THE DOCUMENTS
DOW-UAP-D123, “AAWSAP DIRD Positron Aerospace Propulsion March 2 2010”, DOW-UAP-D145, “AAWSAP DIRD Aneutronic Fusion Propulsion I November 1 2010”, and DOW-UAP-D146, “AAWSAP DIRD Aneutronic Fusion Propulsion II November 1 2010”, three Department of War records from the U.S. Department of War’s PURSUE Release 06, published at war.gov/ufo on 18 September 2026. The titles are the release’s, taken from the file names. The documents’ own titles, printed on their covers, are Positron Aerospace Propulsion and, on each of the other two, Aneutronic Fusion Propulsion, with no part number. Each cover is a Defense Intelligence Reference Document cover with the agency’s seal. DOW-UAP-D123, 35 pages, carries the series line Acquisition Threat Support, 2 March 2010, ICOD: 1 December 2009 and DIA-08-1003-002; its p. 2 names the preparing office, Acquisition Support Division (DWO-3), and places the paper in a FY 2009 series under the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications (AAWSA) Program. DOW-UAP-D145, 50 pages, and DOW-UAP-D146, 36 pages, each carry the series line Defense Futures, 01 November 2010 and ICOD: 20 July 2010; DOW-UAP-D146’s control number is DIA-08-1011-004, and DOW-UAP-D145’s cover renders its own as -08-1011-003, the opening characters missing. Their title pages (p. 3 and p. 2) name Technology Warning Division (DWO-4), carry a boxed sentence defining the series, and place each paper in a FY 2010 AAWSA series. This briefing cites PDF pages. The pages are marked UNCLASSIFIED with FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY struck through, except the foot of DOW-UAP-D145’s cover, whose banners lose letters, its blank p. 2 and the head of DOW-UAP-D146’s p. 28. The only redactions are labels on the title pages, with no black bar and no exemption code: AAP Person 69, AAP Person 83, and AAP Person 85, AAP Person 88, AAP Person 89 in place of the authors, and AAP Person 1 in place of the programme manager, in a thin-ruled box, or on DOW-UAP-D145 two boxes.
Why this one is worth your time
These are three of the 37 papers the release files as Defense Intelligence Reference Documents. They take up the two kinds of fuel to which D145’s own table of drives gives its three highest specific impulses, antimatter and an ideal fusion drive (p. 43). D123 is a forecast built, it says, on earlier sponsored studies, with a price for a first positron-powered flight. D145 and D146 share a printed title, a date and a preparing division, and the release, not the documents, calls them I and II.
What the documents say
D123, what it says it is. The Introduction says antimatter does not occur naturally and is unstable in the presence of matter, so “no vehicles have ever flown using it.” (p. 5). It calls itself an anthology of earlier sponsored studies of positrons as a fuel, not a general review, and says it considers the prospects for a first, modest demonstration of positron propulsive flight within ten years (p. 5). It adds that positrons, unlike nuclear fission and antiprotons, present no radiation or environmental safety problems (p. 5).
D123, the vehicles. Its engine is a positron turbojet/ramjet (PTRE), in which annihilation gamma rays heat tungsten shells and the shells heat air (p. 8). Its mass tables give a positron single-stage reusable vehicle a gross liftoff weight 43 per cent below a chemical one (p. 14). Three rocket concepts follow, solid core, gas core and a photon rocket that ablates a plate, compared in Table 5 for a one-way transit to Mars (pp. 17 to 22), then onboard power (p. 23) and a crewed Mars mission whose launch dates the paper sets for around 2030, with the crew arriving in late 2033 (pp. 25 to 26). One sentence proposes positrons as ordnance against the electronics of missiles or aircraft by electromagnetic pulse (p. 13); this briefing describes it and does not reproduce its quantities or ranges.
D123, the price and the storage problem. Its cost table, Table 6, reports what it calls an independent study (p. 28), from which it finds positrons cheaper than antiprotons per joule of annihilation energy by a factor of 1,000 to 100,000, and projects the cost of a gram of positrons at $0.72T, which it puts at 5 per cent of the 2008 U.S. gross domestic product (p. 28). It prices the positrons for a first flight, a nonstop flight around the globe by a small drone, at $96 million on p. 29 and at $69 million in the Conclusions on p. 32; the paper does not say which is meant. On storage, the paper says present laboratory stores fall orders of magnitude short of what practical uses need (p. 30), reports the positronium lifetimes reached so far in proprietary experiments at a company it names (p. 32), and describes what longer storage would require (pp. 32 to 33). The last sentence of the paper calls very long lifetimes a matter of engineering (p. 33).
D145, a tutorial and survey. The paper states its focus as aneutronic fusion propulsion: fuel, rocket design and the organisations doing the research (p. 8). Chapter 3 compares fuels by the Lawson criteria, lower being better, giving 0.005 and 0.014 for p-Li6 and p-B11, two of the best performing schemes, against 34 for deuterium and tritium (p. 26). Chapter 5 surveys projects from Orion and Daedalus to four entries under Commercial Development, among them EMC2, formed by Dr. Robert Bussard and his colleagues, whose work it says has been funded by DARPA, NASA and the U.S. Navy (pp. 29 to 32). Chapter 6 speculates over 30 years: chemical rockets will continue to move people into local space until another technology is available, since fission, fusion and antimatter systems all eject radioactive debris, it says (p. 34), and nuclear thermal propulsion can explore the solar system with no unresolved scientific hurdles (p. 36).
D145, its conclusions and its worked example. The Conclusions judge that Bussard and his colleagues appear to have the best developed aneutronic proposals, that ignition is the hurdle every fusion design faces, and then that antimatter engines are a more promising technology (p. 37). Appendix B works an example: a 14-ton Bussard system on a craft of the International Space Station’s mass, accelerating very gradually, would take about 127 years to reach Proxima Centauri, peak at 6.5 per cent of the speed of light, and need 85 per cent of its initial mass as fuel (p. 42). Its three research challenges for the next 20 to 30 years are fusion initiation, materials and high-field electromagnets, and it notes that reliable p-B11 fusion had been shown only in a laboratory, by V. S. Belyaev in Russia in 2005 (p. 43). Appendix C covers antimatter generation, storage and cost, in figures this briefing does not reproduce (pp. 44 to 45), and then the Heim quantum theory, of which the paper says “There are few peer-reviewed articles on Heim Quantum Theory, and physicists disagree” with its formulation and results, and says the work should be followed (p. 45).
D146, an assessment and a roadmap. Its Summary says the threshold for applying fusion to propulsion is lower than for power plants, especially without tritium, and that its predominant concepts, the field-reversed configuration, the dense plasma focus and inertial electrostatic confinement, all have venture capital funded programmes for power on the ground (p. 5). It says the first pull on the technology will come from very large geostationary satellites for commercial and military broadband communication over the next 20 years (p. 5). Its three findings are that aneutronic fusion propulsion may have near-term uses replacing satellite ion thrusters, needs extensive development for air and near-space use, and will not be practical beyond the solar system without breakthrough propulsion physics (pp. 6 to 7, 35). Its near-space section lists three missions such thrusters would allow a vehicle in orbit, avoiding antisatellite threats and reconnaissance and neutralisation of unpredictable targets on Earth or in space, and says their details will be the subject of separate studies (p. 22). Chapter 5 finds that a tokamak plant could not compete with a fission plant at current market energy prices (p. 27); Table 4 lists five private companies with current and needed funding, from $4M to $50M current, and prints no source or date for the figures (p. 29). Chapter 6 lays out phases for 2010 to 2020, 2020 to 2030 and 2030 to 2050, the last ending in prototype flight tests, and makes the date of a manned mission contingent on them (pp. 30 to 34).
What the documents do not say
None of the three mentions UAP, UFO, unidentified, anomalous, extraterrestrial or alien: each term returns zero in each record (case-insensitive substring, issued text layer, and on D145 also this project’s OCR of pp. 1 and 2). D123 gives one paragraph to antimatter in science fiction (p. 5), and D146’s last sentence turns away from it (p. 35).
Neither D145 nor D146 carries a part number or mentions the other: Part I, Part II, companion and this series return zero in both, and neither cites a Defense Intelligence Reference Document. Their authors carry different labels. That the release’s I and II mark two separately written papers rather than two halves of one is an inference from the labels and the contents, not something either document states.
No page of the three names a tasking or the contract Release 06 Briefing 10 covers, and their text layers carry neither AAWSAP nor DIRD. D123 and D145 print AAWSA twice each in the text layer, on the title page; on D146 the text layer damages the acronym and the page image shows AAWSA in the same two places. The word contract appears only in D123, in endnotes giving the contract numbers of earlier reports it cites (pp. 33, 35).
The front matter replaces each author’s name with a label (D123 p. 2, D145 p. 3, D146 p. 2). D123’s own text identifies its author, reports its author’s own work (pp. 22, 28) and cites it in the endnotes (pp. 33 to 35); this briefing prints neither the name nor the university or company the paper ties to that work.
From the record
paper considers the prospects for the first, modest demonstration of positron
DOW-UAP-D123, p. 5, the Introduction’s first paragraph, on what the paper covers, in the sentence that opens with Finally, the on the line before; the sentence continues: propulsive flight within the next 10 years.
an anthology of that work and not a general review of antimatter propulsion.
DOW-UAP-D123, p. 5, the Introduction, after the sentence naming the sponsors of the earlier studies; the sentence begins: This paper is
this problem. With the issue of stabilization in crossed fields now settled, very long
DOW-UAP-D123, p. 33, the Conclusions; the line closes the sentence on mitigating wall losses with oscillating gradient electric fields and opens the paper’s last sentence, which continues: lifetimes are but a matter of engineering!
Aneutronic fusion promises to be an important mechanism for future space propulsion,
DOW-UAP-D145, p. 8, the Introduction; the sentence continues: although novel accelerator or laser systems must be researched and developed in order to initiate, sustain, and control the fusion reaction.
Antimatter engines are a more promising technology, since the technique to harvest
DOW-UAP-D145, p. 37, the second paragraph of the Conclusions, after the finding on Bussard’s proposals; the sentence continues: and store small amounts of antihydrogen already exists.
been eluded for both technical and economic reasons. However, the threshold
DOW-UAP-D146, p. 5, the Summary; the line closes the sentence that begins Unfortunately, this objective has and opens the next, which continues: for achieving success in applying fusion to propulsion is considerably relaxed, especially if fuels are used that do not use tritium.
The details of such applications will be the subject of separate studies. Undoubtedly
DOW-UAP-D146, p. 22, directly after the list of three near-space missions; the line holds a complete sentence and opens the next, which continues: current propulsion technologies are significantly limited in N/kW in propulsion capability to perform such missions for long durations.
needs to be focused more on science and engineering and less on science fiction.
DOW-UAP-D146, p. 35, the last line of the Conclusions; the sentence begins: The future
Where the case connects
The release files all three under the same prefix as the contract records DOW-UAP-D110 to D116, which Release 06 Briefing 10 covers; none of the three names that contract. The same label, AAP Person 1, stands for the programme manager on all three title pages; it is the release’s labelling and names no one.
Release 06 Briefing 16 covers DOW-UAP-D125 and D126, the inertial electrostatic confinement and nuclear propulsion papers; D145 and D146 cite neither, though both treat inertial electrostatic confinement and Bussard’s work on it (D145 pp. 30 to 31, 37, 40; D146 pp. 6, 13, 30). Release 06 Briefing 22 covers DOW-UAP-D128, the human tissue paper, and Release 06 Briefing 24 covers the release as a whole.
Read it yourself
DOW-UAP-D123, “AAWSAP DIRD Positron Aerospace Propulsion March 2 2010”, DOW-UAP-D145, “AAWSAP DIRD Aneutronic Fusion Propulsion I November 1 2010”, and DOW-UAP-D146, “AAWSAP DIRD Aneutronic Fusion Propulsion II November 1 2010”, are hosted at war.gov in PURSUE Release 06. In DOW-UAP-D123 the Introduction is page 5 of the PDF and the costs and Conclusions pages 28 to 33; in DOW-UAP-D145 the Conclusions are page 37 and Appendix B pages 40 to 43; in DOW-UAP-D146 the Summary is page 5 and the roadmap pages 30 to 34.
Read the files. Decide for yourself.
Related wiki entries
The wiki entries below give background on the programme and publisher behind this briefing, and on the subjects it touches.
- PURSUE
- Department of War
- DIRDs
- Positron Propulsion
- Aneutronic Fusion Propulsion
- Extended Heim Theory
References and further reading
- DOW-UAP-D123, “AAWSAP DIRD Positron Aerospace Propulsion March 2 2010”, PURSUE Release 06, U.S. Department of War, hosted at war.gov/ufo
- DOW-UAP-D145, “AAWSAP DIRD Aneutronic Fusion Propulsion I November 1 2010”, PURSUE Release 06, U.S. Department of War, hosted at war.gov/ufo
- DOW-UAP-D146, “AAWSAP DIRD Aneutronic Fusion Propulsion II November 1 2010”, PURSUE Release 06, U.S. Department of War, hosted at war.gov/ufo
- Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE), U.S. Department of War, war.gov/ufo
- AARO UAP Records, All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, aaro.mil/UAP-Records
- Signals from the Periphery, Release 06 Briefing 10, on the contract file, DOW-UAP-D110 to D116
- Signals from the Periphery, Release 06 Briefing 16, on DOW-UAP-D125 and D126, the fusion and nuclear propulsion papers
- Signals from the Periphery, Release 06 Briefing 22, on DOW-UAP-D128, the human tissue paper
- Signals from the Periphery, Release 06 Briefing 24, on the release as a whole