PURSUE Release 5 Is Here
The U.S. Department of War's fifth declassified UAP release has been processed, researched, and added to the archive. This time it brings something the collection had been missing: a quantitative scientific analysis of photographic evidence, alongside an unusually detailed modern operational report and a new wave of first-hand FBI testimony.
Release 5 adds 15 new bilingual research articles drawn directly from the documents, plus 16 AARO videos and eight FBI digital renderings. We read every page, wrote original research and translated it, and folded all of it into the existing archive. Here is what was added.
What's New in Release 5
- ▪15 new bilingual research articles, written directly from the documents.
- ▪The Naval Photographic Interpretation Center's 1953 photogrammetric analysis of the 1952 Utah and 1950 Montana films, which explicitly rules out birds, aircraft and balloons.
- ▪The Air Materiel Command and Project Sign file, containing Cabell's November 1948 letter: "The conclusion appears inescapable that some type of flying object has been observed."
- ▪The intelligence review of the "Ghost Rockets" over Scandinavia (January 1947), and the CIA's Puerto Rico file held under BYEMAN control and Project OXCART.
- ▪The AC-130 Gulf of Oman report (2021), documenting approximately 25 instances of "cold orbs," accompanied by six videos.
- ▪Eight FBI FD-302 witness interviews, with eight accompanying digital renderings.
The Headline Findings
The Navy's Film Analysis: "Not Able to Identify"
The U.S. Naval Photographic Interpretation Center measured two 16mm films frame by frame, computed velocities to 2,457 mph and accelerations up to 965 g, and explicitly ruled out birds, aircraft and balloons. Cleared astronomers and physicists could not explain the objects or recognize them as man-made.
→Cold Orbs over the Gulf of Oman, 2021
An AC-130J gunship crew reported approximately 25 instances of "cold orbs" during a live-fire sortie. Two hovered over a flare and fled in the interval between the trigger pull and the cannon's recoil. The aircraft's video recorder "inexplicably failed." Six videos accompany the report.
→The Historical Documents
The Cabell Letter and Project Sign (1947-1948)
"The conclusion appears inescapable that some type of flying object has been observed," and the reply studying ~180 incidents.
The "Ghost Rockets" over Scandinavia (1947)
A Swedish Defense Staff that blamed Soviet rockets in private and "celestial origin" in public.
Briefing Notes for Mr. Walter Elder (1964)
A 3,800-knot radar track, an F-8 Crusader in afterburner, and a 20-degree climb away.
The OXCART-Controlled Analysis (1965)
The CIA checked whether the object was one of its own, and found the 3,800-knot figure did not survive scrutiny.
The Conde, Bahia "Metal Sphere" (1963)
A Brazilian radio report of a crashed sphere with a body inside, traced and debunked through official channels within twelve days.
The FBI Files and the Renderings
Eight FD-302 forms, the record-of-interview form the FBI uses, containing first-hand accounts from pilots, former service members and special agents. Eight digital renderings prepared by the FBI in 2026 as visual aids accompany them.
Browse the FBI files →Across the Rest of Release 5
The release expanded several existing categories with both historical and modern documents.
New Media
Sixteen new AARO videos were added to the archive: six from the Gulf of Oman linked directly to the AC-130 report, five from the Pacific Ocean (2019), four from the Middle East, and one FBI video linked to a 2026 witness statement. Eight FBI digital renderings were added alongside them.
Why It Matters
- ▪The Navy's 1953 analysis is the first time in the collection that a professional government body measures photographic evidence frame by frame, rules out the conventional explanations on the basis of computation, and concedes that its only binding constraint was budget and manpower.
- ▪Cabell's letter and the Air Materiel Command's reply document, within a single month, an internal finding that the objects were not of domestic origin alongside a recommendation not to say so to the press.
- ▪The Gulf of Oman report is among the most detailed operational documents in the collection, recording an apparent reaction by the phenomena to the firing of the cannon, and an unexplained failure of the aircraft's video recorder.