PURSUE Release 06 (September 18, 2026)
| PURSUE Release 06 | |
| Release date | September 18, 2026 |
|---|---|
| Publisher | U.S. Department of War, with ODNI |
| Files | 75 database entries (71 per Pentagon count): 55+ PDFs, 15 videos, 1 audio, 2 images |
| Date range | 1952 – 2025 |
| Sources | Department of War; Colorado local law enforcement |
| Earlier releases | R01 May 8, R02 May 22, R03 June 12, R04 July 10, R05 Aug. 7, 2026 |
| Official site | war.gov/ufo |
| Official release | |
PURSUE (the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters) is the Department of War program, started after a February 2026 presidential directive, that is reviewing government records and publishing unresolved UAP cases in tranches every few weeks. The first release came on May 8, 2026. Release 06, published September 18, 2026, is a mix of well-known historical material and new military and police footage.[1][2]
Cases in this release
| Case page | Files | New or previously public? | Leading explanation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tremonton film (Utah, 1952) | 5 | Mostly previously public | Seabirds (disputed) |
| Ruppelt UFO briefing (Boston, 1952) | 2 | Appears new | N/A (historical briefing) |
| AAWSAP contract records and 37 DIRDs (2008–2011) | 44 | DIRDs and solicitation previously public; rest of contract set new | N/A (research papers) |
| CENTCOM report, Iraq (2022) | 3 | New | Small drone or bird (unconfirmed) |
| CENTCOM “white round orb,” Middle East (2025) | 2 | New | Balloon or drone (unconfirmed) |
| CENTCOM “six spheres,” Middle East (2025) | 2 | New | Birds or balloon cluster (unconfirmed) |
| CENTCOM EO/IR videos, Middle East (2022) | 3 | New | Drone, bird or balloon (unconfirmed) |
| INDOPACOM videos, Yellow Sea & East China Sea (2023) | 6 | New | Insufficient data |
| Colorado law enforcement videos (2023–2024) | 8 | New | Twinkling bright star (likely) |
Overall assessment
What’s new. The genuinely new material is the 2022–2025 military sensor footage from CENTCOM and INDOPACOM, the first police reports in the PURSUE series, the 1952 Ruppelt recording, and the AAWSAP contract paperwork.
What isn’t. More than half the files by count are the 37 AAWSAP DIRDs, which DIA had already released through FOIA by 2022. The Pentagon acknowledged this and said the papers do not validate the exotic concepts they discuss. The Tremonton film and its Blue Book file have been public for decades.[2]
Skeptical context. None of the new videos includes range, size or speed measurements, so the operators’ estimates (80–500 mph) cannot be checked. AARO’s public reports say most cases it has resolved turned out to be balloons, birds, drones or sensor effects; the government publishes those separately from PURSUE. Some critics, including members of Congress, called the release a distraction, while disclosure advocates welcomed the steady pace of new footage.[2][3]
See also
- AARO
- ODNI
- Project Blue Book
- AAWSAP
- PURSUE Release 01 overview
- PURSUE Release 02 overview
- PURSUE Release 03 overview
- PURSUE Release 04 overview
- PURSUE Release 05 overview
References
- ^ U.S. Department of War, PURSUE website and release database (uap-data.csv), accessed October 4, 2026. war.gov/ufo.
- ^ CBS News (Sept. 2026), coverage of the sixth PURSUE release; IBTimes UK (Sept. 2026), “White House Slammed Over ‘Distraction’ UFO File Release.”
- ^ All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, Consolidated Annual Reports on UAP (2023–2025).