Newly released U.S. Defense Department files detail a former military pilot’s report of a huge, silent triangular object that he said appeared over Afghanistan’s Bagram Air Base in 2002.
The pilot told the FBI that the incident occurred at about 4:30 a.m. local time when the stars above Bagram suddenly became obscured. He said he then saw a large object moving across the sky from west to east.
According to the FBI interview, the pilot described the object as an equilateral triangle with no visible lights. He estimated that it was about 500 feet (152 metres) across and travelling at roughly 150 knots (278 kilometres per hour).
The FBI produced a digital rendering based on the pilot’s description. The image is therefore an illustration of the reported sighting and not a photograph or direct recording of the object.
The Bagram account was included in a new release of 41 UAP-related documents, images and videos covering incidents from 1950 through 2026. The material comes from several U.S. government agencies, including the Defense Department, FBI, CIA and State Department.
The release represents the fifth batch of UAP material made public under an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in January directing U.S. agencies to disclose additional records relating to unidentified aerial phenomena.
The newly released material includes military sensor footage, witness interviews and other reports involving unexplained objects in different locations and periods. The Bagram case is notable because it involves a military witness reporting an unusually large object over a major U.S. base during the war in Afghanistan.
However, the documents do not establish what the object was or whether it was an aircraft, drone, atmospheric phenomenon or another unidentified object.
The U.S. government has also stressed that records of UAP sightings document reports and observations rather than proving that the objects were extraterrestrial. The FBI has previously made the same distinction in its UFO records, noting that the existence of a report does not establish the truth or origin of the reported phenomenon.
There is no additional evidence in the released material that independently confirms the Bagram sighting or identifies the object described by the pilot.
The latest disclosure adds to a growing collection of U.S. government records concerning unidentified aerial phenomena, while leaving the identity of many of the reported objects unresolved.
