Composite Sketch of a September 2023 UAP Event (FBI)

Source file: 2024-04-30-composite-sketch.pdf Originating agency: Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI Laboratory Date range: September 2023 (the event) – April 30, 2024 (production of the sketch) Page count: 1 (a single image) High-significance pages: page 1

---

Official Blurb (from war.gov)

Actual site photo with FBI Lab rendered graphic overlay depicting corroborating eyewitness reports from September 2023 of an apparent ellipsoid bronze metallic object materializing out of a bright light in the sky, 130-195 feet in length, and disappearing instantaneously.

Summary

This document is an unusual product of the FBI Laboratory: a composite sketch that fuses an actual photograph taken at the incident site with a computer-rendered graphic overlay representing a UAP as described by several eyewitnesses whose accounts corroborated one another. The event took place in September 2023 in the United States. According to the reports, a metallic, bronze-colored ellipsoidal object — estimated at 130 to 195 feet (roughly 40 to 60 meters) in length — materialized out of a bright source of light in the sky, was observed briefly, and then vanished instantaneously. The FBI produced the sketch on April 30, 2024, about seven months after the incident.

---

Research Article

Introduction

The FBI composite sketch dated April 30, 2024 is one of the most significant visual products the Department of War released within the PURSUE Initiative Release 1 package. Unlike the bulk of the series, which consists of textual records (MISREPs, cables, transcripts), this document is a graphic record. It is a product of the FBI Laboratory — the forensic arm of the Bureau — and therefore constitutes a formal statement by an investigative authority about the appearance of a UAP.

The event: September 2023

The sketch depicts an event that occurred in September 2023 within the United States. While the precise location is not stated in this document, significant UAP events were documented in the Western United States during that period. The principal characteristics of the object, per the sketch and the official description, are as follows.

Shape: an ellipsoid. This form is characteristic of modern UAP reporting and is sometimes called a "Tic Tac" when the ratio between the long and short axes is high. Here the visual representation is closer to a broad ellipse, with a more moderate length-to-width ratio.

Color: bronze, metallic. The color distinguishes this object from the white "Tic Tacs" filmed in 2004 during the USS Nimitz encounter. A matte bronze tone suggests a non-reflective metallic exterior, perhaps an oxidized or painted surface.

Size: 130 to 195 feet long — that is, 40 to 60 meters. This is a large object, on the scale of a medium-to-large commercial aircraft. For comparison, a Boeing 737 is roughly 39 meters long; an estimate for this object would put it in the range of a large passenger jet.

Appearance: "materializing out of a bright light." This phrasing is extraordinary. It implies a sudden change in optical character: a bright light source was present at the site (rendered in the sketch as rays of light surrounding the object), and out of it a solid object suddenly appeared. If this is a genuine phenomenon, it points to an optical or physical transformation inconsistent with known aircraft.

Disappearance: "disappearing instantaneously." An instantaneous disappearance — without gradual motion or departure from the field of view — completes the character of the appearance. This trait, too, is inconsistent with known aerodynamic vehicles.

The contribution of the FBI Laboratory

The FBI Laboratory is the Bureau's highly regarded forensic research unit, specializing in the analysis of complex evidence. The production of a composite sketch rests on a scientific methodology known as composite drawing: gathering descriptions from multiple witnesses, analyzing them to extract shared features, and then generating a graphic representation that expresses the consensus among the accounts. Applying this methodology to a UAP is itself a statement: the FBI treats UAP reports as evidentiary material worthy of formal investigation.

The graphic overlay

The sketch shows the bronze ellipsoidal object in the upper-right portion of the image, adjacent to the bright light source (marked by white-blue rays of light). The background is an actual view of the site: a field with tall green grass, a tree line at the rear, and a paved path on the left. The sky is bright and blue, with sunlight scatter suggesting midday or afternoon hours. The combination of a real background photograph with a graphic overlay of the object distinguishes this sketch from fictional illustrations: it guides the viewer to picture the genuine context in which the object was described.

Connection to the PURSUE Initiative

The release of the sketch within PURSUE Release 1 in May 2026 is part of the Department of War's (formerly Department of Defense) public transparency initiative on UAP. This document group also includes the "Western US Event Slides" (May 5, 2026), the official presentation of a UAP event referred to as the "Western US operation," which took place in September and December 2025. Researchers believe this sketch, the September 2023 event, and the 2025 events are connected, though the official responsibility for drawing that link remains with the agency.

Significance

This sketch is an exceptional record for several reasons. First, it is an official FBI document concerning UAP — a rare type of document. Second, it incorporates the visual evidence of multiple witnesses, which lends it more weight than a single observation. Third, the object's characteristics — a metallic ellipsoid 40 to 60 meters in size with instantaneous appearance and disappearance — do not match known human technology. Fourth, the public release of the sketch is a statement in itself: even forensic, institutional agencies treat the phenomenon seriously. Fifth, the relationship to the 2025 events suggests the report is not isolated but part of a pattern.

Key People

No individual names are stated in the document. The FBI Laboratory is identified as the producer.

Locations

• United States — the precise location is not disclosed, but the incident is associated with the Western United States.

Incidents

Incident	Date	Location	Pages
Multi-witness observation of a large bronze ellipsoidal object that materialized from a light and vanished instantaneously	September 2023	United States (Western)	page 1

Notable Quotes

"Actual site photo with FBI Lab rendered graphic overlay depicting corroborating eyewitness reports from September 2023 of an apparent ellipsoid bronze metallic object materializing out of a bright light in the sky, 130-195 feet in length, and disappearing instantaneously." — official description