Case Resolution: Western United States UAP

UNCLASSIFIED

All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office
U.S. Department of Defense

(U) Case: “Western United States”
Case Resolution | 8 May 2023

(U) Case Overview
(U) AARO assesses that the UAP in this case were
almost certainly commercial aircraft travelling on
well-established air corridors as far as 300
nautical miles from the platform, based on a
thorough review of the data by multiple
analytical and scientific entities.
 (U) Military personnel reported seeing five
equidistant lights that they believed
represented a potential incursion into
restricted military airspace.

(U) Case Essentials
(U) Military personnel reported this case
due to the observed UAP presenting a
potential incursion into restricted
airspace. The UAP were described as
equidistant lights that flew at a relatively
constant pace
(U) Location: Western United States
military airspace
(U) Date(s): 2021

 (U) AARO’s Intelligence and Science and
Technology (S&T) partners independently
came to the same conclusion in accordance
with AARO’s analytic framework.

(U) Altitude: Between 20,000 to 40,000
feet

 (U) The objects strongly correlated with
specific commercial aircraft travelling on
different air routes up to 300 nautical miles
from the sensor.

(U) Reporter: Military personnel

(U) Intelligence Assessment

(U) Case Status: Resolved; the lights
were aircraft up to 300NM away from
the sensor

(U) Shape: Oblong dots/lights

(U) Sensor: Infrared (IR)
(U) Behavior: Equidistant lights that
flew at a relatively constant pace

(U) Analysis of the objects’ positions and
acquisition of additional data led AARO to the
conclusion that the objects were significantly
farther from the platform than originally estimated by the observers.

 (U) Apparent changes in the UAP shapes were the result of sensor vibration and autofocus.
 (U) Analysis of air-traffic control data suggested the objects were likely commercial aircraft
transiting known flight corridors between major airports in the region.

1
UNCLASSIFIED

UNCLASSIFIED

(U) Science & Technology Assessment
(U) AARO’s S&T partners independently came to the same conclusion.
(U) AARO’s S&T partners used boresight analysis to determine that the UAP were commercial
aircraft at an altitude of between 20,000 to 40,000 feet at a similar distance.

(U) Figure 1: Western U.S. UAP shape distortion due to sensor vibration

2
UNCLASSIFIED