pilot Account and Pacific FootageA declassified FBI document included in the release describes an account from a former military pilot of lights seen in the sky in October 2023 during a flight between Boston and Dublin. The pilot said other pilots had reported similar incidents between midnight and 3am. The document states that the lights began dim and grew brighter before fading out. It adds that some lights remained stationary while others moved along straight lines, at times changing direction. The pilot also reported seeing variations of the lights at least ten times after first spotting them in 2023. In footage dated 2019 from the Pacific Ocean, a black sphere appears and then disappears from view. When it reappears, the object is described as quivering and then drifting slowly from left to right. The file notes that although the imagery was collected by a sensor, the display was recorded using a handheld device, which may have contributed to flickering in the footage. Earlier Naval Review and New RenderingsA 1953 PDF in the tranche includes conclusions by the US Naval Photographic Interpretation Center about two videos recorded in the western United States, in Montana in 1950 and in Utah in 1952. The memo states that the apparent objects increased in size as their “luminosity” increased, and it concludes that the videos depict characteristics “inconsistent with those of natural phenomena”. All three images in the release are described as renderings, meaning they are artistic interpretations based on first-hand descriptions rather than direct photographic capture. One rendering depicts a large dark triangle with round lights at each corner, based on an encounter described by two former US military service members from the summer of 2011. Interest in extraterrestrial life has increased in the US in recent years, including after Congress held its first UFO hearings in five decades in 2022 and the military pledged to expand transparency. AQPxh6Sx62PwAMeRhNfgfB7jKO1RgtuEzIuu8vRkJdETZ68Ic78p5eB4g3ioIrFVAWtQ_SqiJgkaGB9MJTEiUbwFoDyWxPY5-Bkxm1-53sdBvg.mp4 Join the discussion? 8 August 2026
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