BAASS Program Records (2008–2010) – PURSUE Files
| BAASS records, 2008–2010 | |
 Cover of the BAASS Project Management Plan, Dec. 2, 2008 (DOW-UAP-D168). U.S. Department of War. | |
| Dates | November 2008 – November 2010 |
|---|---|
| Contractor | BAASS, Las Vegas, Nevada (Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies) |
| Sponsor | Defense Intelligence Agency (the Nov. 2010 report names its Defense Warning Office) |
| Contract | HHM402-08-C-0072 |
| Released | Release 07 (Oct. 23, 2026) |
| Files | 8 (PDF); a ninth BAASS-era document, the Utah ranch report, has its own page |
| Previously public? | New as official releases; the contract paperwork and 37 DIRDs came in Release 06 |
| Official releaseContractor recordsHeavily redacted | |
Release 06 published the contract paperwork and the 37 research papers (DIRDs) behind the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP). Release 07 adds the other side: what the contractor, BAASS, told its sponsor. The eight documents run from a December 2008 project plan to a November 2010 report summarizing what BAASS had built, and together show how a Pentagon contract to study “advanced aerospace” threats turned into a UFO database, a network of field investigators, a surveillance operation at a Utah ranch and an engineering analysis of the 2004 Nimitz “Tic Tac” encounter.[1]
What the set shows about the program
Scope. The plan sets out nine projects covering twelve technical areas (lift, propulsion, control, power, materials, human effects and others) with a stated horizon of 2050: Physics (about two dozen position papers from EarthTech International), Engagement (watching recurring-activity sites and attempting contact), Cooperation, Campus (university grants), Database, Oral History, Blue Book Materials, Northern Tier (nuclear-base incidents) and Colares (Brazil, 1977). The plan itself says the full agenda could take “several decades” and possibly billions of dollars.[1]
Methods and money. Cases were classified by reported behavior and a reliability code, held in a growing “Project Capella” data warehouse (234,364 records by March 2009), and investigated partly through a paid subcontract with MUFON, which BAASS later cut after judging MUFON had spent about half of what it was given. Staff grew from 33 full-time in March 2009 to 45 in June, and the Administrator designed a 5,000-square-foot underground vault for “recovered hardware and biological samples.” No total contract value appears in these eight files; the Capella proposal priced the database at $610,000 for year one and $830,000 for year two.[1]
Outcomes. The records show a large database, purchased expert papers, trips and file collections in Brazil, a few dozen MUFON deployments, ranch surveillance and, by 2010, computer modeling. They also show recurring problems: delayed clearances and “need to know” barriers, MUFON underperformance, and slow progress tracing Northern Tier witnesses. None of the documents reports that the ambitions listed in the 2008 plan — hardware, samples, contact — were achieved.[1]
The records
DOW-UAP-D166, MUFON Reports Prepared for BAASS (November 2008)
Five short proposal papers from the MUFON Advanced Technology Establishment for the contract’s technical areas: a superconducting-toroid “lift” concept, a cold-fusion “power generation” reactor, vehicle control, human interface (including a plan to remove and analyze alleged body implants) and propulsion. They are speculative proposals with no data.
Open DOW-UAP-D166 (PDF, 9.1 MB) → · original on war.gov
This document is an administrative, programmatic, or contractor-produced record related to the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP), a Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)-administered program active from 2008 to 2012. AAWSAP’s official scope of work identified 12 technical research areas relating to potential aerospace threats over a time horizon of more than 40 years. As part of the broader program record, the file documents how AAWSAP was scoped, organized, tasked, funded, executed, or described at a particular point in time. This November 2008 compilation appears to be a set of technical materials prepared by the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) for Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS) under a separate supporting contract. The file presents MUFON-produced topical papers framed around AAWSAP’s technical research areas, including at least a paper on “Lift,” while treating historical and contemporary unidentified flying object or unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) reporting as a relevant source base for evaluating advanced aerospace capabilities.
DOW-UAP-D167, Project Capella, Report No. 001 (December 2008)
A design paper for the database that became BAASS’s core tool: a “data warehouse” pooling many UFO catalogues, a behavior-based classification scheme and a six-layer data model that includes “psychic” and “cultural” fields. It sets out staffing and a two-year budget. See Project Capella.
Open DOW-UAP-D167 (PDF, 6.4 MB) → · original on war.gov
This document is an administrative, programmatic, or contractor-produced record related to the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP), a Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)-administered program active from 2008 to 2012. AAWSAP’s official scope of work identified 12 technical research areas relating to potential aerospace threats over a time horizon of more than 40 years. As part of the broader program record, the file documents how AAWSAP was scoped, organized, tasked, funded, executed, or described at a particular point in time. This December 2008 report developed for Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS) outlines Project Capella, a proposed data warehouse framework for the capture, processing, classification, and retrieval of information relating to “unusual” aerial phenomena and related anomalies. The report describes a methodology for integrating existing catalogues, standardizing classification and reliability measures, reviewing foreign and private databases, and building personnel and software capacity to support analysis, literature review, and potential future field investigations. It presents the project as a means of consolidating disparate historical and contemporary case materials into a structured research system capable of supporting multiple BAASS initiatives. By proposing a data architecture centered on unusual aerial phenomena and related anomalies, the document helped lay the groundwork for later BAASS efforts, seeking to formalize UAP-oriented data collection and analysis within BAASS’s execution of AAWSAP.
DOW-UAP-D168, Project Management Plan, Overview Paper (December 2, 2008)
The program’s founding statement to the sponsor, 49 pages. It describes ten key recommendations, nine projects and a set of requests: security clearances, gun-camera and satellite film, Brazilian Air Force files, NORAD data on uncorrelated targets and access to alleged biological samples held by military laboratories. Exhibits include a redacted memorandum, a 2002 affidavit-style account of the Roswell debris and a 1957 U.K. Ministry of Defence F-86D incident. The plan records BAASS’s claims and intentions; it supplies no evidence for the crash, recovery or sample claims.
Open DOW-UAP-D168 (PDF, 6.4 MB) → · original on war.gov
This document is an administrative, programmatic, or contractor-produced record related to the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP), a Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)-administered program active from 2008 to 2012. AAWSAP’s official scope of work identified 12 technical research areas relating to potential aerospace threats over a time horizon of more than 40 years. As part of the broader program record, the file documents how AAWSAP was scoped, organized, tasked, funded, executed, or described at a particular point in time. This December 2008 Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS) Project Management Plan is an overview paper setting out the contractor’s proposed strategy, priorities, and milestones for executing contract HHM402-08-C-0072 (AAWSAP). The plan states that BAASS would address the program’s 12 technical areas through a smaller number of selected projects, including initiatives focused on physics research, project cooperation with government-held information, academic engagement, database development, oral-history interviewing, and collection or review of materials described as excluded from Project Blue Book. The plan argues that the most productive approach would be to study “craft” or events already believed by BAASS to demonstrate novel behavior across the 12 technical areas, rather than concentrating primarily on then-current academic or industrial state-of-the-art research.
DOW-UAP-D169, Monthly Report, March 2009
Reports 33 full-time and 7 part-time staff, the 234,364-record database, the MUFON purchase order and a plan to have the FAA name BAASS as its UAP reporting contact. A Brazil summary describes more than 370 on-site investigations covering 514 victims of the 1977 “Colares” events.
Open DOW-UAP-D169 (PDF, 5.3 MB) → · original on war.gov
This document is an administrative, programmatic, or contractor-produced record related to the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP), a Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)-administered program active from 2008 to 2012. AAWSAP’s official scope of work identified 12 technical research areas relating to potential aerospace threats over a time horizon of more than 40 years. As part of the broader program record, the file documents how AAWSAP was scoped, organized, tasked, funded, executed, or described at a particular point in time. This March 2009 Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS) progress report summarizes contractor activities for the period March 1–31, 2009. The report addresses staffing and clearance processing, progress on contracted technical papers, development of advanced aerial phenomena databases, BAASS’s purchase of unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) information from the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), efforts to become the Federal Aviation Administration’s official reporting point for unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), and review of UAP-related materials released by foreign governments. It also documents BAASS’s broader effort to establish centralized UAP collection and analysis capabilities, including database development, and external reporting pipelines. Overall, the file reflects ongoing program activity, particularly its emphasis on UAP reporting intake, reporting infrastructure, and archival or case-based analysis.
DOW-UAP-D170, Monthly Report, April 2009
Describes how MUFON’s rapid-dispatch system works (volunteer dispatchers, graded cases, deployment of a field team) and BAASS’s concerns about its productivity, plus a first analysis of 1975 incidents at U.S. nuclear-weapons bases for “Project Northern Tier.”
Open DOW-UAP-D170 (PDF, 7.5 MB) → · original on war.gov
This document is an administrative, programmatic, or contractor-produced record related to the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP), a Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)-administered program active from 2008 to 2012. AAWSAP’s official scope of work identified 12 technical research areas relating to potential aerospace threats over a time horizon of more than 40 years. As part of the broader program record, the file documents how AAWSAP was scoped, organized, tasked, funded, executed, or described at a particular point in time. This April 2009 Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS) progress report summarizes contractor activities for the period April 1–30, 2009. The report addresses staffing and clearance processing, progress on contracted technical papers, BAASS’s purchase of unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) information from the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), work on “Project Northern Tier,” and review of UAP-related materials released by several foreign governments. It also describes BAASS’s development of investigative and laboratory support capabilities, including a small deployable field investigation team and arrangements for potential future forensic and scientific analyses of materials obtained through MUFON reporting. Overall, the file documents ongoing program activity, particularly in UAP case acquisition, field investigation, and archival research.
DOW-UAP-D171, Monthly Report, June 2009
The largest of the early monthly reports (134 pages). It covers growth to 45 full-time staff, the planned underground vault and five office buildings, the cut to MUFON’s payments, about 80 pages of MUFON case summaries, a BAASS team’s trip to Ceará, Brazil to copy local case files, and difficulty tracing Northern Tier airmen. A runner-up for readers who want the program’s infrastructure.
Open DOW-UAP-D171 (PDF, 18.4 MB) → · original on war.gov
This document is an administrative, programmatic, or contractor-produced record related to the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP), a Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)-administered program active from 2008 to 2012. AAWSAP’s official scope of work identified 12 technical research areas relating to potential aerospace threats over a time horizon of more than 40 years. As part of the broader program record, the file documents how AAWSAP was scoped, organized, tasked, funded, executed, or described at a particular point in time. This June 2009 Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS) progress report summarizes contractor activities for the period June 1–30, 2009. The report addresses staffing growth, expansion into new facilities, progress on contracted technical papers, investigative activity based on information received via the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), a BAASS deployment to Brazil, an update on “Project Northern Tier,” and continued review of UAP-related materials released by foreign governments. It also documents BAASS’s continued investment in field investigation capacity, foreign liaison-building, and UAP case acquisition, while recording BAASS’s proposal to reduce MUFON’s monthly stipend pending further performance review. Overall, the file reflects program activity, particularly in UAP reporting intake, foreign case investigation, and organizational expansion in support of those functions.
DOW-UAP-D173, Monthly Report, November 2009
The 155-page report is the only one in the set to name Skinwalker Ranch. It says BAASS has kept round-the-clock security patrols on the property since August 3, 2009; quotes guard logs about a stereo that “turned on by itself” and rearranged coins; records neighbor interviews around Vernal, Utah; and describes tamper-proof experiments (seeds compared with Las Vegas, locked briefcases and puzzle boxes). BAASS itself says the officers’ anecdotes “can be easily explained” by fraud or trespassers. The report also profiles a private website operator before concluding he was not a threat, and includes a family’s medical details; those parts are not summarized here.
Open DOW-UAP-D173 (PDF, 76.7 MB) → · original on war.gov
This document is an administrative, programmatic, or contractor-produced record related to the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP), a Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)-administered program active from 2008 to 2012. AAWSAP’s official scope of work identified 12 technical research areas relating to potential aerospace threats over a time horizon of more than 40 years. As part of the broader program record, the file documents how AAWSAP was scoped, organized, tasked, funded, executed, or described at a particular point in time. This November 2009 Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS) progress report summarizes contractor activities for the period November 1–30, 2009. The report focuses on AAWSAP investigative activity based on information received via the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), progress on investigations centering on a ranch in Utah, and a preliminary report on a “blue orb” incident. It also records BAASS’s continued emphasis on field investigation, case database expansion, and focused inquiry into events at the Utah ranch and surrounding area, including creation of a separate database for those incidents.
DOW-UAP-D175, Summary Report on BAASS UAP Analysis Capabilities (November 23, 2010)
A 141-page self-assessment prepared for the DIA Defense Warning Office listing BAASS’s sensors, an 11-database data warehouse and engineering simulations. Its “sentinel” case is the November 2004 Nimitz carrier group encounter: it reproduces an excerpt of a DIA investigation (radar detections by USS Princeton, an intercept by F/A-18F crews, a white object of roughly 40–46 feet and a water disturbance) and the DIA’s key assessments, including that no known aircraft in the inventory matched. BAASS then calculates, from an assumed five-second descent, speeds near Mach 10 and about 75 g; those numbers are assumptions, not measurements, since no duration is known.
Open DOW-UAP-D175 (PDF, 16.5 MB) → · original on war.gov
This document is an administrative, programmatic, or contractor-produced record related to the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP), a Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)-administered program active from 2008 to 2012. AAWSAP’s official scope of work identified 12 technical research areas relating to potential aerospace threats over a time horizon of more than 40 years. As part of the broader program record, the file documents how AAWSAP was scoped, organized, tasked, funded, executed, or described at a particular point in time. This November 2010 Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS) contractor-authored capability statement presents BAASS’s analysis as technically rigorous and strategically valuable. The document appears intended not only to describe BAASS’s analytical capabilities but also to reinforce the case for the organization’s continued relevance and for the continuation of AAWSAP. The document summarizes the company’s self-assessment of the suitability of its personnel, software, equipment, field sensor, and data warehousing capabilities for analyzing unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) and unidentified submerged objects (USOs). It includes excerpted case findings and uses selected case studies and modeling exercises as demonstrations of BAASS’s analytical capabilities. The report describes BAASS as combining field collection resources, historical databases, and computational tools such as ANSYS Multiphysics to model UAP incidents through engineering and physics analysis, including work on radar cross section, fluid behavior, acoustics, and aerodynamic performance. It also presents BAASS’s in-house capabilities as supporting both threat assessment and the study of advanced aerospace technologies, while asserting that analysis of UAP performance characteristics could inform future developments in propulsion, stealth, detection, and weapons systems.
What the records do not show
- No confirmed physical evidence: no hardware, no biological sample, no instrument recording of anything anomalous.
- No total contract value, and no list of named staff. Most identities are redacted.
- No link between BAASS and a specific alleged crash or recovery beyond what the plan says BAASS believed or hoped to obtain.
Released files
| PURSUE ID | Title | Incident | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| DOW-UAP-D166 | MUFON Reports Prepared for BAASS, November 2008 (war.gov) | 11/1/2008, Las Vegas, Nevada | |
| DOW-UAP-D167 | Project Capella, December 2008 (war.gov) | 12/10/2008, San Fransisco, California | |
| DOW-UAP-D168 | BAASS Project Management Plan, December 2008 (war.gov) | 12/2/2008, Las Vegas, Nevada | |
| DOW-UAP-D169 | BAASS Monthly Report, March 2009 (war.gov) | 4/10/2009, Las Vegas, Nevada | |
| DOW-UAP-D170 | BAASS Monthly Report, April 2009 (war.gov) | 4/1/2009, Las Vegas, Nevada | |
| DOW-UAP-D171 | BAASS Monthly Report, June 2009 (war.gov) | 7/9/2009, Las Vegas, Nevada | |
| DOW-UAP-D173 | BAASS Monthly Report, November 2009 (war.gov) | 11/1/2009, Las Vegas, Nevada | |
| DOW-UAP-D175 | BAASS Self-Assessment of UAP Analysis Capabilities, November 2010 (war.gov) | 11/23/2010, Las Vegas, Nevada |
See also
- PURSUE Release 07 (Oct. 23, 2026) overview
- Key Disclosure Documents
- BAASS (Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies)
- Project Capella
- MUFON
- AAWSAP contract records and DIRDs (Release 06)
- Utah ranch investigation (2010)
- Skinwalker Ranch
- Defense Intelligence Agency
- Robert Bigelow
- Colm Kelleher
- Hal Puthoff
- PURSUE
References
- ^ U.S. Department of War (2026). PURSUE Release 07 (Oct. 23, 2026): DOW-UAP-D166, D167, D168, D169, D170, D171, D173, D175, with official descriptions. war.gov/ufo.