The Department of War released its sixth batch of declassified Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena records Friday, including 1952 film of bright objects over Utah that some viewers say looks like a drone swarm — decades before drones existed.
The files were posted to the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters, or PURSUE, the rolling archive launched after President Donald Trump ordered the government to unseal UFO and UAP material, according to The National News Desk.
The centerpiece is digitized 16mm footage shot July 2, 1952, near Tremonton, Utah, by Navy Chief Warrant Officer Delbert C. Newhouse.
Newhouse, a trained aerial photographer traveling with his family, reported a group of bright airborne objects and later turned the film over to the Air Force.
Project Blue Book reviewed the case. Officials said limited detail and the lack of fixed reference points kept investigators from a firm conclusion.
RedWave Press circulated the drop on X:
REPORT: The Department of War just dropped a new batch of never-before-released UFO files, including: what looks like a drone swarm over Utah in 1952, multiple orbs hovering over a sensitive Colorado military site three years ago, and six objects flying in formation over the… pic.twitter.com/bU5k6c1XFk
— RedWave Press (@RedWavePress) September 18, 2026
The same release included two cellphone videos from a Colorado law-enforcement officer in October 2023 and files tied to later orb reports.
Earlier PURSUE drops already featured federal agents describing glowing “mother orbs” releasing smaller objects near a sensitive site.
Is this just birds and balloons? That was one explanation floated at the time. Blue Book files released Friday show investigators asked whether “pillow balloons” could account for the Tremonton objects.
Reviewers said the lights resembled balloons in some ways. One company representative was less sure, saying the objects looked too bright and moved too fast.
A later official line pointed to seagulls reflecting sunlight. The Navy’s photo lab had spent about 1,000 hours on the film and said the objects did not match aircraft, birds, or balloons and appeared self-luminous.
The case remains listed as unresolved.
Also in the tranche is a March 1952 presentation by Capt. Edward J. Ruppelt, then heading the Air Force UFO effort that became Project Blue Book.
Ruppelt said roughly 20 percent of about 800 reviewed cases stayed unexplained after analysis. Those reports, he said, often came from military personnel, commercial pilots, and other trained observers.
He noted clusters near nuclear and national-security sites and radar tracks suggesting speeds of 1,000 to 3,500 miles per hour. He did not claim to know what the objects were.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the department is “in lockstep with President Trump to bring unprecedented transparency” and that files “hidden behind classifications have long fueled justified speculation.”
Trump, in a Truth Social post archived with the project, directed agencies to identify and release government files on “alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs).”
The first PURSUE tranche went public May 8. Friday’s drop is the sixth.
The 1952 film is not new to UFO researchers. What is new is the official, searchable posting alongside Blue Book paperwork, Ruppelt’s remarks, and recent law-enforcement clips in one government portal.
Viewers can watch the Utah objects themselves and decide whether they look like birds, balloons, or something that still has no name.
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