AARO Case Resolution: Eglin AFB UAP

Cold Open: This is a declassified report from the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, dated October 14, 2023. It's a case resolution for an unidentified aerial phenomenon, or UAP, observed near Eglin Air Force Base in Florida on January 26, 2023. The report is available on The Black Vault website, under the canonical URL https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/osd/Case_Resolution_of_Eglin_UAP_2_508_.pdf. Provenance: The document was released through The Black Vault, a website that archives and publishes declassified government records. The exact release date is not specified, but the report itself is dated October 14, 2023. The Document: UNCLASSIFIED 1 UNCLASSIFIED All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office U.S. Department of Defense (U) Case: “Eglin UAP” Case Resolution | 14 October 2023 (U) Case Essentials (U) A military pilot reported the object due to its potential as a flight safety hazard and an incursion into a sensitive training range (U) Location: Near Eglin Air Force Base, Florida (U) Date: 26 January 2023 (U) Altitude: 16,000 feet (U) Shape: Rounded, cone (U) Reporter: Military personnel (U) Sensor: Electro-optical, infrared, visual identification, and radar (U) Behavior: No confirmed anomalous behavior (U) Case Status: Resolved; very likely a lighter-than-air object, such as a large commercial lighting balloon (U) Confidence Level: Moderate (U) Case Background (U) On 26 January 2023, a military pilot reported four potential unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) while operating in the Eglin Air Force Base training range off the coast of Florida. Through the onboard radar system, the pilot initially observed that the four objects were aloft between 16,000 – 18,000 feet and appeared to be flying in formation. However the pilot observed only one of the four objects visually and captured two images of the single object via the aircraft’s electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) sensor (see Figures 1A and 1B). The pilot described the object as gray with a paneled surface and orange-red coloring at the center. The initial report did not provide the object’s size and speed, but in the subsequent discussion with AARO, the pilot reported the object was about 12 feet in diameter and that it either moved very slowly or was potentially stationary. The pilot visually perceived a heat signature emanating from the rounded bottom portion, which they described as “blurry air.” Context: The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office conducted a thorough review of the data collected, official pilot accounts of the object’s description and behavior, laboratory testing of a commercial lighting balloon determined to have similar physical characteristics to the object described in the pilot’s report, a reconstruction of the flight geometry, and the sun angle at the time of the observation. AARO assessed the reported UAP very likely was an ordinary object and was not exhibiting anomalous or exceptional characteristics or flight behaviors. Outro: This is what the public record looks like at its most ordinary. The AARO Case Resolution of the Eglin UAP incident is now available on The Black Vault website. You can find the full document at https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/osd/Case_Resolution_of_Eglin_UAP_2_508_.pdf.