One of the released UFO clips shows something described as a ‘misshapen and uneven ball of white light’ flying over Syria, and it lasts five seconds

The Pentagon has officially released a large collection of declassified UAP files, marking a significant step toward public transparency on military sightings. The first tranche of documents, which dropped on May 8, 2026, includes nearly 30 videos and a range of investigative reports now available to the public. As detailed by Space.com, the release follows a directive issued in February.

The footage is the highlight of the release. One clip from U.S. Central Command shows five seconds of activity captured in Syria in October 2024, recorded using a full-motion video camera. The official mission report, labeled DoW-UAP-D32, describes the object as a “misshapen and uneven ball of white light,” with Pentagon officials also noting a “light/glare halo effect” visible at the top of the video feed.

Another video, submitted by U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, offers a nine-second look at an unidentified object captured by an infrared sensor in 2024. The Pentagon’s description of that object is notably specific: the sensor locked onto what appeared to be a “football-shaped body with three radial projections: one oriented vertically, and two oriented downward at a 45-degree angle relative to the major axis of the main mass.”

The Pentagon is opening its UFO files to the public, and it wants outside help analyzing them

There is also a 100-second infrared video from U.S. Indo-Pacific Command showing a small, bright dot moving through a field of windmills. The clip is one of the longer pieces of footage in the release and captures an object that has not been identified. Amid a broader period of heightened Pentagon activity, the Mark Kelly censure battle with a federal appeals court has also drawn attention to the Department of Defense this week.

The Pentagon has included a disclaimer with the files, stating that “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.” Experts have noted that many sightings could be attributed to software bugs, instrument errors, or advanced drone technology rather than anything extraterrestrial.

Beyond the videos, the release includes 161 files, most of them PDFs detailing investigative reports and eyewitness accounts. Some accounts involve Apollo astronauts who reported seeing unusual objects near the moon. The Department of War has acknowledged it is working through millions of records held in storage for decades and plans to release new batches on a rolling basis every few weeks.

The Pentagon has also stated it welcomes “the application of private-sector analysis, information and expertise” on these unresolved cases, inviting outside researchers and analysts to examine the data. The U.S. military’s expanding transparency on UAPs comes at a time when Iran and U.S. naval forces clashed over disputed events in Middle Eastern waters this week. A supercut of the released footage is available on the Space.com YouTube channel.