UAP Trail Workspace
458 cases · 37 threads
Show
2020 · Eastern United States (working area redacted)

Range Fouler: small reflective object, sensor-tracked (Eastern U.S., 2020)

On the record
Strength C · 6/10 · 1 independent
Evidence 4/4 · Witnesses 1/3 · Backing 1/3

An identified Navy pilot's debrief is paired with released infrared footage, though the video was altered before AARO received it.

Plausibility Moderate
Score 10 · 6 factors for, 0 against

A Navy pilot's debrief on a small reflective object, paired with infrared footage that was altered before AARO received it.

See the factors ↓

Unresolved
When2020 (date redacted)
WhereEastern United States (working area redacted)
Backing1 independent
Evidencesensor data
war.gov video · file page ↗

A Navy pilot (rank O-4) filed a Range Fouler Debrief Form about a small object that kept to a constant direction during an operation over the eastern United States in 2020. The form, DOW-UAP-D089, is the written half of the case. The pilot ticked "Metallic" and "Reflective" and wrote that the shape could not be made out but the bottom was reflective. The other half is DOW-UAP-PR106, a short infrared clip that U.S. Northern Command submitted to AARO. Its official description says the video was digitally altered before AARO received it. Date, position, altitude, speed and squadron are all redacted or blank, and the file offers no identification. 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 also read directly; its typed narrative is partly redacted and partly unreadable in the scan.

Evidence, in date order (1)

  1. 2020U.S. military sensor (released by AARO)sensor data
    11 seconds of infrared video submitted by USNORTHCOM DOW-UAP-PR106

How plausible · Moderate

A Navy pilot's debrief on a small reflective object, paired with infrared footage that was altered before AARO received it.

  • ●●
    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.
  • ●○
    Character record An official report; crew names withheld.
  • ●○
    Fits the documented skeleton Part of the documented Range Fouler and PURSUE record.

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

  • D089 is a Navy "Range Fouler Debrief Form". Crew position: "Pilot", rank "0-4"; name, squadron, side number and Buno are redacted. (DOW-UAP-D089, p.1)
  • "Was the contact moving? Yes" (DOW-UAP-D089, p.1)
  • Checkbox grid: "Metallic" and "Reflective" are marked in the scan. The mirror reads the marks as balloon-shaped and reflective; the scan's checkbox column is hard to read, so the shape box is uncertain. (DOW-UAP-D089, p.1)
  • Narrative, as legible: "...apparent object also captured with [redacted]. Appeared quite small. Speed appeared to be [redacted] and continued in constant direction. Shape indiscernible but the bottom was refilective [sic]." (DOW-UAP-D089, p.1)
  • The form says the squadron "sanitizes all reports of identifying information" and asks crews to rip display tapes "for the entire time of interaction" as .wmv files. (DOW-UAP-D089, p.1)
  • Release page: "Department of the Navy, DUSN (M) DRMD ... Date: 5/19/2026 ... Released in Part", with AARO redactions under FY2024 NDAA § 1843 and E.O. 13526 §1.4(a) and 1.4(e). (DOW-UAP-D089, p.2)

Claims

The object was small, kept a constant direction, and had a reflective underside.firsthandSourced, unconfirmedthe redacted O-4 pilot (anonymous), on the debrief form.
The contact was moving.firsthandSourced, unconfirmedsame pilot.
That the event is an unresolved UAP.analysisSourced, unconfirmedUSNORTHCOM/AARO, by submission and release label.
‹ Previous in Drone incursionsNORTHCOM infrared clip: several small contrasts, one auto-tracked (Eastern U.S., 2020)5 of 21Next in Drone incursions ›Range Fouler: one object overtaken by another, then three on screen (31 August 2020)

Similar cases · sharing people, threads, topics or era

UAPTF-transferred infrared clip, digitally altered before reporting (Eastern U.S., 2015) 2015Navy handheld recordings of infrared screens and lights over the Pacific (2019) 2019Range Fouler: small high-speed object, "rectangular" on review (Eastern U.S., 2019) 2019"Looks like a balloon": a weapons-quality track on a UAP at 31,000 ft (war.gov "Arabian Gulf, 2020") 2020A 40-knot UAP and a pair at 278 knots in one mission report (war.gov "Arabian Gulf, 2020") 2020A Navy helicopter crew sees three unknown small air contacts with no radar, IFF or ES returns (24 August 2020) 2020

Threads · click one to see it on the board

Sources

A research project by Igor FrancePrivacy