Breaking: The Department of War has published its seventh UFO files release today, October 23, 2026, under the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE). The headline item is a pair of reports, one from the FBI and one from the Defense Department, about federal agents who saw a silent, matte-black triangle near a secure US facility. According to Axios, it rose above a ridgeline, hovered, then covered about 1.5 miles in three seconds before vanishing. The release arrives 35 days after the sixth release and is available at WAR.GOV/UFO.
Key takeaways
- The seventh PURSUE release went live October 23, 2026, 35 days after release six.
- An FBI report and a Defense Department report describe a silent black triangle seen by federal agents near a secure facility in 2026.
- The batch also holds a 2010 Skinwalker Ranch report, 1940s to 1960s sighting reports, and NASA and Defense Department memos on space fragments.
- Outlets disagree on the size of the drop: 10 documents (Axios, The National News Desk) or 28 new records and 478 total files (Starlust).
- Officials say the files are labeled unresolved because investigators lacked enough information, not because of any link to extraterrestrial activity.
The best of the release: five highlights
1. The 2026 black triangle. A recent, first-hand observation by federal agents, documented by both the FBI and the Defense Department, with a thermal device in use and no propulsion heat source detected. This is the centerpiece of the drop.
2. Two agencies, one event. The FBI interview report and the Defense Department memorandum for the record describe the same sighting independently, which is rare in the PURSUE archive.
3. Skinwalker Ranch goes official. A declassified April 2010 investigation report on the Utah property, with witness claims and a hair sample that DNA testing traced to a raccoon.
4. Project Capella and the AAWSAP paper trail. Contractor documents from the Defense Intelligence Agency program, including a proposed secure underground vault, shed light on how the post-2008 UAP research effort was organized.
5. Cold War handling of “space fragments.” 1960s memos show NASA and the Defense Department planned how to collect and publicly discuss suspected fragments of space vehicles.
The black triangle: what the reports say
The two documents are the FBI report (FBI-UAP-D043) and the Defense Department report (DOW-UAP-D176). According to Axios, the observers were federal agents, two of them with extensive operational experience and familiarity with drones. One carried a thermal monocular and still could not detect discrete heat sources associated with propulsion. The agents described a triangle with a wingspan of about 15 feet that rose vertically as much as 300 feet above a mountain ridgeline without tilting or swaying, hovered for about 20 seconds, then flew horizontally for about 1.5 miles in three seconds, silently, before disappearing. At that distance and time the speed works out to roughly 1,800 miles per hour, a figure also reported by TRT World.
The month, day and location are redacted, but the incident is from 2026, which makes it far more recent than most of the archive. The memorandum for record explains the count: AARO interviewed two federal special agents and also recorded a corroborating account from a third official at a separate observation post, which is why some outlets say two agents and others three. War.gov lists the incident as June 2026 in the western United States. Axios and Starlust differ on size and altitude, so check the primary documents: the memorandum gives a wingspan of about 13 to 15 feet and a climb of 200 to 300 feet. Axios also reports that the Defense Department classifies the event as a UAP report and says the US lacks the technology to build such a craft, a claim attributed to that outlet. The documents themselves draw no conclusion about what the object was.
The released rendition of the black triangle
The FBI report includes a series of images that place a black triangle over the ridgeline described by the agents. It is a rendition of the reported object and its movement, not a photograph or sensor image, and it is the only visual of the object in the release. Four frames from the sequence are shown below; the full set is in the original FBI PDF.
The evidence: read the original documents
These are the primary documents, embedded straight from war.gov. Scroll inside each viewer, or open the original PDF. Dates and locations are redacted by the Department of War.
Everything else in the seventh release
Skinwalker Ranch. A declassified April 2010 report on the Utah property describes witness accounts of balls of light, two-legged “dog-like” creatures and other phenomena. Axios notes that the authors present no final conclusions or hard evidence and that DNA from a clump of hair taken from a suspected “Skinwalker” came from a raccoon.
Historical cases. The batch includes a 1954 report on a 1953 Swedish airliner crew sighting, a 1957 report from a B-52 pilot over Saudi Arabia, and 1949 and 1952 Catalina Island reports, according to Axios. Records from the 1940s found in the National Archives are also included.
NASA and Defense Department memos. A 1963 interagency memo and 1962 to 1964 correspondence cover how NASA and the Defense Department would handle and publicly discuss “fragments or suspected fragments of space vehicles,” as reported by Axios.
Project Capella and the AAWSAP record. Leonard David highlights the Project Capella report (DOW-UAP-D167), a December 2008 report prepared for Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies by Documatica Research. The Department of War describes it as a record of the Defense Intelligence Agency-administered Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program, active from 2008 to 2012. Leonard David also reports that BAASS progress reports in the batch discuss a proposed 5,000-square-foot underground vault, with 3-foot-thick walls, to hold recovered hardware and biological samples, including from Brazil. These are proposals in contractor documents, not confirmation that any such materials were obtained.
How big is this drop
Sources disagree. Axios and The National News Desk via WZTV report 10 files, while Starlust reports 28 new records, bringing the archive to 478 files across seven releases. The difference may come from how documents, images and supporting media are counted; the official count on WAR.GOV/UFO is the one to rely on. Parnell’s statement, republished by Mirage News, says the department is already working on the next release and will publish more files “on a rolling basis.” See our what PURSUE has revealed so far for the earlier releases.
Why this release matters
PURSUE began publishing on May 8 and has released on May 22, June 12, July 10, August 7, September 18 and now October 23, according to Unknown Country. Most releases have been historical. A 2026 observation by federal agents, with a thermal device in hand, brings the question into the present, and the gap between release six and seven shows how irregular the schedule remains. Official explanations should be tested against the documents, and so far the documents offer observations, not answers.
As always, an unresolved label means investigators lacked enough information to identify the object, according to The National News Desk via WZTV. It is not a finding about origin. We will update this report as researchers dig through the files.
What is in the seventh PURSUE UFO files release?
An FBI report and a Defense Department report on a silent black triangle, a 2010 Skinwalker Ranch report, historical sighting reports, NASA and Defense Department space fragment memos, and Project Capella material tied to the AAWSAP program.
What did the federal agents report seeing?
According to Axios, a matte black triangle with a wingspan of about 15 feet that hovered, then moved about 1.5 miles in three seconds without sound. Thermal equipment detected no propulsion heat source.
How many files are in the seventh release?
Reports differ. Axios and The National News Desk say 10 documents. Starlust says 28 new records and 478 total files.
When will the next UFO files release happen?
No date has been announced. The Department of War says it is working on the next release and will publish files on a rolling basis.
Sources for this article
Department of War statement (October 23, 2026), republished by Mirage News; WAR.GOV/UFO release 07; Axios (Marc Caputo, October 23, 2026); The National News Desk via WZTV; TRT World; Unknown Country; Leonard David; Starlust.
