Unresolved UAP Report, Western United States, 2020 — Department of War Video
The United States Northern Command submitted a report of an unidentified anomalous phenomenon to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) consisting of 2 minutes and 16 seconds of video footage from an infrared sensor aboard a U.S. military platform in 2020.
Incident Overview
In 2020, in the Western United States, the Department of War preserved a sensor video that was declassified and published on July 10, 2026 as part of the fourth tranche of the Department of War’s Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE).
What the government released
The United States Northern Command submitted a report of an unidentified anomalous phenomenon to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) consisting of 2 minutes and 16 seconds of video footage from an infrared sensor aboard a U.S. military platform in 2020.
Video Description: 00:01-00:15: No content. 00:16-00:19: The footage flashes between normal operation and a black screen several times as the sensor changes display modes. 00:20-00:27: No content. 00:28-00:33: The sensor zooms in and pans to track an area of contrast, keeping it generally within the center of the frame. 00:34-00:57: An auto-tracking reticle surrounds the area of contrast as the sensor continues to track it against the background. 00:58-01:10: The sensor adjusts its zoom level and contrast settings several times. 01:11-01:34: The area of contrast leaves the sensor field-of-view to the left of the frame. The sensor adjusts its zoom level and contrast settings several times. No content.
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.
Status of the case
Records released under the PURSUE program are designated unresolved by the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, which means the federal government has not concluded the events were anomalous, has not concluded they were conventional, and has not ruled out either possibility. Where AARO has offered a likely source for an item — an infrared sensor aboard a military aircraft, a commercial camera, or a known optical effect — that attribution is the agency’s working assessment rather than a final determination. Conventional candidates such as drones, balloons, flares, satellites, parallax and forced-perspective artifacts, and ordinary aircraft remain on the table for any unresolved case absent better data than a single sensor pass or a witness recollection.