Latest US release of UFO files reveals strange lights but few hard facts

In July 2025, at approximately 21:00 local time in the north-eastern United States, an eyewitness observed an intense bright light in their backyard as they parked their car upon returning home from work. Photograph: Pentagon

A possible UFO sighting over a busy southern African airport, and yet more mysterious glowing orbs in the sky above the US, feature in the latest batch of previously classified documents released by the Pentagon on Friday in its stated quest for “transparency” amid the irrepressible debate about the chances of extraterrestrial life.

In keeping with the first two document drops of government papers last month, Friday’s tranche of more than 50 files contains no proof that the tantalizing videos and written accounts of possible alien encounters are anything other than perception, vivid imagination or conspiracy theories.