Strange triangular craft reported in new U.S. government UFO release

October 23, 2026

2 min read

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The latest batch of declassified files includes eyewitness sightings from earlier this year of a flying black triangle performing inexplicable aerial maneuvers

By Adam Kovac edited by Lee Billings

The Pentagon released yet more documents related to Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs) on Friday.

It’s the seventh tranche of records released since May, though unlike previous releases, there are no videos or images included. Instead, the latest trove is an assortment of memos and reports of encounters with possible UAPs.

The most in-depth account is a report from this year from an undisclosed location, in which multiple federal law enforcement agents witnessed a UAP “presenting as a matte black triangular shape of extremely low aspect ratio.”

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The object reportedly had a 13-to-15 foot wingspan, measured about six to nine feet in length and had a thickness of one to two feet. According to the agents, the craft was steady as it climbed about 200 or 300 feet into the air above a ridgeline over the course of 10 seconds. At that point, it hovered for another 20 seconds before flying out of sight at fighter-jet-like speeds into a nearby canyon, hugging the low-lying terrain and executing fluid turns.

The craft didn’t make any of the sounds associated with a fighter jet, however, like roaring engines or whooshing through the air, nor did it display any apparent exhaust plumes or other emissions expected from powered flight. However, it did show up on an agent’s handheld infrared monocular, with a uniform signature across the entire body. Optical views through binoculars revealed “no propulsive apertures, rotating elements, rivets, panels, windows, canopy, cabin structures, and no protrusions or structural features” on the UAP.

Previous releases have been greeted with skepticism by researchers, who said much of what’s been included has been previously seen or has had context omitted. But Harvard professor Avi Loeb, who heads the U.S. government’s UAP Science Advisory Council, said in a blog post the agents’ story raises questions that could be vital to national defense.

“The fundamental question is whether the triangular object was manufactured in a black project of an adversarial nation or an extraterrestrial project with off-world technology,” he wrote, adding that his current goal for the advisory council is to deploy new sensors in the areas where the UAPs were observed.

“As we get higher quality data, we will be able to identify the nature of these mysterious objects,” he wrote. “In collecting better clues, we will either help the Pentagon and the Intelligence Community fulfil their mission of protecting the U.S. from adversaries or discover technology of non-human origin. Investing in the related research is a win-win proposition.”

Also released were several other witness accounts, including a 1957 Air Force report on an incident involving a B-52 bomber making radar contact with a UAP for five to seven minutes over Saudi Arabia, and a 1955 report in which a civilian in California recounted seeing a “very bright and orange” object falling straight down.

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