Unresolved UAP Report, Western United States, 1996
- Date
- 1996
- Place
- Western United States
- Record
- Pentagon file
- Assessment
- Not assessed
- Evidence strength
What was reported
A 2 minute 57 second infrared-sensor video, reportedly captured aboard a U.S. military platform in 1996, transferred to AARO by the Navy's UAP Task Force in 2022. The government's own video description states the file was digitally altered before being submitted to the UAPTF and is presented as received: a contrast anomaly transits the frame from 0:14-0:17, then the footage repeats frame-by-frame (0:18-1:21), repeats at slower speed (1:22-2:13), and finally holds on a single extracted frame (2:14-2:56). The government explicitly disclaims that its own description reflects any analytical judgment.
What officials concluded
Unresolved
The file gives no official explanation.
- Agency
- Department of War
- Released in
- 123456
AARO comment
This video description is provided for informational purposes only. Readers should not interpret any part of this description as reflecting an analytical judgment, investigative conclusion, or factual determination regarding the described event's validity, nature, or significance.
Evidence profile
- No: Visual
- Yes: Infrared
- No: Radar
- No: Video
- No: Photo
- No: Film
- No: Audio
- No: Night vision
- No: Other sensor
- No: Civilian
- No: Military aircrew
- No: Military ground
- No: Airline crew
- Yes: Sensor operator
- No: Law enforcement
- No: Scientist
- No: Astronaut
- No: Intelligence official
- No: Other
- No: Light only
- No: Orb or sphere
- No: Disc
- No: Triangle
- No: Cylinder
- No: Cube
- No: Other shape
- No: Physiological
- No: Physical trace
- No: Electromagnetic
- No: Sound
- No: Silent
Why this rating Single sensor, no named witness or platform, no shape/size/speed data beyond a single contrast anomaly crossing the frame in about 3 seconds, and the file itself is acknowledged by the government to be a digitally altered, non-original artifact of unknown provenance and chain of custody spanning at least the 26 years between the 1996 capture and 2022 transfer to AARO.
As described in the file
- Witnesses
- Unstated; platform and operator not identified in the blurb
- Sensors
- Single-sensor: infrared, aboard an unspecified U.S. military platform
- Motion
- A single area of contrast transits the sensor field of view over about 3 seconds (0:14-0:17), entering upper right and exiting lower left
- Duration
- 2 minutes 57 seconds total video; only about 3 seconds shows the transiting object, the remainder is repeated/slowed footage or a still frame
Pentagon files
DOW-UAP-PR113, Unresolved UAP Report, Western United States, 1996
Open the original on dvidshub.net
What the file claims
- Unverified
The video was digitally altered before being reported to the UAP Task Force in the 1990s, and AARO presents it exactly as it was received rather than as originally recorded.
- Unverified
No formal data-handling practices for UAP-related records existed in 1996, when the video was reportedly captured.
On the map
39.50° N, 115.00° W, plotted at the centre of the region named in the record
Show on the map