On September 18, 2026, the sixth batch of declassified Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) files was released by the US Department of War, featuring more UFO sighting records. This disclosure is part of a transparency initiative taken by President Donald Trump called the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE).
Video footage and aerial phenomena in the Middle East
The files contain declassified material including video footage from 1952 in Utah. The video clip, shot near Tremonton by the US Navy Chief Warrant Officer Delbert C. Newhouse, features a group of swarming airborne objects. The footage was later analyzed by the US Naval Photographic Interpretation Center in 1954. The Center concluded that airborne objects’ characteristics were not consistent with those appearing from natural phenomena. The 55-second clip abruptly moves from sky to what appears to be demonstration of sewing equipment. Analysts claim that this may be a reused film reel from decades ago.
The files also contain documentary evidence of a $22 million investigation conducted by the government in 2008 into aerial phenomena in Middle East. This suggests that years before the creation of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), the military was spending millions of dollars on tracking UAPs in foreign lands.
The files also contain a video captured by a military sensor camera in the Middle East in 2025. The video shows spherical object travelling in a straight line at a high speed over a densely populated residential area. Moreover, there are six video clips from an AC-130K gunship showing approximately 25 orbs flying in a formation over Oman.
Disclosure or distraction?
Critics claim that these series of UFO disclosures is distracting citizens from pressing political tensions. The Trump administration currently faces a number of challenges both at home and abroad. The US is engaged in a lengthy and costly military conflict with Iran, which has strained its resources and increased global oil prices. American consumers are forced to pay billions of dollars in shipping costs.
The November 2026 midterm elections are also a week away. Therefore, to counter the political pushback and declining public support, the government wants to keep citizens occupied with the promise of transparency.
Congressman Tim Burchett remarked that these releases are a “classic” bureaucratic stall. By releasing grainy, low-quality footage, the government withholds definitive evidence of aliens. The government has issued a legal waiver allowing personnel to come forward to the AARO and PURSUE council. Critics point out that this waiver only protects personnel if they directly report to government authorities. Therefore, this enables government to control whistleblower narratives before they can leak truly sensitive data.
Political analysts point out that releasing high-definition imagery may also reveal America’s defense sensor capabilities to adversarial states.
**Breaking** 1952 UFO Footage Release By The Pentagon 🇺🇸🛸👽
DOW-UAP-PR159, Historical Film of Reported UFOs, Utah, 1952
Delbert C. Newhouse, U.S. Navy photographer: “There was a group of about ten or twelve objects that bore no relation to anything I had seen before.”
On 2… pic.twitter.com/7xdBOqg1vK
— Interstellar (@InterstellarUAP) September 18, 2026
