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The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) of the U.S. Department of Defense issued this case resolution on 14 October 2023 for the "Eglin UAP". On 26 January 2023, a military pilot on the Eglin Air Force Base training range off Florida reported four objects on radar and photographed one object at 16,000 feet. AARO concludes with moderate confidence that the object was very likely a lighter-than-air object such as a commercial lighting balloon. It judges that the radar malfunction was coincidental.
UNCLASSIFIED 1 UNCLASSIFIED All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office U.S. Department of Defense (U) Case: “Eglin UAP” Case Resolution | 14 October 2023 (U) Case Essentials (U) A military pilot reported the object due to its potential as a flight safety hazard and an incursion into a sensitive training range (U) Location: Near Eglin Air Force Base, Florida (U) Date: 26 January 2023 (U) Altitude: 16,000 feet (U) Shape: Rounded, cone (U) Reporter: Military personnel (U) Sensor: Electro-optical, infrared, visual identification, and radar (U) Behavior: No confirmed anomalous behavior (U) Case Status: Resolved; very likely a lighter-than-air object, such as a large commercial lighting balloon (U) Confidence Level: Moderate (U) Case Background (U) On 26 January 2023, a military pilot reported four potential unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) while operating in the Eglin Air Force Base training range off the coast of Florida. Through the onboard radar system, the pilot initially observed that the four objects were aloft between 16,000 – 18,000 feet and appeared to be flying in formation. However the pilot observed only one of the four objects visually and captured two images of the single object via the aircraft’s electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) sensor (see Figures 1A and 1B). The pilot could not record video of the event because the aircraft’s video recording equipment was inoperable prior to and during the aircraft’s flight. The pilot observed this single object aloft at 16,000 feet. The following case information is based on the pilot’s initial report and a subsequent discussion that AARO held with the pilot to seek additional details about the pilot’s observation of the reported object. • (U) The pilot described the object as gray with a paneled surface and orange-red coloring at the center. The initial report did not provide the object’s size and speed, but in the subsequent discussion with AARO, the pilot reported the object was about 12 feet in diameter and that it either moved very slowly or was potentially stationary. • (U) In the initial report, the pilot described the bottom half of the object as being rounded, and the top half as a rounded, three-dimensional cone shape, similar to the shape of the
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Analysis, from the aaro collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 7 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.