The sighting

The Pentagon published a new batch of UAP records on Friday, 23 October, and two of the documents describe a black, triangular object that vanished over a sensitive site in the western United States. The sighting took place in early 2026, but the reports redact the month and day. The Guardian describes the two observers as senior military personnel whose anonymous report went to the defense department. Axios calls them federal agents, two of them with extensive operational experience and familiarity with drones, while Spider's Web counts three federal agents and points to FBI reports. The batch of 10 documents is the seventh tranche released under Trump's order to disclose UAP records, according to Axios.

Witness accounts

According to the observers, the object resembled a delta-wing drone with a wingspan between 9 and 15 feet (2.75 to 4.5 metres), the Guardian reports. Spider's Web cites one description giving a length of 2.7 metres and a wingspan of about 4.6 metres. The speed figures differ only in units: the Guardian gives 1,800 mph, while Digi24 and Spider's Web put it at about 2,900 km/h. Axios says the object rose vertically to as much as 300 feet above a mountain ridgeline without tilting, hovered for about 20 seconds, then flew horizontally about 1.5 miles in three seconds without a sound before vanishing. The Guardian adds that it left no exhaust trail. One agent carried a thermal monocular, yet according to Spider's Web he detected no clear heat sources linked to an engine, and no lights on the object were seen.

Doubts over the evidence

Unlike many earlier UAP accounts, which came with photographs or video, the black triangles report contains nine identical images of the same unidentified canyon, with small triangular silhouettes added to show the object's path, the Guardian says. Greg Eghigian, a Penn State history and bioethics professor, judged the material in these words:

“This does indeed look like little more than a black triangle shape superimposed on a landscape background to illustrate the report.”

The Guardian also notes that many details in the Pentagon's releases remain vague, inconclusive or blacked out, a pattern seen across the hundreds of reports published since May.

Skinwalker Ranch report

One document in the 23 October batch has nothing to do with a flying object. It is a declassified 2010 report on a Utah property known as Skinwalker Ranch, named after shapeshifting witches in Navajo culture. Spider's Web says the report covers incidents in March and April 2010, when residents, police officers, ranchers and tribal community members reported what they called anomalous events. Axios lists the witness claims, including unidentified balls of light at close range, daytime sightings of dog-like creatures running on two legs, and a maggot about 8 feet long. The authors offered no final conclusions or hard evidence such as photographs. DNA tests on a clump of hair from a suspected Skinwalker came back as raccoon.

Release in context

The Pentagon's releases have grown thinner since an early flurry, the Guardian reports, after the president declared in February that he was ordering full disclosure about government knowledge of UFOs. Some documents in the National Archives date from the 1940s, Axios says. Spider's Web notes that the new batch also includes material on the 1947 Roswell incident.