Navy UAP Videos, Pacific Ocean (2019) – PURSUE Files

Five hand-held recordings of a Navy infrared display from the Pacific in 2019, passed from the Navy’s UAP Task Force to AARO and released in PURSUE Release 05

⚠ Note on validity: These are recordings of a screen, not original sensor data. 2019 was the year of the well-known Navy encounters off Southern California (including USS Omaha), many of which were later attributed to drones and balloons, but these clips are not officially linked to any named case.

Pacific Ocean videos, 2019
Date	2019
Location	Pacific Ocean
Source	U.S. Navy UAP Task Force, transferred to AARO in 2022
Released	Release 05 (Aug. 7, 2026)
Files	5 (Video (DVIDS))
Official releaseUnresolved

These five clips were filmed with a hand-held device pointed at an infrared sensor display aboard a U.S. military platform in the Pacific Ocean in 2019. The Navy’s UAP Task Force handed them to AARO in 2022, and they were released in PURSUE Release 05.^[1]

The records

DOW-UAP-PR123, Unresolved UAP Report, Pacific Ocean, 2019

DOW-UAP-PR123, Unresolved UAP Report, Pacific Ocean, 2019 — official upload on DVIDS (public domain).

The United States Navy Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF) transferred this media to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) in 2022. The video contains 1 minute and 4 seconds of footage. This footage is a secondary capture, recorded via a hand-held recording device, of an infrared sensor display aboard a U.S. military platform. This footage does not represent native primary sensor data, and the secondary recording method introduces limitations in fidelity, resolution, and overall visual quality. Artifacts inherent to filming a screen, such as blurring or flickering, may be present. The footage contained within DOW-UAP-PR123 through DOW-UAP-PR127 was captured contemporaneously. This media was digitally altered before being reported to AARO, and is presented as it was received.
Video description:
00:00-00:03: An area of contrast is visible near the center of the frame.
00:04-00:07: The area of contrast loses distinctiveness against the background.
00:08-00:25: An area of contrast becomes visible near the center of the frame. The sensor pans and zooms in to focus on the area of contrast, keeping it generally within the center of the frame.
00:25-01:04: The area of contrast remains generally centered within the sensor field-of-view.
This video description is provided for informational purposes only. Readers should not interpret any part of this description as reflecting an analytical judgment, investigative conclusion, or factual determination regarding the described event’s validity, nature, or significance.
— Official PURSUE description

DOW-UAP-PR124, Unresolved UAP Report, Pacific Ocean, 2019

DOW-UAP-PR124, Unresolved UAP Report, Pacific Ocean, 2019 — official upload on DVIDS (public domain).

The United States Navy Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF) transferred this media to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) in 2022. The video contains 53 seconds of footage. This footage is a secondary capture, recorded via a hand-held recording device, of an infrared sensor display aboard a U.S. military platform. This footage does not represent native primary sensor data, and the secondary recording method introduces limitations in fidelity, resolution, and overall visual quality. Artifacts inherent to filming a screen, such as blurring or flickering, may be present. The footage contained within DOW-UAP-PR123 through DOW-UAP-PR127 was captured contemporaneously. This media was digitally altered before being reported to AARO, and is presented as it was received.
Video description:
00:00-00:01: An area of contrast remains generally centered within the sensor field-of-view.
00:02-00:29: The sensor zooms in on the area of contrast.
00:30-00:53: The area of contrast loses distinctiveness against the background.
This video description is provided for informational purposes only. Readers should not interpret any part of this description as reflecting an analytical judgment, investigative conclusion, or factual determination regarding the described event’s validity, nature, or significance.
— Official PURSUE description

DOW-UAP-PR125, Unresolved UAP Report, Pacific Ocean, 2019

DOW-UAP-PR125, Unresolved UAP Report, Pacific Ocean, 2019 — official upload on DVIDS (public domain).

The United States Navy Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF) transferred this media to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) in 2022. The video contains 28 seconds of footage. This footage is a secondary capture, recorded via a hand-held recording device, of an infrared sensor display aboard a U.S. military platform. This footage does not represent native primary sensor data, and the secondary recording method introduces limitations in fidelity, resolution, and overall visual quality. Artifacts inherent to filming a screen, such as blurring or flickering, may be present. The footage contained within DOW-UAP-PR123 through DOW-UAP-PR127 was captured contemporaneously. This media was digitally altered before being reported to AARO, and is presented as it was received.
Video description:
00:00-00:05: An area of contrast remains generally centered within the sensor field-of-view.
00:06-00:09: The area of contrast tracks left within the sensor field-of-view.
00:10-00:15: The area of contrast loses distinctiveness against the background.
00:16-00:22: An area of contrast appears in the sensor field-of-view. The sensor pans to track it, keeping it generally within the center of the frame.
00:23-00:28: The area of contrast remains generally centered within the sensor field-of-view.
This video description is provided for informational purposes only. Readers should not interpret any part of this description as reflecting an analytical judgment, investigative conclusion, or factual determination regarding the described event’s validity, nature, or significance.
— Official PURSUE description

DOW-UAP-PR126, Unresolved UAP Report, Pacific Ocean, 2019

DOW-UAP-PR126, Unresolved UAP Report, Pacific Ocean, 2019 — official upload on DVIDS (public domain).

The United States Navy Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF) transferred this media to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) in 2022. The video contains 2 minutes and 32 seconds of footage captured via hand-held recording device by a U.S. military service member in 2019. Low-light conditions at the time of capture influence the overall visual quality of the footage. The footage contained within DOW-UAP-PR123 through DOW-UAP-PR127 was captured contemporaneously. This media was digitally altered before being reported to AARO, and is presented as it was received.
Video description:
00:00-00:08: The camera pans against the background, bringing two apparent light sources into frame from the top left corner. The recording device focuses on the light sources, keeping them generally within the center of the frame.
00:09-00:53: The camera pans against the background. As the camera pans, it repeatedly brings several apparent light sources into and out of the frame.
00:54-01:23: The sensor zooms in on the light source in the lower left quarter of the frame, focusing to bring it into the center of the field-of-view.
01:24-02:32: The sensor zooms out and continues to pan to track apparent light sources. As the camera pans, it repeatedly brings several apparent light sources into and out of the frame.
This video description is provided for informational purposes only. Readers should not interpret any part of this description as reflecting an analytical judgment, investigative conclusion, or factual determination regarding the described event’s validity, nature, or significance.
— Official PURSUE description

DOW-UAP-PR127, Unresolved UAP Report, Pacific Ocean, 2019

DOW-UAP-PR127, Unresolved UAP Report, Pacific Ocean, 2019 — official upload on DVIDS (public domain).

The United States Navy Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF) transferred this media to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) in 2022. The video contains 2 minutes and 29 seconds of footage captured via a hand-held recording device by a U.S. military service member in 2019. Low-light conditions at the time of capture influence the overall visual quality of the footage. The footage contained within DOW-UAP-PR123 through DOW-UAP-PR127 was captured contemporaneously. This media was digitally altered before being reported to AARO, and is presented as it was received.
Video description:
00:00-00:17: The camera pans to track an apparent light source.
00:18-00:26: No content.
00:27-00:43: The camera pans to track an apparent light source.
00:44-00:47: No content.
00:47-00:49: The camera pans to track an apparent light source.
00:50-00:52: No content.
00:53-00:57: The camera pans to track an apparent light source.
00:57-01:02: No content.
01:02-02:28: The camera pans to track an apparent light source.
This video description is provided for informational purposes only. Readers should not interpret any part of this description as reflecting an analytical judgment, investigative conclusion, or factual determination regarding the described event’s validity, nature, or significance.
— Official PURSUE description

Analysis

Context. In July 2019 Navy destroyers off Southern California reported swarms of objects over several nights, and leaked phone videos from the USS Omaha and USS Russell (the “pyramid” clips) circulated in 2021. Later reporting and Navy records indicated many of those objects were drones, possibly launched from nearby vessels, and the “pyramid” shape was a camera artifact (bokeh) from filming bright lights through night-vision optics. These five clips are similar secondary recordings from the same year, but PURSUE does not say whether they belong to the same events.

Reading these reports. Speeds, sizes and altitudes in military UAP reports are usually operator estimates. A single infrared camera cannot measure distance, so an object’s speed is inferred from how fast it crosses the screen plus an assumed range; if the object is closer and smaller than assumed, it is also much slower (parallax). “Cold” objects in infrared are cooler than the background, which fits unpowered things like balloons. AARO’s public reports say most cases it has resolved turned out to be balloons, birds, drones, or sensor and display effects.^[2]

New or previously released? New. These five recordings had not been released before.

Released files

PURSUE ID	Title	Type
DOW-UAP-PR123	Unresolved UAP Report, Pacific Ocean, 2019	Video (DVIDS)
DOW-UAP-PR124	Unresolved UAP Report, Pacific Ocean, 2019	Video (DVIDS)
DOW-UAP-PR125	Unresolved UAP Report, Pacific Ocean, 2019	Video (DVIDS)
DOW-UAP-PR126	Unresolved UAP Report, Pacific Ocean, 2019	Video (DVIDS)
DOW-UAP-PR127	Unresolved UAP Report, Pacific Ocean, 2019	Video (DVIDS)

References

^ U.S. Department of War (2026). PURSUE Release 05 (Aug. 7, 2026): DOW-UAP-PR123, DOW-UAP-PR124, DOW-UAP-PR125, DOW-UAP-PR126, DOW-UAP-PR127, with official descriptions. war.gov/ufo.
^ All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, Consolidated Annual Reports on UAP (2023–2025): most resolved cases were balloons, birds, unmanned aircraft or sensor artifacts.

Source: U.S. Department of War, PURSUE (Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters), war.gov/ufo. Official records are U.S. government works in the public domain; summaries and analysis on this page are by UFO UAP Wiki.