PURSUE Release 02: Pentagon's Second UFO File Drop (May 22, 2026)
Complete breakdown of PURSUE Release 02 — 64 declassified UAP records released by the U.S. Department of War on 2026-05-22, including the Syrian UAP video, the Lake Huron F-16C shootdown, the ODNI helicopter narrative, and seven NASA Apollo and Mercury audio recordings.
PURSUE Release 02 was published by the U.S. Department of War at war.gov/UFO/ on 2026-05-22, adding 64 declassified UAP records to the May 8 Release 01 catalog of 162 files. The Tranche 2 breakdown is 51 infrared and electro-optical videos from the Department of War (most from CENTCOM and INDOPACOM 2019–2024), six PDFs from four agencies (CIA, ODNI, DOE, DOW), and seven NASA mission audio recordings — a new media type. Three new agencies enter the PURSUE catalog in Release 02: Central Intelligence Agency, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and Department of Energy. The Department of War's official statement frames the release as part of the Trump administration's transparency push. Secretary Pete Hegseth said the release 'demonstrates the Trump Administration's earnest commitment to unprecedented transparency.' war.gov/UFO has received over one billion hits since launch.
“These files, hidden behind classifications, have long fueled justified speculation — and it's time the American people see it for themselves.”
What's in Release 02
The release totals 64 catalog entries: 51 videos (all DOW, all hosted on DVIDS, predominantly infrared sensor captures from U.S. Central Command and Indo-Pacific Command between 2019 and 2024), 6 PDFs (one CIA, one ODNI, three DOE, one DOW), and 7 audio recordings (all NASA — Apollo 12, Apollo 17, Mercury-Atlas 7/8/9, and Mercury-Redstone 4). Combined with Release 01, the public PURSUE catalog now contains 226 records — 79 videos, 126 PDFs, 14 images, and 7 audio recordings across 9 agencies.
Headline records
The video records with the highest external interest are DOW-UAP-PR050 (a four-UAP infrared formation observed over water in Iran on August 26, 2022), DOW-UAP-PR051 (the uploader-titled 'Syrian UAP instant acceleration' clip from 2021), DOW-UAP-PR071 (the February 12, 2023 USAF F-16C Lake Huron engagement with a 'kinetic interaction... fragmenting in a radial displacement pattern'), and DOW-UAP-PR086 (an East Coast December 2019 NORTHCOM infrared capture). The PDF headline record is DOC-141 (DOW-UAP-D017) — 116 pages of declassified correspondence on the 1948–1950 green-fireball investigation centered on Sandia Base.
New media type: NASA mission audio
Release 02 introduces audio to the PURSUE catalog. Seven NASA voice loops and post-flight medical debriefs document astronaut observations of unidentified luminous phenomena. The Apollo 12 medical debrief (AUD-001) captures Commander Pete Conrad, Dick Gordon, and Alan Bean describing 'streaks of lights' seen in the dark while sleeping. Apollo 17 transit audio (AUD-002) captures Cernan, Schmitt, and Evans describing 'jagged' and 'angular' particles drifting near the spacecraft and the Saturn S-IVB stage. Four Mercury recordings (AUD-003 through AUD-006) document John Glenn's 'fireflies,' later assessed by NASA as frozen condensation reflecting sunlight.
Three new participating agencies
Release 02 brings the Central Intelligence Agency, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and Department of Energy into the PURSUE catalog for the first time. CIA contributes a 1973 intelligence information report from the Sary Shagan Soviet weapons testing range describing a luminous green concentric-ring phenomenon. ODNI contributes a 2025 USPER first-person narrative by a senior U.S. Intelligence Community official describing a helicopter UAP encounter on a Western U.S. test range. DOE contributes three records tied to U.S. nuclear-weapons facilities: a Pantex Plant surveillance image, James Tuck Manhattan-Project-era correspondence, and a 1986 Pajarito Astronomers Club invitation referencing a Los Alamos UAP talk.