Pentagon releases 41 new UFO files and videos in fifth transparency dump
The Pentagon has released its fifth batch of files and videos, featuring 41 newly declassified documents spanning from 1953 to 2026.
The Pentagon released its fifth batch of files concerning unidentified anomalous phenomena on Friday, 7 August 2026. The new disclosure includes 41 newly published documents, images, and videos, according to reporting by the BBC. The release stems from an executive order signed by President Donald Trump, which directed the military and federal agencies to declassify and make public records relating to unexplained sightings.
Materials in the new transparency drop are hosted on the Department of War's PURSUE website. Records in the collection span across multiple decades, with files dating from 1953 up to 2026. According to the official site, the files represent unresolved cases where the government still lacks a definitive answer. The records draw from the Pentagon, the FBI, the CIA, the State Department, and the Executive Office of the President.
Media additions
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth addressed the disclosure on Friday, stating that the military and the administration are aligned on the initiative.
Hegseth added that the release demonstrates the administration's earnest commitment to transparency."The Department of War is in lockstep with President Trump to bring unprecedented transparency regarding our government’s understanding of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, These files, hidden behind classifications, have long fueled justified speculation, and it’s time the American people see it for themselves."
Pete Hegseth, Secretary of War, via LBC and the Mirror
Key Sightings and Files in the Latest Release
- Gulf of Oman, 2021: Footage captured by an AC-130J gunship during a live-fire exercise shows multiple sightings described as cold, dark orbs moving in irregular patterns.
- Bagram Airfield, 2002: An FBI report details a former military pilot's account of a silent, equilateral triangular object blocking out the stars over Afghanistan.
- Middle East, 2025: A military aircraft sensor recorded a round sphere traveling in a straight line over a residential area.
- Conde, Brazil, 1963: A declassified Foreign Broadcast Information Service document recounts a local radio broadcast claiming a large metal sphere with window-like openings crashed into a town.
Among the most detailed accounts in the new cache is an FBI interview with a former military pilot who recalled an encounter over Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan. According to the Mirror, the pilot reported that at approximately 4:30 AM local time, stars were blacked out as a massive triangular object moved silently overhead from west to east. The pilot estimated the object was around 500 feet in size and moving at a consistent speed of approximately 173mph or 150 knots, with no lights visible. Newsd noted that the FBI produced a digital rendering of the triangle based on these witness descriptions.
The release also contains files covering encounters in the Middle East. Lbc highlighted footage filmed over the Gulf of Oman, which features a dark orb moving erratically. Newsd added that forces aboard the gunship logged roughly 25 separate sightings during the exercise, describing objects that appeared to react when the aircraft fired its main cannon. Additional files from this year include an FBI video from the western United States showing two slow-moving black-hot shapes seen in infrared, where an agent first noticed a radio frequency signal before spotting the objects.
Further documentation reaches back decades into historical archives. A declassified document highlighted by the Mirror details a 1963 Brazilian radio broadcast reporting that a metal sphere crashed in Bahia, leaving a deep crater and allegedly containing an unidentified humanoid body. Meanwhile, LBC and Newsd noted that other files include a 2023 report from a couple in Colorado Springs who observed a smaller, see-through triangular object passing above their home, and accounts from a pilot flying between Massachusetts and Ireland who observed white lights changing in brightness.
What to Watch Next
Federal agencies have indicated that the current disclosure is part of an ongoing rolling process. The Department of War stated that additional files will continue to be published on a rolling basis as further records are discovered, reviewed, and cleared for declassification through the official PURSUE portal.
