DOW-UAP-D176: AARO Memorandum for Record - A Silent Matte Black Triangle Rises, Hovers and Banks into a Canyon, Western United States, 2026

Source file: DOW-UAP-D176-Triangular_UAP_AARO_MFR_2026.pdf Originating agency: All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), Department of War, on Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Intelligence and Security) letterhead Document type: Memorandum for Record, "Official Record of Joint Witness Debrief" Date: 2026; the day and month of the event are redacted Classification: No classification banner on the released pages; redactions are marked with the codes 1843(a)(1)(B), 1843(a)(1)(C), 1843(a)(2) and 1843(a)(3). Released in 2026 Page count: 3 VIRIN: 260508-D-D0360-1168 PURSUE Release: 7

Summary

DOW-UAP-D176 is AARO's own written record of a debrief with federal law enforcement officers who reported a triangular object rising out of the terrain near a sensitive national security site somewhere in the western United States in 2026. It is short, three pages, but dense: it fixes the time of first detection at 2023L, gives dimensional estimates, divides the sighting into three timed phases, and lists in detail what the witnesses did not see, hear or feel.

The memorandum records two primary interviewees, labelled SOURCE 1 and SOURCE 2, and an "Additional Corroborating Witness", SOURCE 3, who was at a separate observation post and made the first detection with long-range thermal equipment. Names, titles, the interviewers, the date and the location are all redacted. The official war.gov description identifies SOURCE 1 and SOURCE 2 as two Federal Special Agents.

The same two agents gave a co-signed written statement to the FBI, which is reproduced in an FD-302 with nine digitally rendered forensic sketches: FBI-UAP-D043. Read together, the two documents agree on the essentials (a silent, nonreflective black triangle, a vertical climb over a ridge, a uniform thermal signature, a fast descent into a canyon) but disagree on several measurable points, most strikingly the time and the total duration of the sighting.

Research Article

The setting: two posts, late dusk, sensors pointing the wrong way

The "CHRONOLOGICAL NARRATIVE OF EVENTS" (page 2) sets the scene. SOURCE 1 and SOURCE 2 were "positioned at the primary observation post conducting routine observation support". Conditions were described as "highly favorable for both visual and electro-optical collection": unrestricted line of sight, negligible cloud, late-dusk light. The sun had set below the western horizon, and "a residual sunset gradient provided a high-contrast backdrop against the western ridge lines while the deeper valley floors and canyon cuts were rapidly falling into shadow."

The detail that shapes the whole record follows: "Primary optical and tripod-mounted sensor systems were initially oriented eastward." The object appeared to the west. At 2023L, SOURCE 3, at the secondary post and "scanning westward with long-range thermal equipment", detected "an elevated object transiting over the ridge line" and called it out by radio. The two agents "immediately relocated across the peak", but "Terrain conditions precluded quick relocation of the primary tripod-mounted thermal system." SOURCE 2 went ahead with binoculars and a handheld thermal monocular, SOURCE 1 seconds behind. SOURCE 2 first saw the object with the naked eye, silhouetted against the remaining western glow, used the binoculars for initial tracking, passed them to SOURCE 1, and then switched on the monocular.

This explains why a sighting at a site with sensor systems on hand produced no recorded sensor data that the memorandum mentions: the instruments were facing the other way and could not be moved in time.

The three phases

The memorandum structures the event into three italicised phases, each with a duration.

Phase I, vertical ascent (about 10 seconds). The object was making "a slow, controlled, perfectly vertical ascent directly over the ridge line", climbing about 200 to 300 feet "while maintaining a completely static orientation without tilting, swaying, or wobbling." No "propulsive apertures, rotating elements, rivets, panels, windows, canopy, cabin structures" were seen. Range was "bounded between approximately 1.4 and 3.2 miles west of the primary observation post by terrain cross-reference."

Phase II, station-keeping hover (about 20 seconds). At 200 to 300 feet above the ridge the craft "instantaneously arrested all vertical motion and entered a stable hover", with "no observable drift or oscillation". Under infrared the airframe showed "a spatially uniform thermal signature with no localized hot spots, engine heat signature, or exhaust plumes", and there was no heat shimmer, vapour trail or particulate discharge. The memorandum adds that the surface showed no "cloaking, optical shifting or distortion, or shimmering properties", remaining matte black throughout.

Phase III, terminal manoeuvre and loss of contact (about 2 to 3 seconds). The object went from a stationary position to rapid horizontal flight "without observable acceleration ramp, gradual pitching or momentum", made "a fluid banking turn and steep, terrain-conforming descent into the canyon", and vanished behind terrain. Speed was estimated from the distance covered along the ridge and compared to "a military fighter jet", but "No instrumented speed measurement was obtained." In the bank the profile changed: "the silhouette flattened and presented as a more symmetrical isosceles triangle." Infrared tracking was lost because the acceleration exceeded the monocular's narrow field of view; naked-eye tracking then followed it into the canyon shadows.

The overview on page 1 summarises the object as "a matte black triangular shape of extremely low aspect ratio", with an estimated wingspan of 13 to 15 feet, an apparent fuselage length of six to nine feet, and a maximum thickness of "roughly one to two feet".

What was absent

A large part of the memorandum is a list of negatives. The object "generated no detectable acoustic signature throughout the entire engagement": no engine roar, rotor hum, aerodynamic friction or air-displacement sound. Its exterior lacked "propulsive apertures, intake structures, aerodynamic control effectors, or cockpit features". No impact signature, smoke or dust was seen, and "A ground survey of the canyon drainage conducted the following morning located no wreckage, ground scarring, or vegetation damage." The two primary witnesses reported no physiological effects (the memorandum lists disorientation, nausea, headache, dermal sensation, visual disturbance and memory gaps as examples of what was not reported), no odours, and no "electromagnetic interference, signal degradation, or anomalous sensor readings" on personal or agency equipment.

The "Collector Note" on page 3 frames the witnesses' competence: both have "extensive operational experience" working with government agencies and academic studies using unmanned aerial systems and regularly observe conventional aircraft around the site (part of this sentence is redacted). They told AARO that on that hilltop even a Group 1 drone, a high-torque quadcopter motor or a helicopter "operating at a distance of 1.4 miles would have been clearly audible", and that they scaled the object against trees on the ridge behind it.

Comparing the two accounts: AARO's debrief and the FBI statement

FBI-UAP-D043 reproduces, verbatim, a written statement co-signed by two Special Agents. Comparing it point by point with this memorandum:

• Time. AARO gives first detection at 2023L; the FBI statement says "approximately 1923 hours". Neither document explains the one-hour gap, which could reflect a time-zone or daylight-saving convention or a simple error. The date is redacted in both.
• Detection. Both credit a third official at another post with a thermal detection to the west. The FBI statement adds a bearing of 251 degrees from that post and names it Observation Post 6; AARO adds the long-range thermal equipment and the radio call.
• Shape and colour. Agreement: AARO's "matte black", "nonreflective" triangle of "extremely low aspect ratio"; the FBI's "substantial, nonreflective, dark black triangular object most resembling a delta wing drone".
• Size. Depth (six to nine feet) and thickness (one to two feet) are identical. The wingspan is not: 13 to 15 feet in AARO, nine to fifteen feet in the FBI statement.
• Position. The FBI statement puts the ridge about 3.2 miles west on a heading of about 268 degrees, and contact lost at about 1.5 miles; AARO's bounding range of 1.4 to 3.2 miles matches both figures.
• Altitude. About 200 feet in the FBI statement; 200 to 300 feet in AARO.
• Thermal signature. Both describe a uniform signature with no exhaust. Only the FBI statement says it "appeared hotter than ambient temperature".
• Motion and duration. This is the largest difference. AARO describes a ten-second climb, a twenty-second hover and a two-to-three-second exit, roughly half a minute in all. The FBI statement describes a climb and then a direct transition to fast horizontal flight "approaching our position, then descending southeast", mentions no hover, and gives "The total duration of the sighting was approximately three seconds." The three seconds corresponds closely to AARO's Phase III alone.
• Optics. AARO has SOURCE 2 using binoculars, then passing them to SOURCE 1. The FBI statement says the co-signer "tracked the object unaided for the duration of the sighting".
• Sound. Both: none.
• Second night and ground search. The official war.gov description of D176 speaks of "a secondary observation on the following evening". The three released pages contain no such observation, and neither does the FBI statement. The only next-day activity in the released text is the morning ground survey of the canyon drainage, which the FBI statement does not mention at all.

What the memorandum does not say

AARO's official description says the incident warrants further investigation because of "the close alignment of the phenomena's reported morphological features and kinematic profiles with those of other reported incidents in the western United States region". The memorandum itself names no other incident. Earlier releases in this archive include other 2026 western-US accounts, such as the red lights in FBI-UAP-D037 and FBI-UAP-D040 and the event slides in the "other" category, but nothing in D176 links this sighting to them, and none should be assumed. Nor does the memorandum contain the "associated analytic support material" the description mentions, any analytic conclusion, or a resolution.

The text also shows signs of hurried drafting: "a completely fixed horizontal alignment with did not tilt", "a continuous, featureless profile with." breaking off mid-sentence, and "present as a more triangle". These slips do not change the substance, but they show this is a working record and not a polished assessment.

Significance

D176 is one of the most detailed modern government-witness UAP accounts released so far: trained federal observers, a second post with thermal detection, explicit range bounding from terrain and a scale reference against ridge-line trees, phased timing, and a long list of checked negatives. Its value is greatest when read with FBI-UAP-D043, because the two records were produced separately from the same witnesses. Their agreement on shape, colour, silence and thermal uniformity is notable; their disagreement on the time, the lower wingspan bound, the hover and a total of three seconds against about thirty is exactly the kind of variance investigators must reconcile. The score of 8 reflects witness quality and documentary detail, balanced against the absence of any recorded sensor data, the fully redacted date and place, and the unexplained gap between the memorandum and its own official description on the second-evening sighting.

Key People

Locations

Incidents

Notable Quotes

"On approximately [redacted] 2026, at 2023L, federal law enforcement agents documented an unidentified craft presenting as a matte black triangular shape of extremely low aspect ratio that was nonreflective under the observed lighting conditions." -- page 1

"Upon reaching this altitude, the craft instantaneously arrested all vertical motion and entered a stable hover for an estimated twenty seconds." -- page 1

"Terrain conditions precluded quick relocation of the primary tripod-mounted thermal system." -- page 2

"Range to the object was bounded between approximately 1.4 and 3.2 miles west of the primary observation post by terrain cross-reference." -- page 2

"Under banking angle, the silhouette flattened and presented as a more symmetrical isosceles triangle." -- page 3

"No instrumented speed measurement was obtained." -- page 3

"A ground survey of the canyon drainage conducted the following morning located no wreckage, ground scarring, or vegetation damage." -- page 3

"They noted that on this hilltop, even a conventional Group 1 drone, high-torque quadcopter motor, or rotary-wing aircraft operating at a distance of 1.4 miles would have been clearly audible." -- page 3