Pentagon's latest UFO files reveal details on secretive military research programme

The Pentagon has released its sixth batch of records on unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), also known as UFOs, revealing further details about a secretive military research programme, CBS News reported.

The files also contain details regarding alleged injuries linked to unexplained aerospace encounters and decades of government investigations.

The latest disclosure contains 71 files spanning the period from 1952 to 2025. The release comprises 67 files provided by the US Department of Defense and four by local law enforcement agencies in Colorado.

The release includes 55 PDF documents, 15 videos and one audio recording, with most of the files containing redactions.

The most significant records concern the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Programme (AAWSAP), established by the Defence Intelligence Agency in 2008 to examine potential aerospace threats and emerging technologies through 2050.

The initiative ended in 2012 and focused on technologies that could significantly depart from existing technological trends.

The release also included 37 Defence Intelligence Reference Documents (DIRDs), examining concepts including wormholes, warp drives, antigravity, negative-mass propulsion and invisibility cloaking.

The documents have been publicly available for years through Freedom of Information Act releases, but the latest versions contain additional details, including the names of some agency offices involved in producing them.

The Pentagon emphasised that the DIRDs were reference and synthesis documents, rather than original research, and should not be interpreted as validating the concepts examined.

One 38-page study from 2010 examined reports of injuries allegedly associated with anomalous aerospace systems.

The document analysed an incident involving three antenna engineers who reportedly experienced unexplained events followed by symptoms including skin redness, heat exposure and hair loss.

In one case, the individuals showed “signs of radiation illness” and, “over several years, developed signs of malignant transformations.”

The release also includes footage captured by a military camera showing unexplained objects.

One of the unexplained incidents from 2022 in the Middle East showed a UAP reportedly travelling between 80 and 180 miles per hour, while another recording showed six small spherical objects that “seemed to be agile” and repeatedly changed direction.

Historical records include a 1952 recording of Air Force officer Edward Ruppelt discussing UFO investigations. He said around 20% of roughly 800 reports remained unresolved.

The Pentagon has also introduced a legal waiver allowing current and former employees bound by nondisclosure agreements to provide UAP-related information to the government.