The 46-second footage, filmed through an infrared sensor aboard a U.S. military jet within the U.S. Northern Command area of responsibility, shows the aircarft locking onto the object before what the Department of Defense described as a "weapons system" made contact. At the 11-second mark, the sensor zeros in on a contrasted shape at the center of its field of view. Seconds later, the object explodes in a burst that sends what appears to be shrapnel scattering outward in a radial pattern—what military analysts described as consistent with a high-energy event.
The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, known as AARO, assessed that the video was likely derived from an infrared sensor aboard a U.S. military platform and was uploaded to a classified network in February 2023. AARO noted that the materials in this collection lack a substantiated chain of custody.
The Lake Huron footage was among more than 50 previously classified videos included in Friday's release. Other clips showed four unidentified aerial phenomena appearing to form a coordinated pattern over water in Iran in August 2022, and a separate object filmed by a U.S. Coast Guard infrared sensor flying near a plane over the southeastern United States in April 2024.
The release is the second tranche under a program called PURSUE. The first batch was made public on May 8, 2026.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the long-classified materials have stoked public curiosity for years and that the Trump administration made a deliberate choice to act.
The Department of War acknowledged that the released materials represent unresolved cases—meaning the government has been unable to make a definitive determination about the nature of the observed phenomena—and said it welcomes analysis from the private sector. Additional tranches are expected to be released on a rolling basis every few weeks as records are discovered and declassified.