Latest cables

AARO — Sixth release

The sixth batch of PURSUE files is published, with more promised on a rolling basis.

SRC: pursue-sixth-2026

AARO — PURSUE

The Department of War starts releasing UAP files on WAR.GOV/UFO under the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters, with AARO among the partners.

SRC: pursue-2026

Gimbal and GoFast — AARO on GoFast

AARO publishes a case resolution: high confidence the GoFast object did not move at anomalous speed. The apparent speed is put down to motion parallax.

SRC: aaro-gofast-2025

AARO — Annual report

The FY2024 report covers 757 new reports; 21 cases merit further analysis. AARO is now reviewing more than 1,600 cases in total.

SRC: aaro-fy24-report · dod-fy24-release

AARO — Criticism in the House

At a House Oversight hearing, the chair says AARO's historical report was heavily criticised and that the office itself lacks transparency.

SRC: house-hearing-2024

Roswell — AARO historical review

The Pentagon's AARO publishes a review of US government UAP records: no evidence of recovered extraterrestrial technology, and for Roswell it restates the Air Force's Project Mogul finding.

SRC: aaro-hrr

2023 House UAP hearing — AARO's historical review

AARO releases Volume I of its historical record report: no empirical evidence of reverse-engineered extraterrestrial technology, and the claims largely the result of circular reporting.

SRC: space-aaro-2024

AARO — Historical review

AARO publishes Volume I of its historical review. It finds no evidence that any US investigation ever confirmed extraterrestrial technology, and no evidence of hidden reverse-engineering programmes.

SRC: aaro-hrr-2024

Gimbal and GoFast — NASA's study

NASA's independent UAP study team estimates the GoFast object at about 13,000 feet and 40 mph, consistent with drifting on the wind.

SRC: nasa-uapist-2023

USS Nimitz “Tic Tac” — Testimony to Congress

Cdr David Fravor (ret.) testifies under oath before a House Oversight subcommittee about the 2004 encounter.

SRC: house-hearing-2023 · fravor-statement-2023 · house-hearing-video

2023 House UAP hearing — The hearing

Graves, Grusch and Fravor are sworn in and testify before the Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs in Rayburn 2154.

SRC: hearing-transcript · graves-statement · grusch-statement · fravor-statement

Gimbal and GoFast — Graves testifies

Ryan Graves tells a House subcommittee under oath that radar data shown at the Gimbal debrief displayed a fleet of objects not visible in the clip.

SRC: house-hearing-2023

2023 House UAP hearing — Hearing announced

Committee staff memo sets out the purpose: firsthand accounts, pilots' reporting channels, and government transparency.

SRC: hearing-memo

2023 House UAP hearing — Pentagon response

A Defense Department spokesperson says AARO has found no verifiable information that any such programmes have existed or exist.

SRC: fox-dod-2023

2023 House UAP hearing — Claims go public

The Debrief publishes Grusch's claim that the US holds intact and partially intact craft of non-human origin.

SRC: debrief-2023

AARO — Mandate widened

The FY2023 NDAA rewrites the law: AARO must deliver annual reports and a report on the government's historical record on UAP.

SRC: us-code-3373 · aaro-hrr-2024

AARO — AARO created

Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks renames and expands the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group as AARO. Dr Sean Kirkpatrick is named director on 20 July.

SRC: aaro-establishment-2022

2023 House UAP hearing — ‘Credible and urgent’

According to The Debrief, the Inspector General finds the complaint ‘credible and urgent’. No ICIG document saying so has been published.

SRC: debrief-2023

2023 House UAP hearing — Complaint to the ICIG

Grusch files a PPD-19 ‘urgent concern’ disclosure with the Intelligence Community Inspector General, alleging UAP information is being kept from Congress.

SRC: hearing-transcript · debrief-2023

AARO — Written into law

The FY2022 National Defense Authorization Act requires the Pentagon to set up an office for UAP, in coordination with the Director of National Intelligence.

SRC: us-code-3373 · aaro-establishment-2022

Pentagon release 2020 — Task force replaced

The UAPTF's work passes to a new group, the AOIMSG, which in July 2022 becomes AARO.

SRC: aaro-hrr-2024

USS Nimitz “Tic Tac” — ODNI assessment

The Director of National Intelligence publishes a preliminary assessment of 144 UAP reports; most remain unexplained for lack of data.

SRC: odni-2021

Pentagon release 2020 — Preliminary assessment

The DNI reports on 144 UAP reports from 2004 to 2021: one explained, the rest unresolved. The Pentagon orders a plan to make the task force's mission permanent.

SRC: odni-2021 · kirby-2021

Trans-en-Provence — Still class D

GEIPAN's updated case page keeps the classification D, unexplained despite the information it holds, and publishes the original documents.

SRC: geipan-case · geipan-history

USS Nimitz “Tic Tac” — Pilots on television

Fravor and Dietrich describe the encounter on CBS's 60 Minutes.

SRC: cbs-60min-2021 · cbs-60min-video

Rendlesham Forest — Forty years on

BBC News revisits the case: a forester calls the landing marks rabbit scrapes, airman John Burroughs describes a red, sun-like object, and the former MoD desk officer recalls closing the file.

SRC: bbc-2020

Pentagon release 2020 — Task force approved

Deputy Secretary of Defense David Norquist approves the UAP Task Force, led by the Navy. The Pentagon announces it on 14 August.

SRC: uaptf-2020

Pentagon release 2020 — Senate asks for a report

The Senate Intelligence Committee's report on the 2021 intelligence bill backs the UAP Task Force at the Office of Naval Intelligence and asks the DNI for a full assessment within 180 days of enactment.

SRC: srpt-116-233

USS Nimitz “Tic Tac” — Official release

The Department of Defense releases FLIR1, Gimbal and GoFast “to clear up any misconceptions” about whether the footage is real.

SRC: dod-release-2020 · navair-foia

Gimbal and GoFast — Official release

The Department of Defense releases Gimbal, GoFast and the 2004 FLIR1 clip, saying they reveal no sensitive capabilities.

SRC: dod-release-2020 · navair-foia

Pentagon release 2020 — Official release

The Department of Defense authorises the release of the three videos “to clear up any misconceptions” about whether they were real, and posts them on the Navy's FOIA site.

SRC: dod-release-2020 · navair-foia

Belgian UFO wave — Thirty years on

Press retrospectives note the case is still unresolved and that Gen. De Brouwer initially suspected US experimental aircraft, which the US denied.

SRC: theweek-2020

USS Nimitz “Tic Tac” — The ship's crew speak

Popular Mechanics publishes accounts from five former sailors of the strike group, including USS Princeton radar operator Kevin Day and systems technician Gary Voorhis.

SRC: pm-princeton-2019

USS Nimitz “Tic Tac” — Navy confirms

Navy spokesman Joseph Gradisher confirms the recording dates (14 Nov 2004 for FLIR1) and that the Navy classifies the objects as unidentified aerial phenomena.

SRC: navy-dates-2019

Gimbal and GoFast — Navy confirms

A Navy spokesman confirms the recording dates and says the Navy considers the phenomena in the videos unidentified.

SRC: navy-dates-2019

Pentagon release 2020 — Navy confirms the clips

A Navy spokesman confirms the recording dates of the three circulating videos and says the Navy considers the phenomena in them unidentified.

SRC: navy-dates-2019

Gimbal and GoFast — Pilots on the record

The New York Times publishes accounts from Lt Ryan Graves and other pilots of the VFA-11 “Red Rippers” squadron.

SRC: nyt-2019

Pentagon release 2020 — Navy reporting rules

The Navy sets up a standard way for its personnel to report unidentified aerial phenomena. The Air Force adopts it in November 2020.

SRC: odni-2021

USS Nimitz “Tic Tac” — Video goes public

The New York Times publishes the FLIR1 footage in its report on the Pentagon's Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program.

SRC: nyt-2017

Rendlesham Forest — Halt adds radar claims

Retired, Halt says he has sworn statements from Bentwaters air traffic controllers who saw an object on radar, and alleges a cover-up.

SRC: huffpost-halt-2015

The Phoenix Lights — A postmortem

Skeptical Inquirer sets out the two-event explanation again: aircraft in formation for the ‘V’, a high-altitude flare drop for the later lights.

SRC: si-2015

Gimbal and GoFast — Both clips recorded

The Navy later gives this date for both Gimbal and GoFast. The New York Times dated the Gimbal clip 20 January 2015, off Jacksonville, Florida.

SRC: navy-dates-2019 · nyt-2019

Gimbal and GoFast — Daily sightings

From the summer of 2014 to March 2015, Navy pilots training off the East Coast report unknown objects, after their radar systems are upgraded.

SRC: nyt-2019 · house-hearing-2023

Belgian UFO wave — Hoax confessed

Patrick Maréchal tells RTL the Petit-Rechain photo was staged with a polystyrene model.

SRC: vrt-2011 · lefigaro-2011

Rendlesham Forest — Into the National Archives

The MoD's Rendlesham file, DEFE 24/1948, opens at The National Archives as part of the transfer of the MoD UFO files. Halt's memo opens the file.

SRC: tna-defe-24-1948 · tna-highlights-2009 · tna-podcast-2009

The Phoenix Lights — Symington writes for CNN

In a signed CNN commentary Symington describes a ‘massive delta-shaped’ craft over Squaw Peak and calls the Air Force's flare explanation silly.

SRC: symington-cnn-2007

The Phoenix Lights — The governor's turn

Former governor Fife Symington, who in 1997 had shown off an aide in an alien costume, says he saw an enormous craft that night.

SRC: nbc-ap-2007

Trans-en-Provence — The sceptics' audit

The Observatoire Zététique publishes a chapter-length critique arguing that the marks fit skidding tyres and that GEPAN broke its own rules on speed and site protection.

SRC: oz-2007

USS Nimitz “Tic Tac” — The encounter

Navy aircraft from the Nimitz group investigate radar contacts off Southern California; one crew records the FLIR1 infrared video.

SRC: navy-dates-2019 · dod-release-2020

The Phoenix Lights — Two events, not one

Phoenix New Times publishes a one-year cover story separating the two events; an image analysis matching a video to the Sierra Estrella ridgeline puts the 10 p.m. lights behind the mountains.

SRC: ortega-1998

The Phoenix Lights — Flares acknowledged

A Maryland Air National Guard spokesman says eight of its A-10s were training over the Barry M. Goldwater range that night and jettisoned their remaining flares at high altitude.

SRC: lvsun-1997

Roswell — “Case Closed”

A second Air Force report attributes accounts of bodies to crash-test dummies and later accidents.

SRC: af-1997

The Phoenix Lights — The ‘V’, about 8:30 p.m.

A V-shaped pattern of lights is reported from north of Prescott at about 8:15 to south of Tucson by 8:45. In Scottsdale, Mitch Stanley sees it through a 10-inch telescope as planes flying in formation.

SRC: ortega-1997 · ortega-1998

The Phoenix Lights — The 10 p.m. lights

Up to nine bright lights appear southwest of Phoenix, hover for several minutes and disappear towards the Sierra Estrella. Several people videotape them.

SRC: ortega-1998

Roswell — GAO records search

The GAO reports that Roswell AAF outgoing messages from 1946–49 were destroyed without documented authority and that the two surviving 1947 records describe a balloon.

SRC: gao-1995

Roswell — Front page

The New York Times reports that the Air Force report, issued on 8 September, traces the debris to Project Mogul, a once-secret balloon system for detecting nuclear tests.

SRC: nyt-1994

Roswell — Air Force report

The Air Force concludes the debris most likely came from a Project Mogul balloon train.

SRC: af-1995 · gao-1995

Belgian UFO wave — Statement to London

The Belgian Air Force sends an official statement on the incident to the UK Ministry of Defence. It surfaces in MoD files released by the UK National Archives in 2009.

SRC: tna-guide-2009

Belgian UFO wave — Petit-Rechain photo

An anonymous photograph of a lit triangle, taken near Verviers, is circulated and becomes the wave's icon.

SRC: vrt-2011 · wiki-be

Belgian UFO wave — F-16s scrambled

After reports from gendarmes and ground radar, two F-16s take off from Beauvechain and make repeated interception attempts with brief radar locks.

SRC: baf-report-1990 · wiki-be

Belgian UFO wave — First reports

Gendarmes and residents around Eupen report a large triangular object with bright lights.

SRC: wiki-be · baf-report-1990

Rendlesham Forest — Memo made public

The USAF releases the memo under the US Freedom of Information Act. The same year the News of the World puts it on its front page: “UFO LANDS IN SUFFOLK”.

SRC: halt-memo-1981 · bbc-2020

Trans-en-Provence — Technical note no. 16

GEPAN publishes its report: signs of a large-scale event with mechanical deformation and heating, but interpretations too vague to confirm the witness.

SRC: gepan-nt16 · inra-analysis

Trans-en-Provence — GEPAN on site

GEPAN investigators visit the site, find the traces still visible and take a new series of soil and alfalfa samples.

SRC: geipan-case · gepan-nt16

Rendlesham Forest — The memo

Halt sends a one-page memo headed “Unexplained Lights” to the Ministry of Defence. It is not classified.

SRC: halt-memo-1981 · tna-highlights-2009

Trans-en-Provence — GEPAN waits

GEPAN learns of the case. After heavy rain over the weekend it decides not to go at once and asks the gendarmerie to send the samples to laboratories.

SRC: gepan-nt16

Trans-en-Provence — Gendarmes on site

Alerted by the witness's neighbours, the gendarmerie arrives around 11:30, takes his statement, photographs the trace and samples soil and wild alfalfa.

SRC: gepan-nt16 · gendarmerie-pv

Trans-en-Provence — The sighting

Around 5 p.m. the witness hears a whistling sound and sees a craft land below his terrace and leave within seconds. The whole observation lasts 30 to 40 seconds.

SRC: geipan-case · gepan-nt16

Rendlesham Forest — Halt goes out

Lt Col Halt and others visit the site, record radiation readings at three depressions and watch a pulsing red light and star-like objects. His memo dates this to 29 December.

SRC: halt-memo-1981 · bbc-2020

Rendlesham Forest — First night

Around 3 a.m., USAF security police outside RAF Woodbridge see lights in the forest; three patrolmen go in on foot. Halt's memo later gives the date as 27 December.

SRC: airmen-statements-1981 · halt-memo-1981 · bbc-2020

Roswell — The story returns

A National Enquirer article reports former intelligence officer Jesse Marcel's claim that he recovered UFO debris in 1947, and researcher Stanton Friedman meets Marcel. A book, The Roswell Incident, follows in 1980.

SRC: af-1995

Roswell — Retraction

The Army shows balloon debris to the press in Fort Worth and the story is dropped.

SRC: af-1995

Roswell — “Flying disc” press release

Roswell Army Air Field announces it has recovered a flying disc; the Roswell Daily Record prints it on its front page and an FBI teletype the same day says the object resembles a weather balloon with a radar reflector.

SRC: rdr-1947 · gao-1995 · fbi-teletype-1947