The Trump administration released a fresh batch of UFO files on Friday, exposing dozens of reports and videos previously hidden from the public.
The fifth tranche includes chilling accounts of enormous triangular craft, mysterious high-speed orbs and even a metal sphere allegedly carrying a human body.
Among the most extraordinary reports is a military pilot’s account of a silent, 500-foot triangular object that swept over Bagram Airfield, a US-operated base in Afghanistan, in 2002.
The witness said it then abruptly rolled 90 degrees onto its left side while veering right, the opposite direction in which a conventional aircraft would normally bank, before quickly returning to level flight.
The pilot told agents that he was stargazing with a colleague at approximately 4.30am when the stars suddenly began disappearing above them.
‘It appeared as if something huge went overhead,’ the FBI interview summary states.
The pilot described the object as an equilateral triangle that moved silently across the sky at a steady speed and altitude, despite displaying no visible lights.
Another file recounts claims that a large metal sphere crashed into the center of Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro in 1963, gouging a 13ft-deep hole.
The mysterious object reportedly had window-shaped openings covered with thick glass, and contained a human body dressed in heavy clothing bearing inscriptions that could not be deciphered.
A military pilot claimed to have seen a silent, 500-foot triangular object that swept over Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, in 2002. Above is the artist impression released in Friday’s UFO files
Another document recounts claims that a large metal sphere crashed into the center of Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro in 1963, gouging a 13ft-deep hole
A screenshot of a video released on Friday showing an unresolved UFO report from last year. The footage shows a small orb-like object traveling across the screen
However, the records preserve witness statements and media reports rather than verified government findings, and they offer no evidence that either object was extraterrestrial.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said on Friday: ‘The Department of War is in lockstep with President Trump to bring unprecedented transparency regarding our government’s understanding of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena.
‘These files, hidden behind classifications, have long fueled justified speculation, and it’s time the American people see it for themselves.
‘This release of declassified documents demonstrates the Trump Administration’s earnest commitment to unprecedented transparency.’
One of the records, a three-page FBI interview summary, details the pilot’s alleged encounter with the 500ft triangular craft over Bagram.
He estimated that the equilateral object was traveling at around 173mph.
The second pilot reportedly witnessed it too, asking, ‘Did you see that?’ as it passed overhead.
The witness said he did not report the encounter at the time and later failed to find anything that explained what they had observed.
An artist’s impression of a reported incident this year in an undisclosed part of the Western US
The same file revealed that the pilot subsequently reported unexplained lights during commercial flights beginning in October 2023.
He first noticed them while flying from Boston to Dublin at 37,000ft and believed they were hovering at least 13,000ft above his aircraft.
The lights reportedly brightened and faded in cycles lasting between ten seconds and one minute. Some remained stationary while others traveled in straight lines or suddenly changed direction.
Although they resembled aircraft landing lights, the pilot said their behavior did not match planes, meteors, satellites or Starlink – Elon Musk’s satellite internet company.
He claimed to have witnessed the phenomenon approximately ten times, with individual encounters lasting from 45 minutes to two hours.
During a flight in February 2024, he recorded more than ten lights moving and changing brightness as his aircraft traveled at approximately Mach 0.80 near Sioux Falls.
The pilot said he never felt threatened and believed the lights remained at least 100 miles away.
A separate FBI file described an even more dramatic encounter involving a giant black triangle over Colorado Springs in October 2023.
Join the discussion
Which UFO sighting caught your attention most?
Friday’s release also included an encounter with a mysterious triangular craft that appeared over Colorado Springs in 2023
The witness told agents that he was standing outside with a co-worker on a clear night when a strange, dark-gray cloud appeared in the sky.
He described the cloud as stationary and seemingly ‘pixelated or distorted’ before a red light emerged from it.
As he watched, an enormous solid-black triangle reportedly came into view, displaying a diffuse red light at each of its three corners.
The witness estimated that the object was as large as the parking lot where he was standing and measured between three and five stories thick.
It initially traveled at a speed comparable to a helicopter before ‘almost instantaneously’ accelerating to what he believed was Mach 1 or Mach 2.
He claimed waves appeared to radiate from the craft, producing a shimmering distortion similar to the mirage seen above a hot road.
Despite its apparent size and speed, the triangle allegedly generated no noise, displayed no visible propulsion and produced no unusual odor.
The witness said it then abruptly rolled 90 degrees onto its left side while veering right, the opposite direction in which a conventional aircraft would normally bank, before quickly returning to level flight.
Analysis of films of unidentified objects over Utah and Montana in the 1950s was in the files
After the object disappeared to the south, he looked back and discovered that the strange cloud from which it had emerged had also vanished.
Around a minute later, he called his wife to describe what he had seen, but she told him his voice sounded ‘robotic,’ as though electronic interference was disrupting the call.
The FBI report records the witness’s account but offers no conclusion about what he saw and does not independently verify his estimates of the object’s size, speed or altitude.
Another Colorado Springs couple described a smaller triangular object that passed approximately 300ft above their home in 2023.
The witness said it appeared ‘almost see-through’ and was surrounded by haze and ripples, ‘like you were looking at an object that is underwater.’
It reportedly banked until it was nearly vertical without changing its direction or altitude, then disappeared within four seconds.
Another study analyzed films of unidentified objects recorded over Utah and Montana in the early 1950s.
Another Colorado Springs couple described a smaller triangular object that passed around 300ft above their home in 2023. Above is an artist’s impression of the encounter
The objects appeared disk-shaped and blue-white, with analysts calculating that those in the Utah footage traveled at up to 2,457mph and endured acceleration reaching 965 times the force of gravity.
The report concluded that birds, balloons and conventional aircraft could not explain the calculated movements, describing the objects as neither identifiable natural phenomena nor ‘commonly known man-made objects.’
But those figures relied on assumptions about the objects’ distance from the camera, which analysts acknowledged was arbitrary.
In a bizarre encounter this year, two witnesses reported red lights descending over a remote area of the western US, with one allegedly hovering just 6ft above the ground.
Another glow appeared to move through a dry wash around 330ft behind them.
Afterward, one witness discovered that his mechanical watch had jumped 25 minutes ahead, while his phone, vehicle clock and his companion’s digital watch continued showing the correct time.
The watch allegedly continued running normally afterward, but remained 25 minutes fast.
