Range Fouler: maroon "deformed balloon" off the Atlantic coast (2020)
A Navy weapons systems officer (rank O-3) filed a Range Fouler Debrief about a dark, maroonish object about 12-15 ft tall seen at dusk over the Atlantic in 2020. In the WSO's words it "appeared as a large, somewhat deformed balloon". The crew then returned to the ship and landed without incident. U.S. Northern Command submitted 32 seconds of infrared video to AARO, released as DOW-UAP-PR116. Per its official description, the debrief says the object travelled with the wind and did not maneuver. Of the four incidents in this batch, this one comes closest to a stated prosaic reading, but the file stops short of saying it was a balloon. Method note: war.gov blocks this server. File descriptions were read from the ufotransparency.com mirror, which reproduces or summarises the Department of War's official description; video and audio were not viewed or played. Quotation marks below are used only for wording the mirror presents as the release's own text. The two-page PDF was read directly; part of the narrative is redacted and the OCR is partial, so some wording below comes from the official video description rather than the form.
Evidence, in date order (1)
- 2020U.S. military sensor (released by AARO)sensor data32 seconds of infrared video submitted by USNORTHCOM DOW-UAP-PR116
How plausible · High
A Navy WSO's debrief describes a maroon, balloon-like object drifting with the wind, paired with released infrared footage.
- ●●Access The ISR crew tracked it on their own sensor.
- ●●No gain sought An official reporting form.
- ●●Checkable details check out Released in PURSUE.
- ●●Physical traces or official reaction Sensor track with video confirmed.
- ●○Restraint Describes motion and signature, no explanation.
- ●○Character record An official report; crew names withheld.
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 2026-10-23.
On the record
- Crew position "wso", rank "0-3"; detection at "Dusk"; "Was the contact moving? Yes". (DOW-UAP-D091, p.1)
- Checkbox grid: several boxes are marked in the scan (round, square, balloon-shaped, other shape, metallic, opaque, reflective are marked per the OCR). The scan cannot be read with confidence. (DOW-UAP-D091, p.1)
- Narrative fragments: "we were operating in the [redacted] airspace, when [redacted]" ... "[t]he object itself was a darker, maroonish color, approximately 12-15ft in height. Structurally, it appeared as a large, somewhat deformed balloon, but we proceeded back to the ship, landing uneventfully." (DOW-UAP-D091, p.2)
- PR116, per the official description: USNORTHCOM submitted 32 seconds of infrared footage recorded in 2020. From 00:01 to 00:32 the sensor zooms and pans to keep an area of contrast generally centred. The description summarises D091 as an object that travelled with the wind and did not maneuver or change direction. (DOW-UAP-PR116, official description)
- The Department of War states the video description is informational only and not an analytical judgment. (DOW-UAP-PR116, official description)
Claims
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Sources
- war.gov UFO/UAP records portal (PURSUE releases; not reachable from this server)
- Mirror file list, war.gov Release 04 (10 July 2026)
- DOW-UAP-D091 (war.gov), mirror page with official description
- DOW-UAP-D091 original file, via mirror
- DOW-UAP-D091 war.gov thumbnail path (as recorded by the mirror)
- DOW-UAP-PR116 (war.gov), mirror page with official description