Luminous spheres, strange flying objects and other anomalous phenomena. In recent days the Pentagon has published a new series of documents on UFO (unidentified flying object) or UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon): this is the third tranche of files that are being declassified, after the first two batches made public on 8 and 22 May.
The new declassified files
The 72 new files, available on the US Department of War website, do not provide evidence of the existence of extraterrestrial life, but contain various testimonies, reports from the CIA, FBI, NASA and the Department of Defense, some also accompanied by images and audio files. All the documents on the alleged sightings end without an indisputable explanation, a point that must necessarily be reiterated: there is no certainty that the objects or phenomena identified are linked to extraterrestrial activities or aircraft. However, in the new files there are several “curious” cases that leave questions unanswered.
The potato-shaped UFO
One of the most “peculiar” files concerns a sighting that occurred in February 2022 near Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado. On that occasion, as the US media also reported, the object was observed by an army intelligence officer and four members of his Fort Carson unit. Witnesses described the object as a large jet, with a “potato”-like shape, made up of “irregular panels.” According to the description, the object was “motionless” in the sky, at a height between 300 and 500 feet above the mountains. In the documents it is described as slightly translucent, shimmering white in color, with a surface that reflected sunlight and the object appeared to be changing shape.
A few moments later the object vanished into thin air, but a few years later one of the witnesses, interviewed at the FBI office in New York, provided a forensic artist with the information to create a reproduction of the mysterious aircraft, published among the Pentagon files. According to the FBI report, the object appeared to be covered in “irregular overlapping panels”, which seemed to move, even though it remained motionless, suspended in the air. Over the years, US authorities have tried to explain the event. According to one hypothesis contained in a government analysis, the sighting could have been caused by particular atmospheric conditions, while according to another theory, the alleged UFO was actually an optical illusion, caused by the snow on the ground and the position of the sun. Possible explanations defined as “unreliable” even by the analysts themselves.
The mysterious lights in the sky
Another file concerns some sightings that occurred in October 2023: within two days, six police officers reported having observed “balls launching other balls” near a sensitive national security site located in the western United States. Five of these “federal law enforcement special agents” provided their detailed testimonies to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office. One witness described smaller spheres emerging from a brighter light, while another compared them to “grapes being ejected from a basketball,” recalling asking his partner, “Do you see that?” According to an assessment by the Pentagon office, the described lights may be compatible with some US military technologies, but at the moment there is no complete explanation of the phenomenon.
There are several files that refer to mysterious lights, in the sky and beyond. In a document, which contains interviews conducted by the FBI, two people reported having seen a blinding glow in their garden, a very intense light that came from an object, about a meter wide, with a red sphere in the center. Other testimonies also speak of two spheres that seemed connected to each other, always spotted above the same house. An episode which, according to a July 2025 FBI report, would be “connected” to the other mysterious phenomena that occurred in the previous weeks in the same area. The document mentions a sighting recorded in October 2024, which describes a “light source suspended over a pond”, defined as a sort of plasma sphere, capable of changing shape and brightness.
The scientific commission
Another file contains the documents of a commission convened by the CIA between 1952 and 1953, called the “Scientific Advisory Commission on Unidentified Flying Objects”. According to the commissioners’ conclusions, the alleged UFOs “did not represent a physical threat”, but they were advised to “deny” the possible extraterrestrial hypothesis, for fear that it would trigger a “morbid national psychology” that adversaries could exploit. Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth commented on the publication of the new files: “These documents, long not accessible to the public, have long fueled speculation, and it’s time for the American people to see them with their own eyes.”