Alaska again at center of mystery as Pentagon releases UFO files and videos

By SUZANNE DOWNING

May 22, 2026 – Alaska is back in the middle of America’s modern UFO saga after the Pentagon on Friday released a second wave of declassified Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena records — including military videos, audio, and reports tied to incidents that began with the 2023 Chinese spy balloon crossing over the Aleutian Islands and mainland Alaska.

The newly released material, published through the Trump administration’s Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters, or PURSUE program, includes more than 50 videos along with historical documents and audio files now posted at the Department of War’s UAP archive website.

President Donald Trump ordered the broader transparency initiative earlier this year, directing federal agencies to begin systematically declassifying decades of UAP-related material. Officials say the process will take years because the federal government holds tens of millions of records across multiple agencies, many of them still in paper archives.

The latest release is being overseen by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, whose department said public interest has exploded since the first tranche of files was released on May 8.

“Since the site’s launch on May 8, 2026, WAR.GOV/UFO has received over 1 billion hits worldwide,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement announcing the release.

One of the most closely watched videos in the release shows the February 2023 shootdown of a high-altitude object over Lake Huron by a US Air Force F-16 using an AIM-9 Sidewinder missile. That incident came during heightened military alertness immediately after the Chinese surveillance balloon crossed Alaska and traversed North America.

At the time, then-NORAD commander Gen. Glen VanHerck publicly acknowledged the military could not immediately explain how some of the objects remained airborne, famously describing them as “objects, not balloons.”

The Chinese balloon first entered US airspace near Alaska’s Aleutian Islands on Jan. 28, 2023, according to federal officials. It then crossed northern Alaska before moving into Canadian airspace on Jan. 30 and later re-entering the continental United States over Idaho and Montana. The balloon was eventually shot down off South Carolina on Feb. 4, 2023.

US officials later said the balloon originated from China’s Hainan Island and was tracked continuously while over Alaska and Canada.

Much of the newly released material remains unexplained.

The Department of War stated repeatedly throughout the release that many incidents still cannot be conclusively identified due to insufficient sensor data, limited imagery, or conflicting observations from military personnel.

Among the more dramatic accounts released Thursday is a lengthy report from a senior US intelligence officer describing a late-2025 helicopter mission investigating unexplained “orb-like” phenomena over a military test range.

According to the declassified narrative, the crew initially searched mountain terrain for debris associated with mysterious aerial sightings and loud impacts reported over several nights. After hours of flying low-altitude search patterns, the team encountered what the report described as a highly maneuverable object detected on radar and infrared systems.

The officer stated the object was described by ground teams as “super-hot,” flying close to the ground at high speed before splitting into two separate objects.

The report claims one object approached within approximately 10 feet of the helicopter before rapidly accelerating away. Pilots using night vision equipment allegedly observed the object divide, with a smaller object emerging from it before disappearing at speeds the helicopter could not match.

The encounter reportedly prompted the Joint Operations Center to request assistance from nearby fighter jets already airborne on a training mission.

The Pentagon did not identify the test range location or provide independent verification for the account and said publication of a report does not mean the government has concluded extraterrestrial activity was involved. Instead, the files are being released largely in raw form as part of what the administration describes as a transparency initiative.

Additional releases are expected in coming months as agencies continue reviewing classified material for public disclosure.