Documents / Official release
This unclassified briefing from the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office was given by Deputy Director Tim Phillips to the Defense Space, Geospatial and Intelligence Leadership Conference and was released on 2/6/2025. It defines UAP and notes that most reports lack enough data, while most that can be assessed resolve to mundane objects. It says a 2018 Mt. Etna object was likely a balloon. It also describes controlled tests at Camp Grafton, North Dakota, a Space UAP Tiger Team, and Starlink flaring as a cause of reported orbs.
ALL-DOMAIN ANOMALY RESOLUTION OFFICE (AARO) UNCLASSIFIED MT. ETNA OBJECT 5 ▪ Event: In 2018, a US UAS platform captured video of an unidentified object while observing an eruption of Mt. Etna in Italy. The object appeared to pass through the volcano's plume without any impact on its performance, altitude, or trajectory. ▪ Findings: AARO, in coordination with IC and S&T partners, assesses with moderate confidence that the object was a balloon drifting with the wind approximately 170 kilometers from the volcano. ▪ Analytic Factors: AARO’s IC partner employed full-motion video analysis software, 3D modeling, and pixel examination to assess the object’s performance characteristics. AARO also applied novel speed and distance calculation techniques to determine the object’s location. ▪ AARO estimated the distance between the UAP and the UAS using weather analysis of the cloud deck and wind speeds. ▪ AARO found that the object's flight path did not intersect with the ash plume by analyzing pixel luminosity against its surroundings. UNCLASSIFIED (U) Video of the Mt Etna Object video that can be found on www.aaro.mil. (UNCLASSIFIED) (UNCLASSIFIED) Page determined to be Unclassified Reviewed by Chief of Staff, AARO IAW FY24 NDAA, Section 1841(a)(1)(C) Date: 2/6/2025026
Official release, from the nara collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 12 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.