A shipment of F-35 stealth fighter parts was “inexplicably diverted to Hong Kong” and is now in the hands of Chinese authorities, Bloomberg reported, prompting a Pentagon investigation into how they got there.
The shipment, which UPS was transporting from Australia to the United States for repair or disposal on behalf of contractor Lockheed Martin, was <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/24/chinaf-f35-components-hong-kong.html">unexpectedly rerouted</a> across the Pacific in late May. The missing components include an F-35 cockpit canopy and a weapons-bay door.
While officials note the components do not contain the aircraft&#8217;s most advanced avionics or electronic warfare systems. Both parts are coated with radar-absorbent material, including a transparent coating designed to minimize the fighter’s signature on enemy radar. Physical access to these materials could allow Beijing to study, reverse-engineer, or verify intelligence on the jet&#8217;s stealth capabilities.
The Pentagon’s F-35 Joint Program Office <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pentagon-f-35-fighter-jet-parts/">confirmed the incident</a> in a statement, noting it is &#8220;aware of a shipment issue of unserviceable F-35 Lightning II components.&#8221;
&#8220;We are actively working with U.S. authorities and industry partners to retrieve these components, investigate the incident, and place safeguards to avoid a future occurrence,&#8221; a defense official said.
Lockheed Martin stated that it follows all federal regulations governing military transport, adding: &#8220;Our teams handle every shipment with the utmost diligence and safeguards to ensure the integrity of the F-35 program and the security of our allied partners.&#8221;
The diversion has ignited immediate concern on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers on national security committees have launched inquiries. <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/18/congress-f-35-china-investigation-01083647">Politico</a> reported that U.S. State Department and Pentagon officials first began briefing congressional staff on the matter in June.
The incident highlights systemic vulnerabilities in the F-35’s massive, multinational supply chain. While Australia operates maintenance depots for the aircraft, it lacks facilities to repair degraded canopy coatings, requiring commercial air travel back to the United States.
Under the program, participating allies pool and store spare parts internationally, but tracking has long been a weak point. A 2023 Government Accountability Office (GAO) <a href="https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-23-106098">report</a> revealed that more than 1 million F-35 spare parts —worth more than $85 million— had gone missing over a five-year period, largely because prime contractors, rather than the Department of Defense, maintain the inventory records.
In Canberra, Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles acknowledged the missing shipment but downplayed the immediate risk. &#8220;My understanding is that there is a sense of comfort, and we’re not talking about sensitive equipment here or sensitive parts,&#8221; Marles <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/22/australia-investigating-how-f-35-fighter-jet-parts-bound-for-us-went-missing-in-hong-kong">said</a>, adding that Australia is working closely with Lockheed Martin and Washington.
However, defense analysts and U.S. lawmakers view the situation far more gravely. The F-35 is widely considered the crown jewel of Western air power and is operated by close allies including the U.K., Australia, Japan, and Canada.

U.S. Air Force

America’s Stealth Fighter Parts Took A Detour Nobody Can Explain

china

f-35

hong kong

lockheed martin

pentagon

world

The Pentagon released its sixth batch of UFO files Friday, and the latest tranche includes military footage, decades-old investigations, reports of mysterious objects moving at hundreds of miles per hour, and documents detailing government-funded research into technologies straight out of science fiction.
The <a href="https://www.war.gov/ufo/?releaseDate=Release+06&amp;release=06">records</a> span more than seven decades, from 1952 to 2025, and include everything from reports of strange objects over active military areas to research into warp drives, wormholes, antigravity, and “negative mass propulsion.”
One 2025 report describes six small spherical objects flying together over the Middle East. The objects were reportedly moving at approximately 480 miles per hour and repeatedly changing direction. The accompanying footage shows the objects moving across what appears to be a desert landscape.
<div style="max-width: 728px; margin: 0 auto;"><iframe style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; max-width: 100%; width: 100%; margin: 20px auto 5px; border: 0;" src="https://player.mux.com/xEYqTdMKvMMSDUzPZbTlT86UbCmKIx1J?metadata-video-content-type=embed_video&amp;metadata-video-id=b4ecc1f0-a2bb-44fe-9220-e9536901f471&amp;metadata-video-stream-type=on-demand&amp;metadata-video-title=2026-09-18%3A%20UFOs%20Fly%20At%20High%20Speeds%20In%20Middle%20East&amp;poster=https%3A%2F%2Fdailywireplus-v2.imgix.net%2Fimages%2Fembedded-videos%2Fcfc7e4ea-f062-4bb5-b15e-9a062018a950.jpg&amp;autoplay=false&amp;accent-color=%23DB3D3B&amp;primary-color=%23ffffff&amp;secondary-color=%23000000" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div>
Another video from 2023 shows circular objects over the Yellow Sea, captured by an infrared sensor aboard a U.S. military platform. The new files also include four videos submitted by Colorado law enforcement after an October 2023 incident. One reporting officer described the object as silent, with red, blue, and green flashing lights.
The government’s unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) database specifically describes the materials in the releases as unresolved cases, meaning officials have not been able to make a definitive determination about what was observed. The files also shed more light on one of the stranger government programs associated with the UFO phenomenon: the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program, or <a href="https://www.war.gov/ufo/?releaseDate=Release+06&amp;release=06#DOW-UAP-D111-AAWSAP-Solicitation-and-Original-Order-September-2008">AAWSAP</a>.
The Defense Intelligence Agency established AAWSAP in 2008 to investigate potential future aerospace threats and technologies. The program operated until 2012 and produced 37 Defense Intelligence Reference Documents examining subjects including warp drives, wormholes, invisibility cloaking, antigravity, and exotic propulsion.
The documents themselves are not new discoveries. Many have been publicly available for years through previous Freedom of Information Act releases. The newly released versions, however, include information that had previously been withheld, including details about the government offices involved.
The Pentagon cautioned that the studies should be viewed as reference and synthesis documents rather than original scientific research and said their inclusion does not mean the concepts examined were validated.
One of the more unusual studies examined possible injuries allegedly suffered by people following encounters with anomalous aerospace phenomena.
The <a href="https://www.war.gov/ufo/?releaseDate=Release+06&amp;release=06#DOW-UAP-D128-AAWSAP-DIRD-Anomalous-Acute-and-Subacute-Field-Effects-on-Human-Biological-Tissues-March-2010">38-page 2010 document</a> describes three otherwise healthy individuals who reportedly experienced an unexplained aerospace-related event and subsequently developed symptoms including skin redness, heat sensations, and hair loss. One individual was described as developing signs of radiation illness and later experiencing malignant transformations.
The study did not establish what caused the injuries. Its author nevertheless concluded that the incidents supported the possibility that some advanced systems were already deployed and not fully understood by the United States.
The latest tranche also reaches back to the earliest years of the Air Force&#8217;s UFO investigations. An hour-long <a href="https://www.war.gov/UFO/#DOW-UAP-PR160-Presentation-by-Captain-Edward-J-Ruppelt-1952">1952 audio recording</a> features Air Force officer Edward Ruppelt discussing the military&#8217;s investigation of hundreds of UFO reports. Ruppelt, who later headed Project Blue Book — the government program meant to study UFOs — said approximately 20% of the roughly 800 cases examined by the Air Force remained unexplained.
“We&#8217;ve gone through these reports and come up with the fact that about 20% are very good reports offered by very reliable people and … just absolutely no conclusions can be drawn,” Ruppelt said in the recording.
Another file concerns one of the most famous UFO films of the 1950s: <a href="https://www.war.gov/ufo/?releaseDate=Release+06&amp;release=06#DOW-UAP-PR159-Historical-Film-of-Reported-UFOs-Utah-1952">footage</a> shot by Navy Chief Warrant Officer Delbert Newhouse near Tremonton, Utah, on July 2, 1952.
Newhouse reported seeing a group of bright objects in the sky and filmed them on 16mm Kodachrome film with a handheld Bell &amp; Howell Auto Master camera. His report described roughly 10 to 14 objects with a shiny, metallic appearance moving through the sky.
The film was <a href="https://www.war.gov/UFO/release/06/#DOW-UAP-D102-Project-Blue-Book-File-on-Tremonton-Film-Utah-1952">subsequently examined</a> by Project Blue Book personnel, balloon specialists, and representatives of General Mills. Investigators ultimately concluded that the objects were likely “pillow balloons,” although one General Mills representative expressed doubts about that explanation because the objects appeared unusually bright and seemed to maneuver too quickly.
The newly released footage shows the objects as small, bright shapes moving against the Utah sky.

UFOs in Middle East

WATCH: Pentagon’s Latest UFO Dump Shows Mysterious Objects Changing Direction At High Speeds

department of defense

President Donald Trump urged the nation never to forget the heroes who lost their lives responding to the 9/11 terror attacks. 
Trump made the plea at a ceremony at the Pentagon on Friday near the location where one of the hijacked planes hit. Throughout his speech, the president highlighted the actions of firefighters and others who responded to the terror attacks. 
“No one can ever prepare for a day like 9/11 — but we can always choose to be the kind of nation the world saw in those days after,” Trump said. “We can raise our children to know that their country is good, that their fathers are brave, and that our flag is a symbol of justice and freedom.”
During his speech, Trump told the story of New York City Fire Department Captain Timothy Stackpole, who died after he ran into the South Tower after Islamic terrorists smashed a plane into it. Stackpole was off duty when he responded to the attack. Stackpole’s family attended the Pentagon ceremony. 
“We can be a nation whose heroes are not fanatics for an abstract cause,” Trump said. “But the kind who race into buildings and give their lives on a Tuesday morning for strangers they&#8217;ve never met.”
Trump added that &#8220;the light shines in the darkness,&#8221; and said future generations would honor the heroes of 9/11, “who no age will erase from the memory of time.” 
“On days like 9/11, we learn what a country is truly made of. We&#8217;re learning right now what we&#8217;re made of,” Trump said. “We have to be strong, we have to be smart. And Americans are made of a goodness, [a] spirit that can transcend any earthly force.”
Trump also highlighted the actions of the passengers on board United Airlines Flight 93, one of the hijacked planes. After hijackers took over the plane, the passengers fought back and forced the plane to crash-land into an empty field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. 
Commemorations for the 25th anniversary of the attack were held across the country on Friday, including at Ground Zero in Manhattan and Shanksville. Vice President JD Vance attended the ceremony at Ground Zero along with all four living former presidents — Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden.

President Trump, Military Leaders Attend Pentagon 9/11 Observance Ceremony

Trump Honors The Heroes Of 9/11: ‘The Light Shines In The Darkness’

donald trump

flight 93 national memorial

jd vance

september 11 attacks

I was 18 years old on the morning of September 11, 2001, had recently graduated from high school, and was totally uninterested in attending college.
I&#8217;d been a shy kid and had only recently discovered a core group of rebel friends, unchaperoned barn parties, and Mike&#8217;s Hard Lemonade. Best Buy hired me as a cashier, and I was supposed to start my first day of training on Tuesday, September 11.
I&#8217;ve read a lot of recountings of that day over the years, ticking off the timestamps as one of four passenger airliners-turned-ballistic missiles crashed into a homicidal fireball.
But that&#8217;s not my memory of the early hours of that morning.
And 25 years later, I think there may be some value in remembering what September 11 actually felt like to an ordinary American kid, especially for people too young to remember a world before it.
My friend group had adopted me as a straggler about a year earlier, when my mom, my brother, and I moved to Frederick, Maryland, from Baltimore amid my parents&#8217; bitter divorce. I didn&#8217;t have many friends at school. I had been a horse girl, kept to myself, possibly internalizing the turmoil at home, or maybe I was just a weirdo. Years of therapy have left that time a lingering mystery.
But there I was, finally breaking open as the funny, quirky girl in a group of kids that included several who had already been arrested or even had a stint in rehab.
I had long glamorized booze as a kid, but when we finally had access to it — a lot of it — I really became a fan of its unbridled ability to change me from awkward to awesome.
Boys even talked to me.
All this to say: I wasn&#8217;t in a dorm or a classroom the morning of 9/11.
I was wearing my clothes from the night before, hungover, and sitting disheveled in an old recliner placed randomly in a barn loft on my friend Christina&#8217;s mother&#8217;s property.
The loft was &#8220;finished,&#8221; as in there was plumbing, ancient carpeting, and electricity working at an unreliable level for us to never trust the freezer. As I recall, we also had a landline phone with a cheetah-print handset.
That&#8217;s the phone that rang with the first news of the attacks.
It was my friend Alexis, then a freshman at Towson University.
&#8220;Are you watching the news?&#8221; she asked at 8:55 a.m.
&#8220;Are you being serious?&#8221; I retorted.
What a question. I don&#8217;t think I&#8217;d ever once intentionally &#8220;watched the news&#8221; in my whole life.
&#8220;Some idiot just flew into the World Trade Center in New York.&#8221;
The World Trade Center, I thought, trying to recount exactly what — or where — that was.
I had been to New York once at that point in my life, on an overnight trip with my dad when I was a kid to see “The Nutcracker” at Lincoln Center. A great memory, but the World Trade Center wasn&#8217;t ringing any bells.
&#8220;What?&#8221; I asked. &#8220;New York?&#8221;
At the time, millennials were still reeling from the death of singer Aaliyah in a plane crash just days before. The news Alexis was delivering seemed much less important.
But she insisted I turn on the television. I did, flipping through the snow until I found smoky images from Lower Manhattan.
Oh, I thought. That&#8217;s the World Trade Center. The one with the two buildings.
It was suddenly familiar from movies I&#8217;d watched my whole life.
Only minutes later, I watched in confused horror as a second plane, as clear as the nose on my face, flew directly into the second tower on live television.
I don&#8217;t remember whether I was still on the phone with Alexis.
I didn’t immediately understand that we were under attack, because until that moment I hadn’t even fathomed that anything like this could happen.
Even though my feeble teenage mind couldn&#8217;t yet grasp terrorism, at that moment I understood one thing:
This was not an accident.
Christina had slept in the main house on the property, in her old bedroom, but came over to make sure I knew what was going on.
&#8220;This is crazy,&#8221; she said. “Someone’s trying to blow up New York.”
Yes. That made sense.
New York is being attacked.
We suburbanites thought of New York as its own glamorous and wonderful thing, foreign in its own right, close to us and still somehow unreachable. A tragedy was unfolding, yes, but it was in New York.
And watching the billowing smoke on television, we simply could not comprehend the profound chaos and loss of life happening there.
Pure panic was still to come.
It began for me with a call from my father to my Nokia cellphone, with its pink faceplate and light-up antenna.
He is a panicker by nature, but there was something unmistakable in his voice that morning that chilled me to my core.
&#8220;Where are you? I need to know where my kids are.&#8221;
&#8220;Uh, I&#8217;m in Frederick&#8230;&#8221;
He asked if I had shelter. He wanted to know where my brother was.
&#8220;School?&#8221;
My brother was a junior at a private school nearly 30 miles away.
He carefully explained everything he could from his far more mature knowledge of the world, warning me that cell towers would be overwhelmed and calls might not get through.
&#8220;We are under attack,&#8221; he said. &#8220;This is very serious.&#8221;
I was suddenly very awake.
And very worried.
Was there a reason to find a bomb shelter? I couldn&#8217;t fathom it. Surely Dad was overreacting.
Except it wasn&#8217;t just my dad.
It was everyone&#8217;s dad.
It was the newscasters.
Reports of crashes and explosions came in everywhere, some taking hours — and in some cases longer — to untangle. At one point, we heard the National Mall was on fire. Reports about the Pentagon mixed together with rumors about Chicago, Los Angeles, and other American cities.
Then we saw the images of the Pentagon.
We didn&#8217;t know how many planes had been hijacked. We didn&#8217;t know how many attacks were still coming.
As ignorant kids watching television in a barn loft in Maryland, it felt as though the entire sky might be full of hijacked aircraft.
Even the towers falling didn&#8217;t register for me as the singular, heart-stopping moment it appears in retrospectives now. It was almost beside the point.
Because by then, something I had believed in as firmly as I believed in anything was being eviscerated.
The America I had grown up in, safe, free and impenetrable, was disappearing on a clear, beautiful September morning.
And that childlike, almost comical ignorance I possessed that day would never be permitted to return again.
It’s been 25 years of knowing that anything could happen. Any day, any perfect morning could turn into hell on earth.
But over the years I have learned many things because of that morning.
It’s not luck that we haven’t had a repeat of that day. It’s vigilance, advocacy, strategy, policy, alliance, and yes – war, that have kept the door closed. It’s not guaranteed.
I have now spent years reading about the people who attacked us that morning, trying to understand what they believed, why they hated us, how they got access and opportunity, and the threats that remain. Maybe I would have found my way here anyway.
I&#8217;ll never know.
I envy something about generations too young to remember September 11. They cannot know what it was like to possess the almost absurd confidence in our own security that so many of us had before 9:03 that morning.
For thousands of families, the horror of that day was unimaginably greater. They lost parents, children, spouses, siblings, and friends.
I didn&#8217;t lose anyone I loved on September 11.
What I lost was much smaller.
I lost the certainty that another ordinary Tuesday would always come.
At 8:55 that morning, I was an 18-year-old girl in yesterday&#8217;s clothes, hungover, laughing at the idea that I might be watching the news. My biggest concern was making it to my first shift at Best Buy.
Eight minutes later, I watched an airplane disappear into the side of a skyscraper full of people.
Twenty-five years have passed. I know much more about that world now. I know the names of the men who attacked us. I know what they believed. I know what it takes to keep people like them from doing it again. And I know that the safety I once took for granted was never guaranteed at all.
But sometimes, when I think about September 11, I don&#8217;t think first about terrorists or wars or falling towers.
I think about that girl in the barn loft.
I think about how completely safe she believed she was.
And I wish, just for a moment, I could give her back the world she thought she lived in.
***
Ellie Bufkin is director of communications at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Twin Towers Manhattan

The Last Ordinary Morning In Yesterday’s World

personal essay

terrorism

world trade center

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll submitted his resignation to President Donald Trump on Monday after reportedly butting heads with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for months.
The Wall Street Journal first reported that Driscoll is expected to leave the Pentagon in the coming days, potentially ending the tenure of a key player in Trump’s military overhaul at a time when the United States is already juggling a war with Iran.
Driscoll wasn’t exactly a background player in Trump’s Pentagon.
The Army veteran has helped carry out the administration’s push to put readiness and lethality back at the center of the military. He was also trusted with an assignment that had little to do with his official Army job when Trump sent him into the Russia-Ukraine diplomatic fight last year.
Then there’s Vice President JD Vance.
Driscoll and the vice president go way back. They were classmates at Yale Law School and remain close friends, a relationship that reportedly became another source of tension between Driscoll and Hegseth.
His resignation lands at a particularly busy moment for Hegseth’s Pentagon. The United States is six months into the Iran war, and American forces came under Iranian missile fire over the weekend after the U.S. struck Iranian launchers near the Strait of Hormuz.
Driscoll’s potential departure would also be the latest change at the top of the Army. Hegseth fired Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George earlier this year. George had worked closely with Driscoll.
The White House, meanwhile, made clear there’s no bad blood on its end.
“Secretary Driscoll has been highly effective in advancing President Trump’s agenda to Make America Strong Again at the Department of the Army,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said.
Kelly credited Driscoll with providing leadership during major military operations, restoring the Army’s focus on “readiness and lethality,” and helping with negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.

Trump Pays Respects To Four US Army Members Killed In Iran War

Trump’s Army Secretary Makes Surprise Move After Reported Hegseth Clash

dan driscoll

pete hegseth

politics

Consider scenario one: American assets overseas are under attack and must quickly mobilize a response, but the necessary aircraft carriers cannot deploy until crew members obtain key parts needed for the mission. A mission that should have begun immediately is delayed indefinitely.
Now consider scenario two: immediately following an initial attack, the American response is launched. Aircraft carriers deploy on a moment’s notice because they have the capability to build new parts on the way to their destination.
General George S. Patton always said, “A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week.” Even when his men were figuring things out as they went — and things occasionally got a bit messy — there was always a clear advantage to moving forward quickly.
Solving the above problem was recently a key subject at RIMPAC, the largest international military maritime training exercise in the world. A biennial naval exercise, RIMPAC sees some 30 ships and 30,000 service members — in coordination with more than two dozen countries — stress test new technology in the context it would operate under in the real world.
One of those technologies is 3-D printers. They aren&#8217;t new to the world, but ones capable of manufacturing everything from water filtration systems to helicopter parts are new to aircraft carriers.
Morgan Bower, hub director for FLEETWERX, the &#8220;innovation hub&#8221; working to bring this new tech to the U.S. military, said it&#8217;s all about connecting small business innovators with an often slow-moving Pentagon bureaucracy.
“We try to make it a little easier for technology and money to flow in both directions, to help small businesses and government work together to make development work for everyone,&#8221; Bower told The Daily Wire.
“FLEETWERX,” according to its website, “Is an innovation hub established in 2023 through a Partnership Intermediary Agreement between DEFENSEWERX (DWX) 501(c)(3) and the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS). FLEETWERX cultivates a dynamic environment designed to create purposeful collisions between innovators through ecosystem building and neutral facilitation. By uniting Government, Industry, and Academia, we bring together people to advance solutions for critical issues facing the operator.”
<div id="attachment_1145595" style="width: 932px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1145595" class="wp-image-1145595 size-large" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Hybrid-x-Print-in-progress-922x576.jpg" alt="Civilian contractor Rogelio Jacobo Martinez operates the ADDITEC Hyper X 3D printer in the hangar bay of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) in the Pacific Ocean enroute to participate in Exercise Rim of the Pacific 2026, June 17, 2026. Thirty nations, over 30 surface ships, five submarines, 15 national land forces, more than 206 aircraft and 30,000 personnel are participating in RIMPAC in and around the Hawaiian Islands, June 24 to July 31. The world's largest international maritime exercise, RIMPAC provides a unique training opportunity while fostering and sustaining cooperative relationships among participants critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world's oceans. RIMPAC 2026 is the 30th exercise in the series that began in 1971. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Tyler Harstad)" width="922" height="576" srcset="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Hybrid-x-Print-in-progress-922x576.jpg 922w, https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Hybrid-x-Print-in-progress-300x188.jpg 300w, https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Hybrid-x-Print-in-progress-768x480.jpg 768w, https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Hybrid-x-Print-in-progress-1536x960.jpg 1536w" sizes=" (max-width: 922px) 100vw, 922px" />Photo courtesy of FLEETWERX</div>
“When you engage in these exercises, you’re always learning things — taking things out of the lab and putting them in the field,” Bower explained. “We are always looking for what goes right, obviously, but sometimes things go wrong, and the things that go wrong can be the bigger lesson and more important than what goes right. It’s great to identify that problem when it’s a matter of tens of thousands of dollars rather than millions — and early in the process.”
He cited an example from RIMPAC in which planes landing on the deck of the aircraft carrier created vibrations that caused lasers in the metal printers to misalign just slightly — something that never could have been tested in the lab — and the designers were able to recalculate and adjust for the additional vibrations.
And in one case in which something went right, a part from the carrier’s water filtration system broke — and the onboard 3-D printers were able to manufacture a new one without waiting for a traditional resupply.
Another area that was tested at RIMPAC was the use of unmanned surface vessels for supply runs.
<div id="attachment_1145599" style="width: 864px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1145599" class="wp-image-1145599 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/Typhoon-bringing-parts-to-CVN-854x576.jpg" alt="A digitally crewed surface vessel heads out to sea from Sand Island near Honolulu, Hawaii, to deliver parts for a 3D printer aboard Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD-2) during Exercise Rim of the Pacific 2026, July 7, 2026. Unmanned and remotely operated vessels extend the capability of interconnected manned platform sensors to enhance capacity across the multinational force. Thirty nations, over 30 surface ships, five submarines, 15 national land forces, more than 206 aircraft and 30,000 personnel are participating in RIMPAC in and around the Hawaiian Islands, June 24 to July 31. The world's largest international maritime exercise, RIMPAC provides a unique training opportunity while fostering and sustaining cooperative relationships among participants critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world's oceans. RIMPAC 2026 is the 30th exercise in the series that began in 1971. (Navy photo by Mass Communications Specialist 3rd Class Charles Harbour)" width="854" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/Typhoon-bringing-parts-to-CVN-854x576.jpg 854w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/Typhoon-bringing-parts-to-CVN-300x202.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/Typhoon-bringing-parts-to-CVN-768x518.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/Typhoon-bringing-parts-to-CVN-1536x1036.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/Typhoon-bringing-parts-to-CVN-2048x1381.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 854px) 100vw, 854px" />Photo courtesy of FLEETWERX</div>
Using unmanned vessels — particularly in rough maritime conditions or through dangerous areas — limits the number of personnel at risk when undertaking any given mission. The success of test runs like these could ultimately lead to unmanned vessels taking on the role of “escort” vehicles in particularly dangerous areas such as the Strait of Hormuz.
The main goal is to streamline the development process so that the maritime military services have access to the best possible technology — and while the Naval Postgraduate School is broadly considered to be the “research” wing of the joint forces, they don’t always have a good bead on where the best innovators are and what they might be building. FLEETWERX is making that connection.

Digitally crewed surface vessel returns to Sand Island during RIMPAC 2026

3-D Printed Helicopters And Self-Repairing Carriers? America’s Navy Tests Wild New Technology

military

technology

U.S. Military

U.S. Navy

A senior official in the Office of the Secretary of the Navy has been placed on administrative leave after<a href="https://x.com/JamesOKeefeIII/status/2080012196784808193"> James O’Keefe released a video</a> showing him criticizing President Donald Trump and stating his intention to reverse administration policies once the opportunity arose.
The footage, recorded with a hidden camera, captures Brandon Newsom speaking during what O’Keefe described as a “gay” date. In the video, Newsom <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/senior-pentagon-official-suspended-bashing-trump-on-hidden-camera-brandon-newsom-12232247">said</a> he wanted to “stay and stick it out” at the Pentagon “so that way, when the time comes, I can undo whatever’s been done.” He referenced “a lot of times” when working at the Pentagon “challenges my morals,” specifically mentioning that he would not have “one specific prayer service” and would undo an employee “schedule policy.”
Newsom also called Trump “a textbook narcissist” and described the Iran war as “completely stupid” and “driven by one man’s ego.” O’Keefe’s accompanying post included additional lines from the conversation: “I’ve seen some things. In true D.C. nature, you don’t always reveal everything in D.C.” and “I have the influence &#8230; I can undo whatever’s been done.” Newsom further remarked, “I mean, you could be a news reporter.”
Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao responded the same day. “<a href="https://x.com/SECNAV/status/2080080031947084190">The Department of the Navy</a> takes the conduct shown in this video extremely seriously,” Cao wrote. “Such statements and apparent intent to leverage a position to undermine the policies and direction set by our elected leaders are inappropriate and incompatible with the standards expected of Department personnel. Effective immediately, this individual has been placed on administrative leave while we determine next steps to ensure accountability and protect the integrity of our mission.”
The Daily Wire asked O’Keefe for comment on the implications of the footage and whether or not resistance inside the Pentagon would create real risk to the coherence of U.S. strategy and any potential deals with Iran and its proxies.
O’Keefe&#8217;s reply was simple: “Any official who spills internal government secrets or shows dissent toward the current administration they work for can possibly cause problems for the government entity they work for. It’s not a good idea to spill information to a stranger 15 minutes into the first date who so happens to be James O’Keefe.”
O’Keefe said Newsom did not directly connect his plans to reverse Pentagon policies with the Iran campaign. Instead, he said, Newsom “just gave his opinion on the war and called the war ‘stupid’ and blamed Trump for being a ‘narcissist.’”
As to the deeper question — what it reveals when a senior official says on camera that he intends to undo the administration’s work and whether officials like this pose a bigger threat to national security — O’Keefe answered: “Yes, officials like Brandon Newsom can pose a threat to national security. Based on one date with myself, James O’Keefe, Newsom spilled a lot of information. Newsom was lucky it wasn’t an Iranian spy he was watching the World Cup with. Can you imagine if Newsom went on three dates with a gay Iranian spy?&#8221;
O&#8217;Keefe also argued that the footage reflects a broader pattern he has seen in previous national security investigations.
&#8220;The deep state is real, per one of our other subjects, Byron Cohen, who worked in the early days of the Trump White House,&#8221; O&#8217;Keefe said. &#8220;America is at war with Iran, and the officials inside the Pentagon need to be very careful because our Newsom piece shows a glimpse of how careless these officials can be. Again, Newsom was lucky he wasn&#8217;t talking to an Iranian spy or a Chinese spy.&#8221;
Newsom&#8217;s suspension comes against a backdrop of personnel changes at the Pentagon since Trump’s return to the White House and the start of the Iran war in late February. Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, the former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, was fired in August 2025 after his agency produced an initial assessment finding that U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities were less effective than Trump had claimed. In April, three Pentagon officials — Dan Caldwell, a senior adviser to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth; Darin Selnick, the Pentagon’s deputy chief of staff; and Colin Carroll, chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg — were put on administrative leave pursuant to leak investigations.
In a joint statement, they wrote they were “incredibly disappointed by the manner in which our service at the Department of Defense ended” and that “unnamed Pentagon officials have slandered our character with baseless attacks on our way out the door.” They said they were never told what the leak investigations were about.
Before those cases, the Department of Defense fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the top admiral in the Navy, the head of U.S. Cyber Command, and the top U.S. military lawyers. These moves have been framed as part of a wider reshuffle under Hegseth, who has sought to refocus the department on warfighting.
Hegseth has also introduced monthly voluntary Christian worship services at the Pentagon, all of them presided over by evangelicals. Newsom referred to these in the video as the “prayer service” he would eliminate.
Newsom remains on administrative leave while the Department of the Navy determines its next steps.

Donald Trump

Senior Pentagon Official Placed On Leave After Saying He Would ‘Undo’ Trump Policies

The Pentagon’s office responsible for <a href="https://defensescoop.com/2026/07/21/pentagon-investigating-ufo-uap-event-near-virginia-coast/">investigating</a> unexplained phenomena is looking into a Navy report describing roughly 100 airborne objects and two likely uncrewed surface vessels operating near the Virginia coastline.
Details were included in the latest annual report, which was released this week, from the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office. <a href="https://www.aaro.mil/Portals/136/PDFs/FY25%20UAP%20Annual%20Report/AARO_FY2025_Consolidated_Annual_Report_on_UAP.pdf">The Fiscal Year 2025</a> Consolidated Annual Report on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) covers new reports received between June 2, 2024, and May 30, 2025, along with some earlier incidents that had not been included in prior updates.
During that period, the office received a total of 319 reports. Of those, 284 involved events from the current reporting window, while 25 dated back to between 2010 and 2024. Analysts resolved 114 of the 319 cases, linking them to ordinary explanations such as balloons, birds, satellites, aircraft, small drones, a single rocket launch, and one manned jet pack. By the end of May 2025, the office’s full caseload had reached 1,870 reports.
The vast majority of the new sightings occurred in the air domain, with 274 cases, followed by 44 in the space domain and just one in the maritime domain. The lone maritime case came from Navy assets operating off the coast of Virginia. According to the report, the case described &#8220;approximately 100 airborne UAP and two, likely uncrewed, surface systems.” The office added that they are actively investigating the event.
The report notes that such events continue to surface near military installations, training ranges, nuclear power plants, and other sensitive sites. Officials wrote that “AARO received and analyzed several reports describing UAP in or near national security sites or critical infrastructure. Some narrative reports were suggestive of phenomena whose performance characteristics exceed the known state-of-the-art within a given domain. No technical data accompanied these reports.”
They further noted that “If validated, the attendant phenomena underlying these reports may represent a currently unmitigated threat vector.” Two cases from the year involved reported electronic or avionic interference near operational aircraft, but investigators have not yet determined whether the objects caused those effects.
Officials acknowledged ongoing challenges, writing, “A lack of timely and actionable sensor data continues to constrain AARO’s ability to resolve cases.” To improve the situation, the office launched several initiatives focused on multi-domain sensors and algorithms. The report states that the office is “implementing a multi-year investment strategy to improve awareness across the space, air, and maritime domains.” They also added a new capability for advanced three-dimensional modeling and simulation, which helped resolve 238 reports of satellite flaring — a familiar phenomenon in which sunlight reflects off satellite surfaces at certain angles.
The office was established in 2022 under the Biden administration to carry out a requirement in that year’s National Defense Authorization Act. Its mission is to examine objects across air, land, sea, and space domains that could threaten national security or interfere with military operations, and to determine their origins and intent. Congress later directed the production of annual unclassified reports, with classified annexes, for a period of four years.
In the report, as in previous ones, the office stated that none of the resolved cases indicate “advanced foreign adversarial capabilities or breakthrough technologies in any domain.” Officials also revealed they are developing a formal process for handling any physical materials related to these phenomena, should such items ever come into government possession.
A Pentagon spokesperson did not immediately respond to DefenseScoop’s request for more information on the Virginia incident.

USS Tripoli

Massive Swarm Of Mysterious Objects Off U.S. Coast Sparks Pentagon Investigation

WASHINGTON — The United States government is investigating inexplicable &#8220;glowing orbs&#8221; that move at high speeds and have repeatedly appeared around the country over the past few years, newly released Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) documents show.
The Daily Wire was briefed on these Unidentified Aerial Phenomena documents by senior administration officials ahead of the documents&#8217; Friday release. This is the third tranche of documents released as part of President Donald Trump&#8217;s efforts to be transparent with the country on UAP activity.
In the latest drop, numerous documents detail FBI interviews with people describing activity in the northeastern United States. Videos and interviews detail glowing orbs in the sky, both red and white, that move across the landscape.
FBI agents also interviewed a former U.S. Army intelligence officer and four other members of his unit in June 2024 who described seeing a &#8220;potato&#8221; shaped, translucent but shimmering object in the sky that vanished after about two minutes. That incident took place near the Cheyenne Mountains in Colorado.
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In another account, which took place in the west, a currently serving senior U.S. intelligence officer describes how he and two pilots saw &#8220;glowing orbs&#8221; from up close and far away as they sought to investigate the orbs from a helicopter. He also says they saw a high-speed object moving low to the ground, which seemed to split in two and speed off in different directions.
That official&#8217;s account, which was originally released in the first tranche of the UFO files on May 8, includes infrared imagery taken by federal officials from the ground.
<h3>The North East UAP Sightings</h3>
The FBI conducted interviews in February 2026 with two individuals who reported seeing bright orbs outside their home in the northeast in 2025. As one of these individuals was returning to his home around 9pm at night and pulled into the driveway, that person noticed an &#8220;intense bright light hovering below the tree line in the middle of their backyard.&#8221;
That person got out of the car and &#8220;stared at the strange light for a few moments before reaching back&#8221; into their car to get their phone and take a video of what they were seeing.
Inside the house, their spouse was waiting for them to arrive home. When the second individual saw on the security camera that their spouse had arrived and was standing next to their car looking into the sky, the second person went outside to join them and see what they were looking at.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
NEW: According to the newly released UAP files, in July 2025, an eyewitness was returning home from work and &#8220;observed an intense bright light in their backyard as they parked their car.&#8221;
&#8220;The light was hovering approximately 25 feet off the ground, below a tree line near the… <a href="https://t.co/KhCKnV2DeN">pic.twitter.com/KhCKnV2DeN</a>
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) <a href="https://x.com/MaryMargOlohan/status/2065417316091809848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 12, 2026</a></blockquote>
&#8220;[Redacted] described the light as a red sphere that was about one meter in diameter,&#8221; the FBI report states. &#8220;[Redacted] described the red color as being brilliant and beautiful, and that [redacted] had never seen anything that color of red before.&#8221;
Inside the sphere, according to the viewers, &#8220;there appeared to be what [he/she] described as a &#8216;white plasma sun&#8217; about the size of a basketball.&#8221;
As they watched, the orb moved up and to their left, they told the FBI. Then they noticed that there was a &#8220;second, identical orb, hovering above the first one.&#8221;
&#8220;The orbs then moved together towards the west above the tree line. [Redacted] stated that from the start of the observation to when the orbs traveled out of sight, they exhibited both a change in altitude and a change in direction. The orbs were silent and moved in a smooth motion. They moved in tandem as if they were flying in formation or were tethered together.&#8221;
As the orbs moved out of sight, the two individuals saw them either merge together or just become so close that they looked like one orb.
The Department of War also released video footage that they captured of the orbs &#8220;beginning at the point when they were above the trees and moving away from their backyard.&#8221;
Some weeks later, they said they saw several white orbs moving over the house from the west to the east, according to the FBI report, at a much higher altitude than the previous red orbs. They described these new ones &#8220;as appearing the size of a dime held at arm&#8217;s length.&#8221;
In another incident, one of the two individuals who spoke to the FBI said they had witnessed something strange near power lines in 1987, describing a &#8220;red light circling around itself at night&#8221; that hovered and then landed near the power station.
&#8220;Since then,&#8221; the report stated, &#8220;[redacted] has always been interested in the topic of UAP.&#8221;
Footage released by the department, which was captured by a private citizen on an iPhone, shows an incident in October 2024 in the northeastern United States where an eyewitness said that he or she observed &#8220;a light source below the horizon, hovering above a pond at an estimated distance of 2,700 feet.&#8221;
&#8220;The luminous object resembled a &#8216;plasma-like sphere&#8217; intermittently changing shape and luminosity,&#8221; the department says. &#8220;At times, the primary light source appeared to separate into smaller luminous points. A luminous point below the primary source hovered just above the water and did not appear consistent with a surface reflection.&#8221;
&#8220;The object remained generally stationary for approximately 45 minutes before disappearing,&#8221; the description adds. &#8220;The eyewitness did not hear any sound from the objects.&#8221;
The FBI found that individual to be &#8220;highly credible,&#8221; the War Department website notes.
<h3>The Western UAP Sightings</h3>
A senior U.S. intelligence officer documented how he and two pilots observed alarming UAP activity in the western United States in 2025. Aboard a helicopter, he was investigating &#8220;loud thuds heard in the mountains on the test range, which coincided with Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) sightings reported over the previous several nights.&#8221; They were looking for possible debris or objects that could explain recent &#8220;orb-like sightings.&#8221;
Towards the end of their search, the senior intelligence officer says that he received a message from their Joint Operations Center (JOC) that radar had detected hits a few miles away from their position, where UAP activity had been noticed on previous nights.
&#8220;I relayed this to the pilots, and we altered course to intercept,&#8221; he wrote. &#8220;What followed was a series of close UAP encounters lasting over an hour.&#8221;
Ground teams were reporting that they had seen something &#8220;super-hot,&#8221; low to the ground, and moving at a high speed, first east, then south, then splitting in two and changing direction.
When the helicopter arrived, they scanned the area, and then the ground team &#8220;suddenly radioed that the object had risen from the ground, approached within ten feet of the helicopter, dropped below us, and then sped away.&#8221; The pilots watched the object split into two, as a smaller object emerged from it, &#8220;before it accelerated out of sight.&#8221;
&#8220;We briefly pursued but broke off, unable to match its speed,&#8221; the senior intelligence officer wrote. The Joint Operations Center informed them that several fighter jets that were already on a training mission in their area were headed their way to help identify the UAP.
The JOC then directed the helicopter towards more nearby radar detections — and here the senior intelligence officer described something even more alarming.
&#8220;We took up a hovering position at approximately 700 feet above ground level (AGL). In the distance, we saw countless orange orbs swarming in all directions against the backdrop of the mountain.&#8221;
The officer and pilots could see the swarming orbs for several minutes before they faded, he wrote. Then they were redirected to their previous position based on fresh radar hits.
&#8220;I provided the coordinates to the pilots, and we moved to intercept, hovering again at 700 feet AGL. Through NVGx, the pilots and I (using the naked eye) observed two large orbs flare up side-by-side, close to the helicopter — stationary and just above the rotor disk to our right. They were oval-shaped, orange with a white or yellow center, and emitted light in all directions.&#8221;
&#8220;After a few seconds,&#8221; he wrote, &#8221; a third orb flared up below the pair, followed by a fourth below that, forming a total of four or five in a &#8216;T&#8217; formation under the original view. The entire event lasted 10-15 seconds. I didn&#8217;t take photos, as I was focused on assessing what it was and whether it posed a threat.&#8221;
As the pilots considered landing due to the objects&#8217; proximity, they could see the fighter jets approaching by their blinking navigation lights. Just then, the helicopter occupants spotted the orbs appearing again, &#8220;directly above the fighters.&#8221;
&#8220;They flared up one at a time in a horizontal formation, matching the jets&#8217; speed and flight path. After 10-15 seconds, they dimmed sequentially and disappeared. This repeated several times as the jets transited the airspace and eventually landed.&#8221;
&#8220;I remarked to the pilots that it seemed the same orbs flaring up and down around us for several minutes, forming a distinct triangle before vanishing.&#8221;
At this point, low on fuel, the helicopter decided to return to the JOC.
&#8220;After landing, I briefly spoke with them — mostly to express thanks,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We were virtually speechless after these observations. I then entered the JOC for a quick debrief before driving home.&#8221;
<h3>The Cheyenne Mountain Sighting</h3>
Near the Cheyenne Mountains in Colorado in 2022, a former U.S. Army Intelligence officer and four other members of his unit said they observed a UAP as they exited their office building on a 50-degree day when there were no clouds and very little humidity.
&#8220;The object was &#8216;potato&#8217; shaped with distinct edges and appeared to look painted in a creamy/whitish opalescent color,&#8221; says an FBI forensic sketch interview dated June 2024. &#8220;It was somewhat translucent with a slight shimmer.&#8221;
&#8220;The object was made up of what can best be described as articulating fish scales or panels that were non-symmetrical, non-overlapping, and irregular shaped,&#8221; the report continues. &#8220;The object itself was perfectly still but each panel on the object shifted in slow waves starting at different points of origin but at the same time.&#8221;
The object vanished after about two minutes, according to the observers. They told the FBI that in the space of time it took to turn their heads, the object had vanished without a shadow.
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<div id="attachment_1114995" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/could-mysterious-glowing-orb-in-trumps-new-ufo-drop-be-a-breakthrough/screenshot-2026-06-12-at-8-27-00-am" rel="attachment wp-att-1114995"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1114995" class="wp-image-1114995 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-12-at-8.27.00-AM-1024x571.png" alt="This image is an artistic interpretation of a 2022 incident potentially involving unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) reported near Colorado Springs, Colorado. This image is derived from the first-hand narrative description contained in “FBI-UAP-D002, FD-1057, Unresolved UAP Report, Colorado Springs, 2022”." width="1024" height="571" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-12-at-8.27.00-AM-1024x571.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-12-at-8.27.00-AM-300x167.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-12-at-8.27.00-AM-768x428.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-12-at-8.27.00-AM-1536x857.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-12-at-8.27.00-AM.png 1574w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>SCREENSHOT, war.gov/UFO: &#8220;This image is an artistic interpretation of a 2022 incident potentially involving unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) reported near Colorado Springs, Colorado.&#8221;</div>

Screenshot 2026-06-12 at 9.12.03 AM

WATCH: New UFO Release Contains A Potential Breakthrough

Aliens

white house

A hazardous materials incident that triggered a shelter-in-place order and emergency response at the Pentagon on Thursday has been resolved after officials determined there was no threat.
&#8220;Earlier this morning, Pentagon occupants were notified of a potential air quality issue, prompting immediate precautionary safety measures and evaluation,&#8221; Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell said in an updated statement. &#8220;Subsequent testing confirmed no hazard exists, and normal operations have resumed.&#8221;
Earlier in the day, the Pentagon&#8217;s monitoring systems detected what officials described as an air quality issue, leading the Department of Defense to implement standard safety protocols, including a shelter-in-place order for affected areas of the building. &#8220;The Pentagon has sophisticated systems to ensure the safety of the building and its occupants,&#8221; Parnell said in a statement. &#8220;Those systems have detected an air quality issue necessitating precautionary measures until we determine its significance. The Department is executing standard protection protocols, including a shelter-in-place order for the affected area. Response teams are in place and ready to support building occupants.&#8221;
Some of the floors in the Pentagon were evacuated while other parts of the building were locked down, according to CNN. The Arlington County Fire Department confirmed that its Hazardous Materials Team responded to the Pentagon and is assisting the Pentagon Force Protection Agency&#8217;s hazmat unit. &#8220;ACFD units, including our Hazardous Materials Team, are currently operating at the Pentagon in support of PFPA&#8217;s Hazmat Team during a hazardous materials incident,&#8221; the department said. The Pentagon remains under lockdown as authorities work to determine the cause and severity of the incident. No injuries have been reported, and officials have not yet released additional details about the air quality issue.
This is a breaking story. Refresh the page for updates.

Pentagon Building As Senators Warn Of Broken Classification System After Major Leak

Inside The Hazmat Incident That Disrupted The Pentagon

The Pentagon released new UFO footage on Friday that includes dozens of videos as part of a scheduled declassification. 
Friday’s release marked the <a href="https://www.war.gov/UFO/">second tranche</a> of records that Trump ordered declassified in his push for transparency on U.S. government information regarding Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP). 
One of the new videos shows a U.S. fighter jet shooting down a UAP over Lake Huron in February 2023. The U.S. military shot down the object shortly after a Chinese spy balloon crossed over the entire continental United States in an embarrassing moment for former President Joe Biden.
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At the time, then-NORAD Commander Gen. Glen VanHerck <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/us-military-shot-unidentified-object-lake-huron-rcna70289">said</a> officials did not know how the object was able to &#8220;stay aloft&#8221; over Lake Huron.
&#8220;We’re calling them objects, not balloons, for a reason,&#8221; he said.
Other videos released on Friday show aerial views of UFOs in the atmosphere, including two strange objects near a U.S. submarine and another object near Columbus, Ohio. 
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Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is overseeing the process of finding, reviewing, identifying, and publicly releasing unresolved UAP-related records that are in the federal government’s possession. Releasing the files is a difficult process as it requires cross-agency coordination and reviewing tens of millions of records with many existing only on paper from decades ago. Due to the quantity of records under review, the White House developed a plan to release records in phases.
The Department of War said it remains unable to make a &#8220;definitive determination on the nature of the observed phenomena” due to not having sufficient data. The department added that it welcomes private-sector analysis, information, and expertise to help identify objects released. Along with a desire for private sector analysis, President Trump <a href="https://www.war.gov/UFO/">said</a> the files were declassified based on &#8220;tremendous public interest.&#8221;

Pentagon Releases Wild Footage Of Fighter Jet Taking Down UFO

trump administration

The White House released the first batch of anticipated UFO files on Friday that have long been hidden from public view. 
“The Department of War is in lockstep with President Trump to bring unprecedented transparency regarding our government’s understanding of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena,&#8221; War Secretary Pete Hegseth said. &#8220;These files, hidden behind classifications, have long fueled justified speculation — and it’s time the American people see it for themselves. This release of declassified documents demonstrates the Trump Administration’s earnest commitment to unprecedented transparency.”
Over 160 files can be viewed on a new <a href="https://www.war.gov/UFO/">webpage</a> from the Department of War. The files include photos, videos, FBI investigative records, eyewitness testimonies, and public reports concerning UFOs. One image was captured during the Apollo 17 moon landing and shows three shining dots in space.
<div id="attachment_1091557" style="width: 1210px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1091557" class="size-full wp-image-1091557" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Trump-Admin-Opens-Secret-UFO-Vault-Tells-Americans-To-Decide-Whats-Real-1.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="800" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Trump-Admin-Opens-Secret-UFO-Vault-Tells-Americans-To-Decide-Whats-Real-1.jpg 1200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Trump-Admin-Opens-Secret-UFO-Vault-Tells-Americans-To-Decide-Whats-Real-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Trump-Admin-Opens-Secret-UFO-Vault-Tells-Americans-To-Decide-Whats-Real-1-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Trump-Admin-Opens-Secret-UFO-Vault-Tells-Americans-To-Decide-Whats-Real-1-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" />Department of War</div>
Other photos captured by the Apollo 12 mission showed strange lights seen by the astronauts.
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More records are expected to be released on a rolling basis. 
&#8220;For the first time in history, the American people have unfettered access to declassified government files on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomenon — a level of transparency that no prior administration has delivered,&#8221; FBI Director Kash Patel said. &#8220;The FBI remains committed to supporting this rolling declassification effort with the same rigor and integrity we bring to every national security matter.&#8221;
Files and videos from the vault show a <a href="https://www.war.gov/UFO/#FBI-Photo-A1">variety</a> of irregular <a href="https://www.war.gov/UFO/#FBI-Photo-A2">objects</a> captured in <a href="https://www.war.gov/UFO/#FBI-Photo-B12">photographs</a> and videos from the FBI, NASA, and U.S. military.  <iframe style="aspect-ratio: 9/16; max-width: 220px; display: flex; justify-content: center; width: 100%; margin: 20px auto 5px; border: 0;" src="https://player.mux.com/AT024ptvcUBU02Hu5Sr8AgefVMW3Knlcri?metadata-video-content-type=short&amp;metadata-video-id=864e9670-e3d5-426e-a5a8-365b7df22c24&amp;metadata-video-stream-type=on-demand&amp;metadata-video-title=Aliens%3F%20Never-before-seen%20objects%20near%20moon%20as%20Trump%20admin%20opens%20secret%20UFO%20vault&amp;poster=https%3A%2F%2Fdailywireplus-v2.imgix.net%2Fimages%2Fshorts%2F74c7201d-9c56-4f07-9b37-be0aff82b98f.jpg&amp;autoplay=false&amp;accent-color=%23DB3D3B&amp;primary-color=%23ffffff&amp;secondary-color=%23000000" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
One photo from the FBI shows an apparent UFO near a mountain range in the Western United States.
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1091579" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-08-at-7.59.36-AM.png" alt="" width="1413" height="726" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-08-at-7.59.36-AM.png 1413w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-08-at-7.59.36-AM-300x154.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-08-at-7.59.36-AM-1024x526.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-08-at-7.59.36-AM-768x395.png 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1413px) 100vw, 1413px" /></div>
A video submitted by Central Command showed an &#8220;unidentified anomalous phenomenon to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office&#8221; captured by &#8220;an infrared sensor aboard a U.S. military platform in 2013.&#8221;
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1091571" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-08-at-7.52.07-AM.png" alt="" width="1107" height="736" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-08-at-7.52.07-AM.png 1107w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-08-at-7.52.07-AM-300x199.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-08-at-7.52.07-AM-866x576.png 866w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-08-at-7.52.07-AM-768x511.png 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1107px) 100vw, 1107px" /></div>
Another image from 2023 shows an FBI lab-rendered graphic of an actual site photo after multiple &#8220;corroborating eyewitness reports&#8221; of an &#8220;apparent ellipsoid bronze metallic object materializing out of a bright light in the sky&#8221; before disappearing.
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1091587" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-08-at-8.08.10-AM.png" alt="" width="1243" height="798" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-08-at-8.08.10-AM.png 1243w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-08-at-8.08.10-AM-300x193.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-08-at-8.08.10-AM-897x576.png 897w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-08-at-8.08.10-AM-768x493.png 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1243px) 100vw, 1243px" /></div>
The release comes after President Donald Trump in February directed the release of government records related to “alien and extraterrestrial life.”
“President Trump directed the Department of War to identify and release government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena, and unidentified flying objects because he is the most transparent president in history,&#8221; White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told The Daily Wire. &#8220;While past administrations have sought to discredit or dissuade the American people, the President is focused on providing maximum disclosure to the public, who can ultimately make up their own minds about the information contained in these files. The American people asked, and President Trump delivered — enjoy!”
Tennessee Republican Tim Burchett <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5842815-burchett-ufo-files/">said</a> last month in an interview with NewsNation that he had seen UFO-related videos that he didn&#8217;t believe could be explained by man-made technology. 
“I’ve seen pictures and video of things that defy any reason that we have, and everybody says, ‘Well, it’s our stuff, it’s the Russians, it’s the Chinese,’” he said. “If it’s the Chinese, ma’am, they would own us. If it was the Russians, they wouldn’t be bogged down in Ukraine.&#8221; 
“If it was ours, we would never risk our military fighting men and women in half-a-billion-dollar aircraft out with these things that they’re spotting. These things can hover for hours on end, then they can just shoot straight up, they can do angles.”
Last week, Trump teased the release of the files during an event at the White House with the Artemis II astronauts. 
&#8220;We&#8217;re going to be releasing a lot of things that we haven&#8217;t,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;I think some of it&#8217;s going to be very interesting to people.&#8221;
In February, Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-orders-release-of-any-and-all-info-on-aliens-and-ufos">directed</a> federal government agencies to start the process for identifying and releasing files related to &#8220;alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs), and any and all other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters.”

UFO saucer silently hovered over the city

White House Unseals Secret UFO Vault Documenting ‘Extraterrestrial Life’

Tim Burchett

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