DOW-UAP-D077, AARO Case Analysis Update: "Orbs Launching Orbs," Western U.S. Event
- Date
- Memo dated June 5, 2026; incident over two days in October 2023
- Location
- Near a sensitive national security site in the western United States (site not named)
- Agency
- Department of War
- Release
- Release 03 (June 12, 2026)
- Type
- document
Summary
An AARO memorandum for record summarizes reports by six federal law enforcement special agents who, over two days in October 2023 around dusk, saw a luminous orange "mother orb" appear for one to two seconds and release clusters of two to four smaller red "orbs," repeatedly over several hours; in at least one case a red orb reportedly stayed stationary above a ridgeline for hours. AARO says no video, photos or technical data were collected, and that radar and ADS-B data suggest about 60 percent of the activity is plausibly attributable to military aircraft dispensing infrared flares. For the remaining 40 percent it rates UAVs "Unlikely," foreign activity "Highly Unlikely" and U.S. programs "Plausible, inconclusive," and says the case "remains unresolved."
Note
AARO's "unrecognized technology" hypothesis is labelled provisional and, in its words, "unsubstantiated by technical data or physical evidence."