2026 · A withheld national-security site in the western United States

Federal agents' black triangle at a national-security site (2026)

On the record

Strength B · 8/10 · 3 independent

Evidence 3/4 · Witnesses 3/3 · Backing 2/3

Two independent official records (FBI FD-302 and AARO memo) of firsthand observation by trained federal agents, with a thermal detection from a second post; names and site withheld.

Plausibility Very high

Score 19 · 11 factors for, 0 against

Trained federal agents, a thermal cue from a second post and two agencies' records agree on a silent, seamless triangle with no propulsion signature; no prosaic explanation is offered in either record.

See the factors ↓

Unresolved

From the FBI FD-302 report (PURSUE Release 07): the ridge west of the observation post at dusk, with the black triangle drawn in where the agents saw it. A reconstruction made for the report, not a photograph of the object. · FBI, PURSUE Release 07

Federal agents and a thermal camera caught a silent, seamless black triangle hover and leave at fighter speed.
FBI and AARO recorded it separately; neither offers an explanation.
AARO links it to other western-US incidents.

WhenJune 2026 (exact date withheld; war.gov says the event ran over two days)

WhereA withheld national-security site in the western United States

Backing3 independent

Evidenceofficial records, sensor data

In June 2026 federal agents on observation posts at a withheld national-security site in the western United States saw a silent, lightless, matte-black triangle about 13 to 15 ft across rise over a ridge, hover about 20 seconds, then leave at fighter-jet speed "without observable acceleration ramp" and drop into a canyon. A second post's long-range thermal camera cued them, and one agent tracked it on a thermal monocular until it outran the field of view. Its heat signature was uniform, with no exhaust or hot spots, and a ground search next morning found nothing. The FBI (FD-302) and AARO (Memorandum for Record) both recorded it without a conclusion; the war.gov page adds that it ran over two days and that AARO thinks it warrants further investigation.

Evidence, in date order (3)

2026AAROofficial
Memorandum for Record of three sources and a corroborating witness
2026FBIofficial
FD-302 interview with path reconstruction photographs
2026Observation Post 6 long-range thermalsensor data
detection of a thermally elevated aerial object at bearing 251

How plausible · Very high

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Access Agents on observation posts at the site, one on thermal.
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No gain sought Nothing sold; official reports.
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Consistent over time FBI and AARO agree on shape, size, silence and flight; only the time stamp and the hover differ.
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Restraint No conclusion drawn; plain descriptions, footer "neither recommendations nor conclusions".
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Character record Federal agents, two with extensive UAS experience.
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Independent convergence Three sources, a corroborating witness and a thermal detection from a second post.

Plausibility weighs how well an account fits where secrecy hides the documents by design, so missing records never count against it. Strength measures what is documented. Assessed 2026-10-24.

On the record

FBI-UAP-D043: FD-302 of the agents' account, with nine dusk photographs of the ridge on which a black triangle silhouette is placed along its path (pp.3-11). This is the "Pentagon rendering" shown on TV.An elk hunter watches a silent black triangle weave between peaks and climb straight up (Wind River Range, Wyoming, 2003)
DOW-UAP-D176: AARO memo naming SOURCE 1-3 plus one corroborating witness; sources 1 and 2 have "extensive operational experience" with UAS.
Shape: "most resembling a delta wing drone" (FBI), but seamless, featureless, with no intakes, control surfaces or windows.
No sound, no lights, no exhaust, no EMI, no physiological effects; uniform above-ambient thermal signature.
The FBI gives 1923 and AARO 2023 local time (perhaps a time-zone convention; not stated). Only AARO describes the hover.
Neither document gives a conclusion.

Claims

At late dusk a long-range thermal camera on a second observation post detected a "thermally elevated aerial object" at bearing 251, and two federal agents then saw it, one through a handheld thermal monocular.PURSUE Release 07 (war.gov, 23 October 2026)anonymousOn the recordFBI special agents (names withheld)

The object was a "substantial, nonreflective, dark black triangular object", 9 to 15 ft across (13 to 15 ft per AARO), 1 to 2 ft thick, with a "continuous (seamless), featureless surface" and no intakes, control surfaces or windows.PURSUE Release 07 (war.gov, 23 October 2026)anonymousOn the recordSOURCE 1-3 and a corroborating witness, per AARO and FBI

It rose vertically over a ridge about 3.2 mi away, "instantaneously arrested all vertical motion and entered a stable hover" for about 20 s, then went to high-speed flight "without observable acceleration ramp", "as fast as a fighter jet", and dropped into a canyon.PURSUE Release 07 (war.gov, 23 October 2026)anonymousOn the recordsources as recorded by AARO (hover only in AARO) and FBI

It made no sound (the witnesses note even a Group 1 drone would be audible at 1.4 mi), showed no lights, and had a uniform above-ambient thermal signature "without localized thermal concentrations, exhaust gradients, or discrete heat sources associated with propulsion".PURSUE Release 07 (war.gov, 23 October 2026)anonymousOn the recordsources as recorded by AARO

A ground survey of the canyon the next morning found no wreckage, scarring or vegetation damage.PURSUE Release 07 (war.gov, 23 October 2026)anonymousOn the recordFBI FD-302

AARO considers the event to "warrant further investigation" because it aligns with "other reported incidents in the western United States region".PURSUE Release 07 (war.gov, 23 October 2026)analysisOn the recordwar.gov Release 07 page text (not in the memo)

In The picture

On the recordThe firmest layer is the one trained observers and instruments wrote down. Belgian gendarmes watched silent lit triangles in 1989-90 and ground radars tracked the wave; the Air Force sent F-16s and released its own data, though a radar study it released in 2025 puts the fighters' lock-ons down to their tracking softw…