2024 INDOPACOM Football-Shaped UAP
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Evidence quality · 6 components
Behavioral anomalousness · 4 components
TL;DR
USINDOPACOM infrared sensors captured a 9-second clip of a distinctly football-shaped unidentified object in Pacific airspace near Japan in 2024, released in PURSUE Release 1 as one of only 28 videos in the public corpus and highlighted by the DoD as among the most significant sensor recordings.
Confirmed
- ✓USINDOPACOM infrared sensor captured a 9-second clip of an unidentified object in Pacific airspace near Japan in 2024
- ✓The object is described as 'football-shaped' - a distinctly non-disc, non-spherical profile unusual in the UAP reporting record
- ✓The footage was included in PURSUE Release 1 (May 8, 2026) with no official identification provided
- ✓INDOPACOM and NORTHCOM infrared clips were highlighted as among the most significant sensor recordings in the PURSUE corpus
Unresolved
- ?Whether the football shape is an intrinsic object characteristic or a sensor projection artifact from a differently-shaped conventional platform
- ?What altitude, speed, and distance data accompany the 9-second clip - none was disclosed in the public release
- ?Whether radar or other sensor corroboration exists alongside the infrared footage
Strongest mundane explanation
A conventional aircraft's jet exhaust produces a thermal bloom in infrared sensors that can appear as an oblate shape - though former AARO Director Kirkpatrick's specific pill-shaped thermal bloom description does not match a football profile, and any known Chinese, Japanese, or commercial platform in INDOPACOM airspace would typically be resolved by trained military sensor operators.
In 2024, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) sensor systems captured a 9-second infrared clip of an unidentified aerial object described as 'football-shaped' operating in Pacific airspace near Japan. The footage was included in PURSUE Release 1 on May 8, 2026, making it one of only 28 videos in the public corpus and among the most recently dated military UAP sensor recordings released. No conventional identification was provided. The object's shape — distinctly non-spherical and non-disc — makes the INDOPACOM footage one of the more unusual visual records in any officially released U.S. government UAP archive.
Key Facts
- ›USINDOPACOM infrared sensor captured a 9-second clip of a football-shaped UAP in Pacific airspace near Japan in 2024
- ›Object described as 'football-shaped' — distinct from the disc, sphere, or cylindrical profiles typical in UAP reporting
- ›Footage released publicly via PURSUE Release 1 at war.gov/UFO on May 8, 2026
- ›One of 28 videos in the PURSUE Release 1 corpus — among the most recently dated military sensor recordings
- ›Location: near Japan, under USINDOPACOM jurisdiction — one of the most strategically significant U.S. commands
- ›No official identification of the object was provided in the PURSUE release
- ›The INDOPACOM and NORTHCOM infrared clips were highlighted as among the most significant sensor recordings in the corpus
- ›9-second duration limits the motion and trajectory analysis possible from the footage alone
- ›The football-shaped profile may indicate an oblate spheroid (flattened sphere) or prolate ellipsoid (elongated along one axis) geometry
- ›Former AARO Director Kirkpatrick cautioned that infrared UAP videos frequently show thermal artifacts — but 'football-shaped' is less typical of known thermal bloom artifact profiles