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UAPRAD BRIEFING

Just the facts, plain and simple — no dramatization or speculation.

This page records recent public statements, official releases and significant developments. “Unresolved” describes the current state of the available information; it is not a conclusion about origin.

Published:

Briefing summary

This briefing examines recent institutional and policy developments in the United Kingdom and United States. They include Clive Lewis MP’s discussion of UK UAP policy and Five Eyes cooperation, Scottish Government correspondence on administrative responsibility for UAP enquiries, and Daryl Johnson’s account of reported drone and UAP flyovers at commercial nuclear facilities.

The Sol Foundation has also outlined a prospective study of public responses to UAP disclosure and published a policy paper on the implications of a hypothetical competition to exploit non-human technology. Taken together, these materials extend the public record on government handling, attribution, research and policy. They do not provide new publicly testable evidence establishing the origin of unresolved UAP.

Clive Lewis MP and the Sol Foundation — UK UAP Policy and Five Eyes Questions (28 Aug 2026)

  • Labour MP Clive Lewis, who represents Norwich South, joined Sol Foundation executive director Peter Skafish for an on-record discussion of UAP disclosure in the United Kingdom.
  • Lewis’s earlier parliamentary questions provide the relevant policy context. In September 2025, the Ministry of Defence stated that it had ended its UAP investigation function in 2009 because more than 50 years of reported sightings had not indicated a military threat to the UK. It stated that historical material up to 2009 had been transferred to The National Archives.
  • In separate answers, the MOD said it had neither conducted nor commissioned UAP studies since 2013, and had not participated in a grouping specifically focused on UAP since May 2023.
  • AARO’s FOIA reading room contains material referring to a May 2023 “FVEY Inaugural UAP Caucus Working Group.” The record demonstrates that a Five Eyes UAP-specific forum existed. It does not identify the partners represented at that forum.
  • These materials show sustained parliamentary scrutiny of UK UAP policy and document the existence of a Five Eyes forum. They do not show that Lewis spoke for the Government or that the UK maintains an undisclosed UAP investigation programme.

UK Parliament — MOD information held on UAPUK Parliament — international UAP groupingsAARO EFOIA Reading Room

Scottish Government Releases UAP Correspondence (18 Aug 2026)

  • The Scottish Government released records under FOI reference FOI/202600520032 in response to a request for material held since 2015 on UAP, UFOs, unexplained aerial activity and unusual observations in Scottish airspace.
  • The release consists principally of administrative correspondence from July 2025, rather than material documenting a new UAP incident.
  • Officials stated that they were unaware of a Scottish Government team responsible for UAP and considered whether the matter fell within responsibilities reserved to the UK Government.
  • The records therefore clarify how an enquiry about institutional responsibility was handled. They do not evidence a Scottish UAP programme, previously undisclosed sightings or a change in UK defence policy.

Scottish Government — UAP FOI release

Former NRC Security Specialist Describes Nearly 300 Nuclear-Facility Flyover Reports (25 Aug 2026)

  • Former U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission senior security specialist Daryl Johnson told Ross Coulthart that close to 300 reported drone or UAP flyovers were logged across the U.S. commercial reactor fleet between 2014 and 2025.
  • Johnson stated that fewer than one percent were ultimately traced to an operator and described continuing limitations in aerial detection and attribution around nuclear facilities. Those totals are attributable to Johnson; this review has not identified a complete public NRC dataset that independently reproduces them.
  • NRC records independently place Johnson within UAP/UAS reporting activity. A 2023 communication records him supplying flyover data in response to an AARO request, and later correspondence sought AARO reporting guidance for NRC instructions to nuclear licensees.
  • The available documentation supports Johnson’s institutional role and an NRC-AARO exchange of UAP/UAS information. It does not independently verify every reported event or establish that unattributed flyovers represented a single phenomenon.

Listen to the Daryl Johnson interviewNRC FOIA response — UAP/UAS data supplied to AARO

Sol Foundation Details Disclosure Response Study (Aug 2026)

  • The Sol Foundation describes a prospective research project on how Americans may respond to different forms of UAP disclosure.
  • The proposed study, led by epidemiologist Christian Salazar and Sol executive director Peter Skafish, would use a nationally representative discrete-choice experiment.
  • Participants would compare scenarios that vary the source of an announcement, the evidence presented, its verification and its framing. The researchers also propose examining differences associated with demographic characteristics, prior UAP interest, and trust in government and science.
  • This is a research design rather than a published finding. The project page does not yet report results.

Sol Foundation — Disclosure Response Study

Sol Foundation Publishes UAP Technology Arms-Race Policy Paper (Aug 2026)

  • Sol Foundation fellow Marik von Rennenkampff published The Civilizational Risks of a UAP Technology Arms Race: Nonhuman Technology and Global Security, Volume 2 No. 3.
  • The paper examines possible geopolitical consequences if allegations that states possess and seek to exploit technology of non-human origin are correct. Its executive summary expressly qualifies that premise with the formulation “should it indeed exist.”
  • It compares an uncontrolled arms race, open scientific exchange and closed international scientific exchange, and proposes an international Advanced Technology Development Authority with research, inspection and verification functions.
  • The paper is conditional policy analysis. It does not independently establish that recovered non-human technology exists or that a UAP technology arms race is underway.

Read the Sol Foundation policy paper

What’s next

Further PURSUE releases

Department of War Release 05, published on 7 August, remains the latest PURSUE tranche at the time of this briefing. The Department states that further material will be released on a rolling basis, but it has not announced a date for Release 06. Department of War — PURSUE.

National Archives — further UAP records

Federal agencies continue transferring UAP records to National Archives Record Group 615. NARA says additional records will be added to the collection on an ongoing, rolling basis as they are transferred by federal agencies. NARA UAP Records Collection.

FY2027 NDAA

The Senate motion to invoke cloture on proceeding to S. 4784, the Senate FY2027 NDAA, failed 50–46 on 14 July. The Senate returns for regular business on 14 September. The House provision for a UAP Records Review Board remains pending within the wider NDAA process and has not been enacted. U.S. Senate — floor activity, 14 July 2026U.S. Senate Daily Press.

Sol Disclosure Response Study

Sol states that the Disclosure Response Study should launch quickly if it is to inform policymakers while federal UAP initiatives are developing. Its public page sets out objectives and methodology, but provides neither results nor a confirmed completion date. Sol Foundation — Disclosure Response Study.

What the record supports

  • The principal development in this update is institutional rather than evidential. The materials make UK parliamentary scrutiny more visible, clarify Scottish administrative handling, document NRC-AARO reporting exchanges, and extend Sol’s policy and social-science work.
  • Johnson’s figures raise substantive questions about attribution around critical infrastructure, but the reported totals remain partly dependent on his account.

Evidence position

None of these developments supplies new publicly testable evidence capable of establishing the nature or origin of unresolved UAP. The briefing therefore supports conclusions about institutional activity, reported figures and proposed research, rather than conclusions about the underlying phenomenon.

Previous briefings

Past editions are preserved by their UAPRAD publication date.

26 Aug 2026

Published:

Briefing summary

This four-day update recorded no new official document release, hearing or statutory action. The public record moved through statements by Avi Loeb, chair of the UAP Science Advisory Council, offering competing interpretations of already-released orb reports. Neither claim was supported by new sensor data.

Avi Loeb — Competing Interpretations of Released Orb Reports (24–25 Aug 2026)

  • On 24 August, Loeb restated a hypothesis from his preprint with Shaun Fell that some reported Pentagon orbs could be explained by tiny spacetime bubbles.
  • On 25 August he recirculated a separate assessment that the majority of low-speed, formation-flying, radar-quiet orbs could be human-made drones, while high-speed or high-radar-cross-section outliers could reflect measurement or attribution error.
  • Both statements were interpretations of existing PURSUE and AARO material. They did not add range, telemetry, recovered material or a new official case resolution.
  • Loeb said none of the five PURSUE tranches released to date demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt that they were non-human-made, and advocated new unclassified sensors at sites of prior reports.

Avi Loeb — 24 August statementAvi Loeb — 25 August statementFell & Loeb preprintAARO Western U.S. event memorandum

Evidence position

Current public evidence did not support a firm conclusion about the nature or origin of unresolved UAP. Interpretations concerning drones, spacetime bubbles or any other explanation remained hypotheses unless supported by underlying records, sensor data, imagery, physical material or independently testable evidence.

22 Aug 2026

Published:

Briefing summary

This edition recorded new public positions from the UAP Science Advisory Council, implementation activity around UAP NDA assistance, planned government-linked field research, and uncorroborated claims from Rep. Eric Burlison concerning an alleged multi-agency UAP observation effort.

UAP Science Advisory Council — Legal Assurances and Historical Records (19 Aug 2026)

  • The council publicly supported legal assurances, including immunity where necessary, for current or former government and military personnel wishing to provide information concerning alleged non-human technology.
  • It also said it was pursuing historical UAP records and legacy data through the PURSUE process for scientific evaluation. These steps concerned evidence-gathering and did not establish that alleged technology exists.

Avi Loeb’s original statement

Rep. Eric Burlison — UAP NDA Assistance (20 Aug 2026)

  • Burlison’s office stated that it was assisting qualified individuals seeking waivers from UAP-related nondisclosure agreements.
  • No accompanying public information identified applicant totals, approved waivers, or newly authorised disclosures.

Burlison’s original statement

Evidence position

The developments concerned access to evidence, witness permissions and plans to collect better data, rather than newly released evidence establishing the nature or origin of UAP. Burlison’s statements about a multi-agency observation remained attributable but uncorroborated claims, without a public incident report, dataset, imagery or agency confirmation.

18 Aug 2026

Published:

Briefing summary

This edition follows new technical analysis of the PURSUE sensor-video releases, European institutional handling of UAP reporting and new public claims from former intelligence officer David Grusch.

PURSUE Sensor Videos — Velocity Analysis (12 Aug 2026)

  • Researchers Jacob Haqq-Misra and Ravi Kopparapu analysed all 112 sensor videos released through the Department of War’s PURSUE programme.
  • They found that no video provides the complete set of information needed to derive an object’s physical velocity: range, observing-aircraft velocity, aspect angle and camera field angle.
  • For DOW-UAP-PR113, the available data cannot distinguish between substantially different combinations of object size, distance and velocity.
  • For DOW-UAP-PR149, using a vessel in the frame as a scale reference produced an estimated upper bound of approximately Mach 0.4 for relative velocity.
  • The authors conclude that the released videos, in their present form, cannot establish anomalous velocities or fully resolve the unidentified cases.
  • The analysis is an arXiv preprint; no peer-reviewed publication is currently listed.

Read the technical analysisView the PURSUE archive

European Commission and EASA — UAP Reporting (17 Aug 2026)

  • Euronews reported on correspondence from the European Commission’s defence department dating from at least 2023 that discussed improving capabilities to detect objects in the space environment, including some reported as UAP.
  • The Commission told Euronews that UAP remain the responsibility of individual EU member states, handled according to national-security and defence priorities.
  • The European Union Aviation Safety Agency said its existing occurrence-reporting framework can accommodate reports involving UAP.
  • EASA said it has not identified evidence that UAP reports represent a systemic aviation-safety issue requiring additional measures.
  • The underlying Commission correspondence was seen by Euronews and was not published with the article.

Read the Euronews report

What’s next

Further PURSUE releases

The Department of War states that additional UAP material will be released on a rolling basis, with tranches posted every few weeks. Release 05, published on 7 August, remains the latest tranche and no date for Release 06 has been announced. Follow PURSUE releases.

National Archives — further UAP records

Federal agencies continue transferring UAP records to National Archives Record Group 615. NARA says additional records will be added to the collection on an ongoing, rolling basis as they are transferred by federal agencies. NARA UAP Records Collection.

FY2027 NDAA — Senate action

The House-passed FY2027 NDAA includes Rep. Eric Burlison’s amendment creating an independent Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Records Review Board. The Senate’s motion to invoke cloture on proceeding to its FY2027 NDAA, S. 4784, failed on 14 July. The Senate is scheduled to return for regular business on 14 September. No confirmed date for further NDAA floor consideration has been announced. The House UAP Review Board provision is not yet law and remains subject to the wider congressional NDAA process. House FY27 NDAA Amendment TrackerSenate roll-call recordSenate schedule.

Next AARO annual UAP report

Federal law continues to require annual AARO reporting on UAP. The FY2025 report was published on 20 July 2026; no publication date for the next annual report is currently listed by AARO. Monitor AARO Congressional Reports.

What the record supports

  • New technical analysis of the public PURSUE sensor-video corpus finds that missing range, platform-motion and camera information prevents firm conclusions about physical velocity in the released footage.
  • European institutions acknowledge that UAP reports can fall within existing space, aviation-safety and national-security frameworks, while Grusch’s additional allegations remain unsupported by publicly testable evidence released with the interview.

Evidence position

The growing PURSUE archive provides substantially more government-released material for independent examination. The new analysis of its sensor videos also demonstrates a central evidential limitation: imagery alone cannot establish unusual speed or performance where range, platform motion, viewing geometry and other necessary data are unavailable.

The European reporting broadens the documented institutional discussion of UAP beyond the United States. New public allegations from individual witnesses remain a separate category of evidence and require independent documentation, data or physical material before stronger conclusions can be drawn.

12 Aug 2026

Fifth Tranche — Department of War PURSUE (07 Aug 2026)

Official PURSUE Release 05 digital rendering of a triangular object
Official PURSUE Release 05 imagery. Source: U.S. Department of War.
  • 41 files documenting unresolved phenomena.
  • Several 2021 Gulf of Oman videos associated with a U.S. Special Operations Forces AC-130J, including cellphone video of an infrared display.
  • Digitally rendered triangular craft based on reports.

Watch the Gulf of Oman videoView PURSUE Release 05

Rep. Eric Burlison — UAP NDA Memorandum (01 Aug 2026)

  • Rep. Eric Burlison published administration guidance concerning President Trump’s UAP nondisclosure-agreement directive.
  • The guidance relates to current and former government employees and contractors with UAP-related information potentially covered by NDAs.

Read the announcement and memorandumUAPRAD Member Deep Dive — Eric Burlison

AARO FY2025 Annual Report (20 Jul 2026)

  • 319 UAP reports received.
  • 114 of those cases resolved, alongside 256 cases from earlier reporting periods.
  • All 370 resolved cases attributed to prosaic objects or events.
  • 238 reports resolved as satellite flaring.
  • Nine reports referred for further intelligence or science-and-technology analysis.
  • 191 reports placed in an active archive pending further corroborating data.

Read the AARO FY2025 Annual ReportAARO Congressional Reports

House Adopts UAP Records Review Board Amendment (22 Jul 2026)

  • The House adopted Rep. Eric Burlison’s bipartisan UAP amendment to the FY2027 National Defense Authorization Act.
  • The amendment would create an independent Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Records Review Board to review and facilitate public disclosure of UAP records.
  • It requires federal agencies to identify, organise and transmit relevant records.
  • The House subsequently passed H.R. 8800 by 216–212.
  • The provision is not yet law and remains subject to the Senate and final NDAA process.

House UAP Amendment TrackerRep. Burlison — UAP Disclosure FrameworkHouse Passage of H.R. 8800

Germany — CENAP Reporting Centre (09 Aug 2026)

  • Germany’s Central Research Network for Extraordinary Celestial Phenomena (CENAP) reports approximately 14,000 cases investigated.
  • Reported identifications include aircraft, helicopters, satellites, meteors, planets, stars, balloons, rocket stages and lasers.
  • Some cases remain unresolved because sufficient information is unavailable.

Read the Euronews report

What’s next

Further PURSUE releases

The Department of War states that additional UAP material will be released on a rolling basis, with tranches posted every few weeks. No date for Release 06 has yet been announced. Follow PURSUE releases.

National Archives — further UAP records

Federal agencies continue transferring UAP records to National Archives Record Group 615. NARA says new records will be added online on an ongoing basis and downloadable UAP datasets will be updated at least three times each year. NARA UAP Records CollectionNARA bulk downloads.

AARO congressional UAP briefings

AARO is legally required to provide classified UAP briefings to relevant congressional committees at least semiannually through 31 Dec 2026. No public date for the next briefing has been announced. Read the enacted FY2026 NDAA UAP provisions.

Next AARO annual UAP report

Federal law continues to require annual AARO reporting on UAP. The FY2025 report was published on 20 July 2026; no publication date for the next annual report is currently listed by AARO. Monitor AARO Congressional Reports.

What the record supports

  • Official UAP disclosure is expanding through PURSUE, NARA and congressional action.
  • Government publication of a record does not itself verify the phenomenon described within it.
  • AARO continues to resolve many cases conventionally while others remain unresolved because of insufficient data.
  • Current public evidence does not support a firm conclusion about the nature or origin of unresolved cases.

Evidence position

There is now a substantial and growing body of UAP-related data, testimony and documented material in the public record. Taken collectively, this evidence is indicative, compelling and, for many, highly persuasive. However, when assessed against the narrower standard of scientifically analysable, independently verifiable data, the position is more measured: the needle of conclusive evidence has not yet moved very far, and significant questions regarding the nature and origin of unresolved phenomena remain open.