THE DOCUMENTS
DOW-UAP-D176, “Triangular UAP AARO MFR 2026”, a Department of War record, and FBI-UAP-D043, “FD 302 Unidentified Aerial Object Observation Report 2026”, an FBI record, both from the U.S. Department of War’s PURSUE Release 07, published at war.gov/ufo on 23 October 2026. Both titles are the release’s, taken from the file names. The war.gov site titles are Triangular UAP AARO Memorandum for Record, 2026 and FD-302, Unidentified Aerial Object Observation Report, 2026; the site marks both records Featured and pairs them with each other. D176’s own heading is MEMORANDUM FOR RECORD, with a subject line naming an AARO witness debrief on a UAP observation in 2026 (p. 1); its closing block calls it the Official Record of Joint Witness Debrief (p. 3). Its three pages carry the letterhead of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense, Intelligence and Security, with the Department of Defense seal and an AARO seal (pp. 1 to 3), while the line under the heading names the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office and the Department of War (p. 1), both read from the page images. It holds a heading block and an Overview (pp. 1, 2), a chronological narrative in three phases (pp. 2, 3), a Collector Note and a closing block (p. 3). It has no date of writing, addressee or signature, and no classification marking; twenty black bars carry 1843 labels, fifteen on p. 1, one on p. 2 and four on p. 3, and no page says what the codes mean. D043 is an FD-302 (Rev. 5-8-10) headed FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION with an Official Record stamp (p. 1), its FD-302a continuation (p. 2), and nine full-page colour images with no text, caption, date or credit (pp. 3 to 11). Its bars carry no code. Neither record prints its own page numbers apart from the form’s 1 of 2 and 2 of 2; this briefing uses PDF pages.
Why this one is worth your time
The site pairs these two records. Read together, they appear to tell one sighting twice, once as an AARO debrief of two federal agents with a third witness, once as a Special Agent’s written statement received by the FBI. That they concern one event is an inference from the pairing and the shared details; neither record says so. They differ on the time, the size, the hover, the duration and the direction of the last phase.
The FBI file also carries nine images that its form pages never mention.
What the documents say
The debrief. D176 lists two interviewers under bars, two primary interviewees as SOURCE 1 and SOURCE 2, and SOURCE 3 as Additional Corroborating Witness; the rest of each entry is under bars (p. 1). An italic caveat opens the Overview: the report reflects the reporter’s interpretation at the time of the event and is not a conclusive indication of the object’s features or performance (p. 1). On approximately a boxed date in 2026, at 2023L, federal law enforcement agents documented a matte black triangular craft of extremely low aspect ratio, nonreflective, with an estimated wingspan of thirteen to fifteen feet, an apparent fuselage length of six to nine feet and a thickness of roughly one to two feet (p. 1).
The three phases. SOURCE 1 and SOURCE 2 were at the primary observation post in late dusk, the sun entirely below the western horizon (p. 2). At 2023L SOURCE 3, at the secondary observation post with thermal equipment, detected an object over the ridge line and called it out by radio; the two reportedly moved across the peak for a westward view (p. 2). SOURCE 2, who said he went ahead with binoculars and a handheld thermal monocular, reported acquiring the craft with the unaided eye; the binoculars were passed to SOURCE 1, and SOURCE 2 purportedly began watching through the monocular (p. 2). Phase I is a vertical ascent of about ten seconds, climbing two to three hundred feet in silence, at a range bounded between about 1.4 and 3.2 miles west of the primary post by terrain cross-reference (p. 2). Phase II is a hover of about twenty seconds at 200 to 300 feet above the ridge line, with no drift and a uniform thermal signature (pp. 2, 3). In Phase III, of about two to three seconds, the craft appeared to go from stationary to rapid horizontal flight, banked and made a steep descent into the canyon, disappearing behind terrain; the sources likened its speed to a military fighter jet, from the distance it covered along the ridge, and no instrumented measurement was made (p. 3). Banking, its silhouette flattened into a more symmetrical isosceles triangle; the infrared track was lost when the acceleration outran the monocular’s narrow field of view (p. 3). No impact was observed, and a survey of the canyon drainage the following morning located no wreckage, ground scarring or vegetation damage (p. 3).
The Collector Note and the effects. The note says the two primary sources have extensive operational experience alongside government agencies and academic studies using unmanned aerial systems, and regularly observe conventional aircraft around the observation site; two bars follow (p. 3). They noted that a conventional Group 1 drone, a high-torque quadcopter motor or a rotary-wing aircraft at 1.4 miles would have been “clearly audible” on the hilltop, and compared the craft’s outline with the trees along the ridge line behind it (p. 3). The two primary witnesses reported no physiological effects, no odours were noted, and no electromagnetic interference was recorded on personal or agency equipment (p. 3).
The FD-302. On or about a boxed date in 2026 the FBI received from a Special Agent a written statement co-signed by a second Special Agent; the form says the statement will be attached and gives it verbatim (p. 1, read from the page image). The statement is headed Unidentified Aerial Object Observation Report, evening of a boxed date (p. 1, read from the page image). The file number, the drafting date and the drafter are boxed (p. 1).
The statement. On a boxed date in 2026, at approximately 1923 hours, a Special Agent stationed at a boxed place called out a detection for a “thermally elevated aerial” object west of his position (p. 1; the time is read from the page image, its third digit partly broken). The next sentence, which places the writer and another Special Agent and gives a position to the west, cannot be followed through its bars (p. 1). The writer and a boxed companion ran to the western side of their observation post and almost at once saw a substantial, nonreflective, dark black triangular object “most resembling a delta wing drone”; they put its wingspan at approximately nine to fifteen feet, its depth at six to nine and its thickness at one to two (p. 1). Through a handheld thermal device it looked hotter than ambient temperature, with a consistent signature and no visible exhaust gases, while a person whose name is boxed tracked it unaided (p. 1). Both saw it ascend vertically over a ridge line about 3.2 miles west and climb to about 200 feet above it (p. 1, both figures read from the page image, each with a partly broken digit). It then went to horizontal flight at a very significant velocity, approaching their position, and descended southeast into a boxed feature; they lost it at about 1.5 miles (p. 2). The total duration was approximately three seconds, and neither detected any auditory output from what the statement here calls the unmanned aerial system (p. 2, read from the page image). It closes Co-signed SA, with the names boxed and no signature (p. 2).
The nine images. Pages 3 to 11 show one and the same outdoor scene under a clear sky with one dark object that shifts from page to page (read from the page images). On pp. 3 to 5 it is a thin dark horizontal shape, a little higher on each page; on pp. 6 and 7 a black triangle in the open sky, the second tilted; on pp. 8 to 11 the triangle sits lower and further to the left on each page, smallest on p. 11. That they show one movement in order is an inference from the fixed scene and the shifting object, not something any page states.
Side by side. The time is 2023L in D176 (pp. 1, 2) and about 1923 hours in D043 (p. 1, read from the page image). The wingspan is thirteen to fifteen feet against nine to fifteen (p. 1 of each). D176 has a hover of about twenty seconds (pp. 1, 2); D043 describes none. D176 gives stages of about ten, twenty and two to three seconds (pp. 1 to 3) and no total; D043 gives a total of about three seconds (p. 2). D176’s last phase is a banking turn and descent into the canyon, with no approach and no compass direction; D043’s is an approach towards the observers and a descent to the southeast (D176 p. 3; D043 p. 2). D176 alone records binoculars and the morning survey; D043 alone compares the object’s heat with ambient temperature.
What the documents do not say
Neither record cites the other: FBI and Special Agent return zero in D176, AARO zero in D043, and neither form image prints it. No page says whether the writer and co-signer of D043 are SOURCE 1 and SOURCE 2, or whether the agent who called out the detection is SOURCE 3.
No page names the site or any place where the events happened. D176 speaks of an observation site with a primary and a secondary observation post (pp. 2, 3); D043’s only place word is United States, between bars (p. 1). The day and month of the sighting are boxed where D176 p. 1 and the statement’s first sentence date it, and so are the day and month in the FD-302’s date fields and opening paragraph; June does not occur in either record.
D176 states no conclusion about what the object was and no recommendation: investigat, further, assess, analy and recommend each return zero. D043’s footer says the document contains neither recommendations nor conclusions of the FBI (p. 1). Its form pages never mention the nine images: sketch, image, photo and render return zero and none of these words is on the images of pp. 1 and 2. They do not say who made the images, how, when or from what, or whether either agent saw them. No separate copy of the statement the form says will be attached is among the eleven pages, and no page says whether the images are that attachment.
The war.gov site gives both records the Incident Date June, 2026 and the Incident Location Western United States. The site’s account of D176 puts the observations at a site it calls sensitive to national security, across two days; says AARO thinks the case merits more inquiry because it matches other reports from the region; and adds a third official, a second sighting the next evening and supporting analysis. The pages describe one sighting and a survey the next morning, never call SOURCE 3 an official, and carry none of this: evening, night, incident, sensitive and national security each return zero in D176. The site’s account of D043 says the form is the record of an interview of two agents, and describes the nine images as forensic sketches the site calls the FBI’s, made digitally, which it says the agents confirmed; that is the site’s account, and no page carries it.
From the record
unidentified craft presenting as a matte black triangular shape of extremely low aspect ratio that
DOW-UAP-D176, p. 1, the first sentence after the Overview’s caveat, the first description of the craft; the sentence continues: was nonreflective under the observed lighting conditions.
The exterior presented as a continuous (seamless), featureless surface lacking any discernible
DOW-UAP-D176, p. 2, the end of the Overview, on the craft’s surface; the sentence continues: structural discontinuities, propulsive apertures, intake structures, aerodynamic control effectors,
visual contact was lost, the SOURCES estimated that its speed was compared to that as a
DOW-UAP-D176, p. 3, Phase III, the sources’ estimate of the craft’s speed; the sentence begins: Approximated by the distance made along the ridge before
conducted the following morning located no wreckage, ground scarring, or vegetation damage.
DOW-UAP-D176, p. 3, the last line of Phase III, on the survey of the canyon drainage; the sentence begins: A ground survey of the canyon drainage
wingspan at approximately nine to fifteen feet, its depth at six to nine
FBI-UAP-D043, p. 1, the statement’s size estimates; the sentence begins: We estimated the object’s, and continues: feet, and its thickness at one to two feet.
handheld thermal device and noted it appeared hotter than ambient
FBI-UAP-D043, p. 1, the writer’s thermal reading; the sentence begins: I viewed the object through a
velocity, approaching our position, then descending southeast into the
FBI-UAP-D043, p. 2, the second line of the statement’s text on the continuation page, in a sentence that starts on p. 1; the sentence begins: The object climbed to approximately 200 feet above the ridge line, then transitioned from vertical to horizontal flight at a very significant
This document contains neither recommendations nor conclusions of the FBI.
FBI-UAP-D043, p. 1, the first sentence of the printed legend at the foot of the form
Where the case connects
The war.gov site pairs the two records; no other Release 07 record concerns this sighting, and they are the only Release 07 records whose site Incident Date falls in 2026.
Release 05 Briefing 11 covered two other FD-302 forms of 2026, FBI-UAP-D032 and FBI-UAP-D033, recording observations by Special Agents. No page of D043 refers to either record, and no link between the events or the people is drawn here.
Read it yourself
DOW-UAP-D176, “Triangular UAP AARO MFR 2026”, and FBI-UAP-D043, “FD 302 Unidentified Aerial Object Observation Report 2026”, are hosted at war.gov in PURSUE Release 07. The memorandum’s three phases are pages 2 and 3 of its PDF; the FBI statement is pages 1 and 2 of the other, and the nine images pages 3 to 11.
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-D176, “Triangular UAP AARO MFR 2026”, PURSUE Release 07, U.S. Department of War, hosted at war.gov/ufo
- FBI-UAP-D043, “FD 302 Unidentified Aerial Object Observation Report 2026”, PURSUE Release 07, 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 05 Briefing 11, on FBI-UAP-D032 and FBI-UAP-D033, two FD-302 forms of 2026