On May 8, 2026, the Department of War announced the 

 of new, never-before-seen files on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) as part of the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters - known as PURSUE. The release, spanning 162 files including dozens of videos, photographs, and documents, draws from multiple federal agencies including AARO, the FBI, NASA, and the State Department. It marks the first time complete case files of this kind have been made publicly available without a clearance requirement.

Americans for Safe Aerospace welcomes this release as a meaningful step toward transparency. For the aviation community - pilots, aircrew, and aerospace professionals who have long encountered UAP in restricted and controlled airspace - this disclosure helps illuminate just how widespread, and how long-suppressed, these reports have been.

The first tranche of PURSUE files covers reported encounters from 1947 to early 2026, with recent video footage spanning encounters over Iraq, Syria, the Persian Gulf, Greece, the Mediterranean, and the Indo-Pacific region. The roughly two dozen videos run a combined 41 minutes and predominantly show infrared sensor footage of unidentified objects - in some cases executing maneuvers that operators were unable to explain, including reported 90-degree turns at speed near the Aegean Sea.

None of the released materials, according to the Department of War, have been definitively resolved. The Pentagon itself labels these as "unresolved cases, meaning the government is unable to make a definitive determination on the nature of the observed phenomena." Critically, the department stated that no redactions were made to any files "concerning information about the nature or existence of any encounter reported as a UAP."

This matters. For years, pilots and military personnel were left without explanation for what they observed - and in many cases, without any formal pathway to report it. What the PURSUE archive demonstrates, file by file, is that those observations were real, documented, and taken seriously at the operational level, even when they were not acknowledged publicly.

Among the cases that informed congressional pressure for these releases are events that ASA's own reporting community has documented independently - including at least one that appears on Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL)'s list of 46 requested videos.

 describes a Department of Defense contractor with active TS/SCI clearance who recorded multiple UAP events using electro-optical and infrared sensors aboard a U.S. UAS platform off the coast of South Korea. Across five sensor recordings, the contractor captured three distinct objects - a smooth white TicTac-shaped UAP, a rust-colored peanut-shaped object, and a second two-meter TicTac observed in both EO and IR imaging modes. The objects exhibited positive lift, rapid acceleration, unconventional velocities, and flight characteristics inconsistent with known aerodynamics.

That this encounter was independently submitted to ASA and has now been identified among the videos Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) formally requested from the Pentagon speaks to the credibility of ASA's reporting community. Military and contractor personnel have been documenting these events for years - and in many cases, the only place they had to send that information was outside official channels.

Congressional Pressure That Made This Happen

The May 8 release did not happen in a vacuum. It follows sustained congressional pressure - most visibly from Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), Chairwoman of the House Oversight Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, who in March 2026 sent Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth a formal demand letter requesting 46 specific UAP video files by April 14. Her letter cited a September 2025 hearing at which whistleblowers testified that AARO possessed additional video records that had not been shared with Congress.

That deadline was missed. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) signaled she was prepared to pursue subpoena authority if institutional resistance continued, calling the lack of disclosure "concerning" given the threat UAP activity near military installations poses to force readiness and security.

The PURSUE release appears to be, at least in part, a response to that pressure - and to President Trump's February directive ordering federal agencies to identify and release government files related to UAP. The Department of War has pledged to release additional materials on a rolling basis, with new tranches posted every few weeks.

ASA views the Task Force's work as aligned with our own advocacy: the American public, the aviation community, and Congress deserve accurate and timely information about what is operating in and around U.S. airspace.

As Ryan Graves, Executive Director of Americans for Safe Aerospace, told 

"ASA welcomes the Department of War's initial release of UAP files as a positive step toward greater transparency. For pilots and aircrew, this release helps illuminate the confusion that can occur when aviators encounter something unusual without clear guidance, reporting pathways, or training for how to respond. Transparency is an important first step, but it must be paired with practical procedures that protect flight safety, reduce stigma, and ensure pilots know what to do when they observe anomalous activity in or near controlled airspace."

This is the core challenge that PURSUE alone does not address. Releasing records of past encounters - while valuable - does not tell today's flight crews what to do when they observe something they cannot identify. There are still no standardized reporting procedures for civilian commercial pilots encountering UAP in controlled airspace. There is still no safety-focused training protocol for aircrew. And the stigma associated with reporting unusual aerial observations has not been eliminated by a document release.

The PURSUE archive makes clear that these encounters are real and ongoing. What's needed now is policy action commensurate with that reality.

Disclosure must be matched by action. The 

Safe Airspace for Americans Act (H.R. 5231)

, introduced in September 2025, represents exactly the kind of policy response this moment requires. The bill would direct the FAA to establish standardized procedures for collecting and reporting UAP incidents from civilian aircrew, air traffic controllers, and other aviation personnel. It would protect pilots from professional retaliation for reporting, shield their medical and airmen certificates from being affected by UAP sightings, and require a communications strategy to reduce the stigma that has long kept aviation professionals silent.

That legislation reflects what ASA has advocated for consistently: the aviation community needs clear guidance, protected reporting channels, and institutional support - not just declassified files.

The May 8 release is, as the Department of War described it, an "initial" release. More files are coming. ASA will continue to monitor those releases, connect them to the documented experiences of the aviation community in our reporting database, and use what these videos and records reveal to help educate aviators and the flying public about what is operating in our skies.

DoD's Initial UAP File Release Is a Step Forward - But Transparency Must Come With Guidance for Pilots