A newly released Pentagon video appears to show a US fighter jet taking down an unidentified aerial object over Michigan’s Lake Huron in February 2023, as part of the latest batch of previously classified UFO-related files made public by the US government.The infrared footage, included in a second tranche of declassified records released on Friday, shows an F-16 fighter jet locking onto an unidentified object before what the Pentagon described as a “kinetic interaction” causes it to fragment mid-air.According to a description released by the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), the footage “appears to depict a kinetic interaction between two distinct areas of contrast”, after which the object fragments “in a radial displacement pattern that suggests a high-energy event”.The video was among 222 files released by the Pentagon on Friday following an initial release of 161 files on May 8 under an order issued by US President Donald Tr\ump. The material includes documents, photographs, audio recordings and 51 videos linked to what the US government officially calls “unidentified anomalous phenomena” (UAP).AARO said the video was uploaded to a classified network in February 2023 with the title: “USAF ANG F-16C … Shoots Down UAP over Lake Huron”.However, the Pentagon also cautioned that many of the released materials “lack a substantiated chain-of-custody”, meaning officials cannot fully verify how the files were handled before being archived.Most of the newly released videos contain grainy infrared footage captured by US military systems between 2018 and 2023.The disclosure also included reports of “green orbs”, “discs” and “fireballs” observed near military facilities dating back to the late 1940s, along with an account from a senior US intelligence officer who reported seeing “countless orange orbs swarming in all directions” during a helicopter mission in 2025.US secretary of war Pete Hegseth said the files had long fuelled public speculation. “It’s time the American people see it for themselves,” he said.
