For anyone who has ever wondered what's really in the U.S. government's UFO files, there's a new batch to explore. The Pentagon released 41 documents, photos and videos on Friday, Aug. 7, tied to unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAPs.
The newly declassified files include reports of unexplained sightings from Montana, Utah and Colorado, as well as Brazil, Sweden, Afghanistan, the Pacific Ocean and the Middle East, offering a glimpse into incidents reported across the globe.
Posted to the Pentagon's UFO website, the records come from the Pentagon, FBI, CIA, State Department and Executive Office of the President. The files span more than seven decades, with the oldest report from 1950 and the newest from 2026, marking the fifth public release
of UFO-related records this year.
The latest release follows an executive order from President Donald Trump directing that UFO records be made public, fueling renewed interest from researchers, skeptics and believers eager to see what the files reveal from more than half a century of unexplained sightings.
What's in the new UFO release?
The latest batch includes a mix of documents, photographs and videos connected to reports of unidentified anomalous phenomena. The materials originate from multiple federal agencies and cover incidents stretching from the Cold War era to the present day.
While UFO enthusiasts are already combing through the files for new clues, the release is also drawing attention because of the range of locations represented in the records, from the American West to overseas reports in Europe, South America and the Middle East.
Why are the files being released?
The latest document dump is part of an ongoing government effort to make UFO records public. The latest release is the fifth since Trump ordered agencies to disclose UFO-related materials earlier this year.
The government now generally uses the term "unidentified anomalous phenomena" instead of UFOs to describe objects or events observed in the sky that cannot be immediately identified.
How to view the files
The newly released declassified documents, photos and videos are available through the Pentagon's public UFO archive, where the records can be searched and reviewed by the public.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Pentagon drops 41 new UFO files and videos. See for yourself
