Pentagon's PURSUE Initiative Prepares "Release 02" of Up to 46 AARO UAP Videos

On May 21, 2026, The Debrief reported that a second tranche of Pentagon UAP videos — potentially including up to 46 files — was imminent under the PURSUE (Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters) initiative administered by the Department of War. The PURSUE page launched on May 8, 2026, with an initial release ("Release 01"), and by May 21 the site's navigation had dropped the "01" designation, suggesting preparation for "Release 02" was underway. Some visitors also reported briefly seeing up to 140 blank file placeholders on the site during the day.

The videos were formally requested in a letter dated March 31, 2026, from Representative Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. Luna cited whistleblower testimony from a September 29, 2025, UAP transparency hearing as the source of the Task Force's awareness of the additional footage. Her letter requested release "as soon as possible but no later than April 14, 2026," and stated: "The continued lack of transparency surrounding these anomalies and the potential national security threat they pose is troubling."

On May 15, 2026, Luna posted on X that she and Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) had completed a review of "40+ videos set for declassification" alongside current AARO director Jon Kosloski, writing that Kosloski "has proven through action that he is working in good faith on declass efforts." The review indicated the videos were moving through the declassification process with active cooperation between congressional oversight figures and AARO leadership.

Among the specific videos described in Luna's March letter and in pre-release imagery circulating prior to authorization: a formation of four objects over Iran on August 26, 2022; a 2021 Syria video showing apparent "instant acceleration"; spherical objects over Afghanistan on November 23, 2020; a spherical UAP observed "pulsing" over water; a series of three videos from April 12, 2021; a cigar- or fat-sphere-shaped object from October 15, 2022; a U.S. Coast Guard HC-144 Ocean Sentry FLIR recording of a Tic Tac-shaped object; and a trio of "fast-moving UAPs" from October 29, 2020. At least two videos pertain to "transmedium" or USO events, including one showing spherical objects near a U.S. submarine on March 25, 2022, observed both in and out of water, and another designated "UAP USO formation Wiley 2X Zinc."

Two videos in the batch relate to previously documented incidents: one designated "IIR 1 665 SO301 23/Eglin AFB" connects to the January 26, 2023, diamond-formation sighting over the Gulf of Mexico, for which AARO previously issued a case resolution attributing the object to a lighting balloon with only "moderate confidence." The second relates to the February 12, 2023, Lake Huron incident in which an F-16C pilot (callsign AESIR11) filmed an object subsequently shot down with an AIM-9X Sidewinder missile — an event former AARO director Sean Kirkpatrick, speaking at the Center for Naval Analyses on April 27, 2026, attributed to a hobbyist balloon. Both cases remain subjects of ongoing scrutiny among researchers and oversight officials.