THE DOCUMENTS
DOW-UAP-D122, “AAWSAP DIRD Invisibility Cloaking Theory and Experiments March 2 2010”, DOW-UAP-D129, “AAWSAP DIRD Metallic Spintronics March 23 2010”, and DOW-UAP-D141, “AAWSAP DIRD Metamaterials for Aerospace Applications April 6 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 papers’ own titles, printed on each cover and title verso, are Invisibility Cloaking: Theory and Experiments, Metallic Spintronics and Metamaterials for Aerospace Applications; the words AAWSAP DIRD are the release’s. Each cover is a Defense Intelligence Reference Document cover with the Defense Intelligence Agency seal and the series line Acquisition Threat Support, and gives a date, ICOD: 1 December 2009 and a control number: 2 March 2010, DIA-08-1003-001; 23 March 2010, DIA-08-1003-011; 6 April 2010, DIA-08-1004-006. The papers run to 29, 27 and 38 pages. Page 2 of each names the preparing office, Acquisition Support Division (DWO-3), Defense Warning Office, Directorate for Analysis, Defense Intelligence Agency, and calls the paper one in a series of advanced technology reports produced in FY 2009 under the Defense Warning Office’s Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications (AAWSA) Program. Every page is marked UNCLASSIFIED with FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY struck through. The only redactions are two labels on p. 2 of each, neither a black bar and neither carrying an exemption code: the author’s name replaced by AAP Person 68, AAP Person 71 and AAP Person 78 respectively, overprinted in large type with no box below the printed word Author:, and the programme manager’s name replaced by AAP Person 1 in a thin-ruled white box. The printed page numbers differ from the PDF’s; this briefing cites PDF pages.
Why this one is worth your time
These are three of the 37 papers the release files under AAWSAP DIRD titles, and one of them is a survey of invisibility cloaking. Across the 94 pages of the three papers, UAP, UFO, unidentified, sighting and craft each return zero. What the papers contain is a survey of other groups’ cloaking theory and experiments, a review of spintronics, a field whose GMR research the paper says won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2007, and a metamaterials survey framed, in its own words, for aerospace platforms. Each states both the prospects and the limits of its own subject.
What the documents say
The cloaking paper, D122. Its three-sentence Introduction says it describes the current theoretical and experimental developments and tries to project into the future (p. 5). It reports other groups’ work, with 39 endnotes, and gives no experiment of its own. It names three routes to invisibility: camouflage, transparency and cloaking (p. 6). Camouflage is illustrated by stealth aircraft against radar, with a photograph captioned B2 Stealth Bomber, in a passage of general explanation (p. 6), and by the optical camouflage of the University of Tokyo’s Tachi Laboratory (p. 7).
Cloaking is defined as a transparent shell that guides light around an enclosed object as if through empty space (p. 10). The paper dates the idea to two independent groups whose theories appeared in Science Express on 25 May 2006, and the first cloaking device to October 2006, for microwaves; it says Scientific American listed Sir John Pendry, David Smith, David Schurig and Ulf Leonhardt as the inventors of cloaking devices, and that about a thousand papers had since been published (p. 14). That device worked at a wavelength of about 3 cm, built from split-ring resonators of about 3 mm (p. 14). Optical cloaking devices, it says, “do not yet exist” (p. 17).
The paper’s central argument is a limit. A cloak built by coordinate transformation works for one frequency, one colour, and the paper calls the flaw inevitable (p. 20): the speed of light would have to be infinitely large at the cloak’s inner lining (p. 21), so fixed-frequency waves can be cloaked but wave packets carrying information cannot (p. 22). Its proposed way out is non-Euclidean geometry, whose distortions are finite and which could in principle work across a broad band; such cloaks delay light, and the paper adds in general terms that their presence could in principle be sensed, concluding “Perfect cloaking is impossible” but that invisibility could become reality as long as time delays and wave-front dislocations are of no concern (p. 25). It judges that such structures can most probably be made for microwaves (p. 25), and it says the recently demonstrated ground-plate cloak is not a cloaking device (p. 26). Its forecast is on p. 27: new designs could take 1 or 2 years or a much longer time; the challenge is imagination, not technology; the answer is to invest in the right people; if metamaterials turn out not to be needed, invisibility could become feasible within a generation; and cloaks will most probably be rigid shells.
The spintronics paper, D129. It reviews giant magnetoresistance (GMR), research on which it says was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2007, and spin-transfer torque (STT), the inverse effect (p. 4), with a reference list numbered 1 to 97. Its opening case is the computer industry: 40 years of miniaturisation now face power dissipation, and changing an electron’s spin is faster and needs less power than moving it (p. 4). It sets semiconductor spintronics aside, saying most such devices are still theoretical concepts awaiting experimental demonstrations, and focuses on metallic systems (p. 5). It names GMR read heads for hard drives as the first large-scale commercial application (p. 8), dates STT’s prediction to 1996 (p. 10) and Luc Berger’s prediction on domain walls to 1978 (p. 17), and describes racetrack memory and current-controlled oscillators (pp. 15, 17 to 18). On antiferromagnetic spintronics it reports a prediction by MacDonald and coworkers, notes that all calculations assume perfect samples (p. 18), and reports the only search for antiferromagnetic GMR it knows of, by Wei et al., whose observations it says suggest that sputtered multilayers do not show the effect, and that further studies on high-quality films are still needed (pp. 18 to 19).
Its Summary extrapolates Moore’s law to 2035 and says that, unless the energy dissipated in switching can be reduced dramatically, the thermal load on a chip will exceed that in a rocket nozzle, and that thermal failure might end the industry’s progress well before 2035; it says the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors has termed this the Red Brick Wall (pp. 21 to 22). It then says that “much fundamental work remains to be done” before commercial use (p. 22). The Summary’s one passage on aerospace follows: long space trips, it says, would benefit from the radiation resistance and reduced power consumption of metallic spintronic devices, since radiation in space damages conventional electronics (p. 22).
The metamaterials paper, D141. It has no introduction and opens on a definition, highlighted in yellow on the page, of a metamaterial as an artificial medium with properties not found in natural materials (p. 5). Its first case for aerospace is miniaturisation, where small weight and size are essential (p. 8), and it calls optical metamaterials still a very new area with a handful of bulk demonstrations (p. 8). It surveys super-lenses, hyper-lenses and far-field super-lenses (pp. 10 to 15), including a scenario of examining primitive cellular-level life on other planets, after which it says “No such experiments have so far been conducted” (p. 11). It reports its author’s group’s own work: silicon dioxide and silicon carbide multi-layers it says are produced in-house, with other approaches under investigation that it compares with those used by another group (p. 17), and two milestones towards far-field imaging, of which it says none of the experiments constitutes imaging as such (pp. 18 to 19).
On slowing light, it says plasma devices may not suit the aerospace context (pp. 20 to 21) and a low-loss optical negative-index material remains somewhat distant (p. 22). Under energy harvesting it lists infrared absorbers for night vision, daytime infrared photography and aerial and satellite surveys, scavenging the Earth glow by high-altitude satellites, and space navigation, in general terms (p. 24); an airborne platform powered by a laser on Earth (pp. 26 to 27); and thermophotovoltaic converters, which it predicts, with near certainty, will be installed on the advanced aerospace platforms of the future (p. 27). Its MetaMirror work reports preliminary results, absorptivity rising from 40 per cent with a smooth gold mirror to 75 per cent with a perforated one (p. 29). Two passages mark material as still unpublished (pp. 28, 31). Its Summary names miniaturisation, sub-diffraction imaging and infrared harvesting, with four passages highlighted in yellow, read from the page image, and ends by calling metamaterials still an academic area of research with great potential for practical applications (p. 35).
What the documents do not say
None of the three connects its subject to unidentified objects. In the issued text layer, the only layer the three carry, UAP, UFO, unidentified, extraterrestrial, alien, sighting, saucer, flying and craft each return zero in every paper (case-insensitive, substring); the figure pages were also read as images and carry none of these words. Anomalous appears once, in D122, in the title of a cited physics paper on anomalous localised resonance (p. 28). The cloaking paper mentions no observation of anything cloaked outside the experiments it cites. Its only military passage is the stealth example on p. 6, where military appears twice in one sentence; the word is absent from D129 and D141. Weapon appears in each paper only in the programme name on p. 2, and threat only in the cover’s series line.
The three do not refer to one another or to any other Defense Intelligence Reference Document: DIRD and AAWSAP return zero in all three, and AAWSA appears only on p. 2. D122 and D141 share two cited sources, the 2006 microwave cloak paper and a 2008 bulk negative-index paper (D122 pp. 28 to 29; D141 p. 36), but D141 does not discuss cloaking; cloak appears in it once, in a reference title (p. 36). D129 never uses the word metamaterial. Aerospace appears in D122 only in the programme name (p. 2) and in D129 three times (pp. 2, 5, 22).
No paper gives a cost, a budget or a programme schedule; D122’s timescales are its forecast (p. 27), D129’s 2035 is an extrapolation of Moore’s law (p. 21), and D141 gives no date. None names a contract, a tasking or a sponsor beyond the p. 2 paragraph.
The front matter replaces each author’s name with a label (p. 2). D122’s body never refers to its author; D129 does so once, To the author’s knowledge (p. 18). D141’s own text places its author’s research group at a named university and describes that group’s work (pp. 9, 16 to 19, 28 to 30); this briefing does not print it.
From the record
purpose. This design flaw is inevitable,28 no matter how much progress is made in the
DOW-UAP-D122, p. 20, the Fundamental Problem section; the line closes the sentence on tinted glasses, which it says defeat the purpose, and opens the next, which continues: technology of metamaterials, for the following reason:
intuition, a stimulating environment, and freedom. The greatest challenge for turning
DOW-UAP-D122, p. 27, the Optical Cloaking section; the line closes the sentence on the mindset such research takes and opens the next, which continues: invisibility from an idea into a workable device is not technology but imagination.
are definitely within reach of the present technology. Whether invisibility in the visible
DOW-UAP-D122, p. 28, the Summary; the line closes the sentence that begins For electromagnetic microwaves, cloaking devices and opens the next, which continues: range of the spectrum will become a reality is not entirely clear yet.
Changing the spin of an electron is faster and requires less power
DOW-UAP-D129, p. 4, the Introduction, directly after the sentence saying that information is carried by the electron’s intrinsic spin; the sentence continues: than moving it.
forth. The radiation resistance would be of particular interest for aerospace applications
DOW-UAP-D129, p. 22, the Summary; the line closes the sentence on radiation-resistant electronics and opens the Summary’s only passage on aerospace, which continues: because the radiation in space is known to severely damage conventional electronics by building up a destructive charge in transistors.
aerospace application where small weight and size are essential.
DOW-UAP-D141, p. 8, the close of the paragraph on miniaturisation in Definition of Metamaterials; the sentence begins: It is this miniaturization that makes metamaterials interesting for
easy to envision a scenario where an airborne platform is powered by a high-power
DOW-UAP-D141, p. 26, the energy harvesting section, in a sentence that opens For advanced aerospace platforms it is; the sentence continues: infrared laser source located on Earth.
metamaterials are still an academic area of research, these examples illustrate that
DOW-UAP-D141, p. 35, the last sentence of the Summary and Conclusions, highlighted on the page image, which opens Although; the sentence continues: there is great potential for practical applications.
Where the case connects
The release files these papers under the same AAWSAP prefix as the contract records DOW-UAP-D110 to D116, which Release 06 Briefing 10 covers; no page of the three names a contract. The statement of objectives, D110, lists twelve study areas, among them materials and signature reduction (optical, infrared, radiofrequency, acoustic) (D110 p. 1). None of the three papers cites it, and no page assigns any of them to an area; that the cloaking paper sits with signature reduction and the metamaterials paper with materials would be an inference from subject matter only.
Another paper in the release uses the word cloaking with a craft. DOW-UAP-D132 lists sudden cloaking or blinking out, consistent with lensing that bends a background view around a craft, among possible side effects of metric-engineered spacetime, and adds that other technical options, for example the use of metamaterials, exist as well (p. 14); Release 06 Briefing 13 covers it. D132 and D122 do not cite each other. Release 06 Briefing 22 covers DOW-UAP-D128, which it found to be the only one of the 37 papers to use UFO as a word, and Release 06 Briefing 24 covers the release as a whole.
Read it yourself
DOW-UAP-D122, “AAWSAP DIRD Invisibility Cloaking Theory and Experiments March 2 2010”, DOW-UAP-D129, “AAWSAP DIRD Metallic Spintronics March 23 2010”, and DOW-UAP-D141, “AAWSAP DIRD Metamaterials for Aerospace Applications April 6 2010”, are hosted at war.gov in PURSUE Release 06. The cloaking paper’s argument on limits is pages 20 to 27 of its PDF; the spintronics paper’s Summary is pages 21 to 23; the metamaterials paper’s aerospace case is page 8 and its Summary page 35.
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.
References and further reading
- DOW-UAP-D122, “AAWSAP DIRD Invisibility Cloaking Theory and Experiments March 2 2010”, PURSUE Release 06, U.S. Department of War, hosted at war.gov/ufo
- DOW-UAP-D129, “AAWSAP DIRD Metallic Spintronics March 23 2010”, PURSUE Release 06, U.S. Department of War, hosted at war.gov/ufo
- DOW-UAP-D141, “AAWSAP DIRD Metamaterials for Aerospace Applications April 6 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 13, on DOW-UAP-D132 and the other gravity 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