This document contains analysis by an All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) Intelligence Community (IC) partner to account for a 2022 incident involving an airborne object near Colorado Springs, Colorado. U.S. military service members reported the incident to AARO in 2023. AARO’s IC partner assessed, with low confidence, that the reported phenomenon, which observers characterized as resembling an “angular, non-symmetrical potato,” was attributable to sunlight backscattering, where sunlight reflecting from mountain snow cover illuminated the underside of low-altitude clouds. This low-confidence assessment contributes to AARO’s consideration of the incident, which remains unresolved as of June 2026.
This memorandum presents the first-hand narrative from Witness 5 provided to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO). Witness 5 was one of several United States (U.S.) federal law enforcement special agents who reported observing unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) over a period of two days in October 2023 in the western United States.
This document is a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) FD-302, a form the FBI uses to record interviews. This FD-302 contains a summary of an interview with a U.S. military service member in March 2025 regarding a February 2022 incident potentially involving unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP). The individual described the phenomenon as being “bean shaped,” “matte white” or “off-white” in color, with a surface covered in “intersecting lines or ridges which formed an abstract polygon pattern.” The individual described the phenomenon as “motionless” and that “no sound could be heard coming from it.” FBI Note: AARO has since been in contact with the interviewee to conduct subsequent interviews to inform its analysis of this incident.
This document is an FBI FD-1057, a form the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) uses to record investigative activity. This FD-1057 contains a first-hand narrative description of unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) reported near Colorado Springs, Colorado. The interviewee provided this statement to FBI special agents to aid in producing a digital artistic interpretation of the incident.