Western US Event — "Orbs Launching Orbs"
This four-page slide summary, released by the U.S. Department of War as part of an AARO (All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office) UAP data release, documents statements by seven federal government employees (USPER1–USPER7) who independently observed unidentified anomalous phenomena in the western United States over two days in 2023. The report groups the observations into four categories. In "Orbs Launching Orbs," three two-agent teams described orange orbs appearing at dusk and emitting groups of two to four smaller red orbs at least five times. In "Large, Fiery Orb," two agents saw a glowing orange orb near a rock pinnacle, likened to the "Eye of Sauron"; AARO later assessed it to be ~1050 meters away and 12–18 meters in diameter. In "Dark Kite," agents pursued an object first mistaken for a car that moved laterally with "zero resistance," appearing as a thin line under night vision. In "Transparent Kite," agents observed a kite-shaped object roughly 30 minutes later that appeared partly transparent, with a spotlight beam seemingly blocked at a point. According to the releasing agency, although no technical data is directly associated with the report, the witnesses' credibility, shared features with other AARO cases, and the potentially anomalous nature of the events make it among the most compelling in AARO's current holdings.
Description
A U.S. Department of War / AARO event-summary slide deck compiling statements from seven federal law enforcement special agents who separately reported multiple unidentified anomalous phenomena in the western United States over two days in 2023, spanning four distinct experience categories.
Claims
Three teams of federal law enforcement agents independently saw orange orbs emit groups of two to four red orbs at least five times over two days.
60%A glowing orange orb was observed near a rock pinnacle; AARO later assessed it was ~1050 meters away and 12–18 meters in diameter.
55%An object initially mistaken for a car moved laterally with 'zero resistance' and appeared as a thin line under night vision goggles.
55%A kite-shaped object appeared transparent, with stars faintly visible through it and a spotlight beam apparently blocked at a point ~50 yards away.
50%The releasing agency assesses this report to be among the most compelling within AARO's current holdings.
70%
Events
Dec 31, 2022
Orbs Launching Orbs sightings
Three teams of agents observed orange orbs at dusk emitting groups of red orbs at least five times over two days.
Dec 31, 2022
Large, Fiery Orb sighting
Two agents observed a glowing orange orb near a rock pinnacle at dusk; AARO later assessed ~1050m range, 12–18m diameter.
Dec 31, 2022
Dark Kite sighting
Agents pursued an object first mistaken for a car that moved laterally with zero resistance in pre-dawn hours.
Dec 31, 2022
Transparent Kite sighting
About 30 minutes after the Dark Kite event, agents observed a partly transparent kite-shaped object floating with the wind.
May 7, 2026
Public release of event slides
Department of War released the summary slides as part of a UAP data release.
Dates mentioned
Keywords
Entities
Organizations
Places
Events
Extracted text (OCR)
“Orbs Launching Orbs” • • Location: Western U.S. Time of Day: Dusk (on two separate days) • Three teams of two federal law enforcement special agents each (USPER1 through USPER6) independently describe seeing orange “orbs” in the sky emit/launch smaller red “orbs” in groups of two to four, with three being the general consensus. This is stated to have occurred at least five times. Each time, the orange orb would appear, launch red orbs, then disappear. The orange orb was only visible for one or two seconds. The red orbs would generally move away from the orange “mother” orb in a horizontal path, but in a couple of instances, one red orb was stated to move “heading up at an angle,” while another witness stated sometimes the red orbs would “swoop down” after being launched from the larger orange orb. These events were witnessed by multiple teams from varying locations and vantage points over a two-day period. Due to the sequential nature of the events, it is not known whether there was a single orange “mother” orb that released the groups of red orbs or whether there were multiple orange orbs at play. “Large, Fiery Orb” • • Location: Western U.S. Time of Day: Dusk • Two federal law enforcement special agents (USPER5 and USPER6) witness a glowing orange orb at a distance of “approximately 500-600 meters,”* where it was perched close to a rock pinnacle. Size was difficult to determine, but it appeared to be similar in size to a “small helicopter cockpit.”** Witnesses were unable to clearly see any structure other than the glowing orb, though USPER6 noted that the object “did almost appear it might have had a small spindle or something connecting it from underneath to the rock formation.” Witnesses stated that the object did not emit any noticeable sound. The object was described as being “similar to the Eye or [sic] Sauron from Lord of the Rings, except without the pupil, or maybe an orange Storm Electrify bowling ball.” USPER6 stated the object “seemed to be hovering with zero resistance or movement, or to be suspended…” The sighting lasted “about a minute.” • Artist Rendering * Measurements later gathered by AARO assess the object to have been ~1050 meters away from the observers. ** Measurements later gathered by AARO assess the object to have been between 12-18 meters in diameter. “Dark Kite” Red light White light • • Location: Western U.S. Time of Day: Pre-dawn hours • Two federal law enforcement special agents (USPER5 and USPER6) observed what is initially thought to be a car traveling along a road in a restricted zone. The “car” had two lights (one red and one white) that are about 2 to 3 feet off the ground. Agents pursued the “car” and as they got to within a few hundred feet of it, the object suddenly moved off the road over the desert without changing its orientation with respect to the observers, i.e., it appeared to move laterally, at an estimated speed of 15-20mph. The object didn’t change height and appeared to move with “zero resistance.” The object stopped about 100 meters off the side of the road and turned off its lights. USPER6 described the object as a “thin line,” from the back whereas the other agent (USPER5) stated that “it almost looked like an ill defined, dark kite shape that had some rounded width to the sides.”* • USPER6 used night vision goggles (NVGs) to view the object once it had stopped off the road. The agent stated that they observed the object for “a split second in the NVGs before the light turned off” and that once the lights were off, a “very thin line” remained. The object was estimated to be about 4 feet wide and positioned horizontally to the ground (see Image 1). The object then began moving at about the speed of 15-20mph and appeared to “move up in height…, but [remain] a flat line.” The agent lost sight of the object after a few seconds. Image 1: Recreation of drawing provided by USPER6 of object seen in night vision goggles. * In later discussions with AARO, the object is described as being triangular. “Transparent Kite” • • Location: Western U.S. Time of Day: Pre-dawn hours • About 30 minutes after the “Dark Kite” sighting, federal law enforcement special agents (USPER5 and USPER6) returned to the same general area with another colleague (USPER7) in response to a report of another unauthorized object in the area. Within a few hundred meters of the “Dark Kite” sighting, two of the team members (USPER5 and USPER6) observed a kite-shaped object with a lighting pattern similar to the object seen previously. This object is about 6 meters off the ground, is canted at an angle from lower right to upper left (see Image 2), and appeared to be floating slowly with the wind. USPER5 was using NVGs when viewing the object and USPER6 used the bare eye. USPER7 did not see the object. USPER5 stated that in the night vision goggles, they could “vaguely see a bright star or two in the distance through the object, though somewhat more faint,” leading them to believe the object was somewhat transparent. After losing sight of the object, USPER5 tried using a spotlight to find it again. The witness noted that when shining the light around, “at one point my beam went from shining far into the distance to stopping about 50 yards away on nothing in particular, it just was not projecting into the distance and then it was.” When the witness pointed the light at the spot where the light had appeared to be blocked by something, this time the light was “projecting into the distance again.” The team was unable to reacquire sight of the object. Note: Outline was not definitive, but location of lights stayed in exact formation. Image 2: Recreation of drawing provided by USPER6 of object seen with the bare eye.
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