US4 min(s) read
Published 15:41 10 May 2026 GMT
An oddly shaped unidentified flying object has been spotted in the first batch of released, previously classified US government documents.
They were made public for the first time by the Department of Defense on Friday (May 8), as the Trump administration unsealed multiple files.
These included documents of pilots' experiences with UAPs, or Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, which is the current, official terminology for UFOs.
The never-before-seen files revealed a lot, including footage on UAPs, as the Trump Administration aims to be more transparent about government knowledge.
As reported by the Mirror US, this particularly refers to government knowledge of extraterrestrial phenomena.
This latest disclosure is the latest move by President Donald Trump's Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE) program, the first in a series of upcoming disclosures.
The White House said in a statement: "The latest UAP videos, photos, and original source documents from across the entire United States government are all in one place – no clearance required.
"While past administrations sought to discredit or dissuade the American people, President Trump is focused on providing maximum transparency to the public, who can ultimately make up their own minds about the information contained in these files."
This comes after an odd-looking UFP was seen in a NASA image, which was snapped from the moon's surface during the Apollo 17 Moon mission, which was part of the release.
There are some weird-looking objects in this disclosure, not just in this Apollo mission, but in the Apollo 12 mission, too.
Perhaps the oddest-looking object is one from not too long ago.
In the first batch of the latest files, the image receiving arguably the most attention is a photo from 2024, which was taken by US Indo-Pacific Command personnel.
It's been described as a "football-shaped object near Japan," as those who captured the image described it as an "unresolved UAP report."
Obama seemingly revealed that aliens were real, saying on a podcast: “They’re real, but I haven’t seen them.
“They’re not being kept in Area 51, there’s no underground facility, unless there’s this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the president of the United States.”
He did later clarify: "Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there's life out there.
“But the distances between solar systems are so great that the chances we've been visited by aliens is low, and I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us."
Trump would tell Fox News of the claims: "He gave classified information. He's not supposed to be doing that."
"I don't know if they're real or not. I can tell you, he gave classified information. He's not supposed to be doing that – he made a big mistake. He took it out of classified information."
The President would then announce on Truth Social that he would declassify UAP-related documents, writing: "I will be directing the Secretary of War, and other relevant Departments and Agencies, to begin the process of identifying and releasing Government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs)."
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth stated: "The Department of War is in lockstep with President Trump to bring unprecedented transparency regarding our government's understanding of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena."
"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," he went on.
The Department of War stated on their website: "Under President Trump's leadership, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence is actively coordinating the Intelligence Community's declassification efforts with the Department of War to ensure a careful, comprehensive, and unprecedented review of our holdings to provide the American people with maximum transparency.
"Today's release is the first in what will be an ongoing joint declassification and release effort."
