Western US Event
Agency: Department of War
Incident date: 2023
Incident location: Western United States

This document is a summary of statements by seven US PERSONs employed by the federal government who separately reported observing several unidentified anomalous phenomena in the western United States over the course of two days in 2023.  The summary notes the US PERSONS reported four distinct categories of experiences, including observing “orbs launching other orbs” at a distance, observing a large stationary glowing orb at close estimated range, pursuing a large phenomenon near the ground, and observing a large, seemingly transparent phenomenon, reported to being akin to a “translucent kite.” Although there is no technical data directly associated with this report, contextual factors — such as these events sharing features with others reported to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), the reporters’ credibility, and the potentially anomalous nature of the events themselves — combine to make this report among the most compelling within AARO’s current holdings.

“Orbs Launching Orbs”
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Location: Western U.S.
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Time of Day: Dusk (on two separate days)
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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”
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Location: Western U.S.
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Time of Day: Dusk
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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.”
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USPER6 stated the object “seemed to be hovering with zero resistance or movement, or to be suspended…” The 
sighting lasted “about a minute.”
* 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.
Artist Rendering

“Dark Kite”
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Location: Western U.S.
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Time of Day: Pre-dawn hours
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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.”*
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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.
* In later discussions with AARO, the object is described as being triangular.
Red light
White light
Image 1: Recreation of drawing provided by USPER6 of 
object seen in night vision goggles.

“Transparent Kite”
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Location: Western U.S.
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Time of Day: Pre-dawn hours
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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.
Image 2: Recreation of drawing 
provided by USPER6 of object 
seen with the bare eye.
Note: Outline was not 
definitive, but location 
of lights stayed in exact 
formation.