10 Puerto Rico UAP CR
AI Summary
UNCLASSIFIED 1 UNCLASSIFIED All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) U.S. Department of Defense Case: “The Puerto Rico Object” Case Resolution | 20 March 2025 Case Synopsis Location: Puerto Rico Date: April 26, 2013 Object Altitude (Reported): N/A Object Altitude (Assessed): 656 ft Object Speed (Reported): N/A Object Speed (Assessed): 8 mph Object Shape (Reported): N/A Object Shape (Assessed): Indistinct Reporter: Publicly available media, originally recorded by U.S. Custom
Key Findings
NARA NAID 493468580 · RG 615
OCR Text
UNCLASSIFIED 1 UNCLASSIFIED All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) U.S. Department of Defense Case: “The Puerto Rico Object” Case Resolution | 20 March 2025 Case Synopsis Location: Puerto Rico Date: April 26, 2013 Object Altitude (Reported): N/A Object Altitude (Assessed): 656 ft Object Speed (Reported): N/A Object Speed (Assessed): 8 mph Object Shape (Reported): N/A Object Shape (Assessed): Indistinct Reporter: Publicly available media, originally recorded by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Data Type: Infrared Reported Behavior: Split or replicated; transmedium behavior. Assessed Behavior: The objects did not demonstrate anomalous performance characteristics. Confidence: High confidence that the objects did not demonstrate anomalous performance characteristics. Moderate confidence that the objects were a pair of sky lanterns. 25-P-0553 AARO Assessment and Case Status: AARO assesses with high confidence 1 that the objects did not exhibit anomalous behavior or transmedium capabilities. AARO assesses with moderate confidence that the objects were a pair of sky lante rns. Case Overview On April 26, 2013, an infrared (IR) sensor onboard a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) De Havilland Canada 8 aircraft flying above Rafael Hernandez Airport near Aguadilla, Puerto Rico captured thermal video footage of two objects drifting at wind speed and direction. The objects appeared to move at a high rate of speed over the airport and surrounding area before separating from one another. The objects seemed to enter, exit, and disappear into the Atlantic Ocean off Puerto Rico's northwestern coast. During the encounte r, the CBP aircraft flew in an arc around the Rafael Hernandez Air port, gaining approximately 1,725 feet in altitude before losing sensor contact with the objects at 3,600 feet. The aircraft entered a layer of scattered clouds as it passed 3,000 feet in altitud e. These clouds partially obscured the sensor's view, potentially affecting the objects’ sensor return. The range between the aircraft and the objects nearly tripled during the encounter. These factors contribute to the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office Chief of Staff, AARO Authority: FY24 NDAA, now codified at 44 U.S.C. 2107 Date: 3/20/2025 Released in Full: X Case Number: 330UAP000010 Page determined to be Unclassified Reviewed by Chief of Staff, AARO IAW FY24 NDAA, Section 1841(a)(1)(C) Date: 3/20/2025 0 10 UNCLASSIFIED 2 UNCLASSIFIED video’s diminishing quality over time. Figure 1 reconstructs the aircraft's flight path, sensor line- of-sight to the ground, and position relative to the objects. Figure 1: A reconstruction of the CBP aircraft's flight path is shown in green. Grey lines indicate the sensor's line-of-sight to the ground from the aircraft. The yellow arrow shows the objects’ assessed flight path. Key Findings AARO assesses with high confidence that: •The objects did not exhibit anomalous speeds or other behavior exceeding known state- of-the-art performance characteristics. •The video depicts two objects traveling near each other rather than a single object splitting into two. Page determined to be Unclassified Reviewed by Chief of Staff, AARO I AW FY24 NDAA, Section 1841(a)(1)(C) Date: 3/20/2025 010 UNCLASSIFIED 3 UNCLASSIFIED Performance Characteristics Object Speed: Systems Toolkit (STK) reconstruction determined the objects drifted at approximately 3.6 meters per second (8 mph) in a straight line over land, consistent with the recorded wind speed of 4.4 meters per second (9.8 mph) from the east/northeast. 2 The objects’ apparent high speed is attributable to motion parallax. Motion parallax is an optical effect that induces an observer to perceive that a stationary or slow-moving object is moving much faster than its actual speed when viewed from a moving frame of reference. The more quickly an observer moves relative to an observed object, the more pronounced this effect is. In this case, the aircraft's flight speed, the sensor’s zoom, and the change in relative positions of the aircraft and the objects influenced their perceived behavior and performance characteristics. Object Flight Path: STK reconstruction integrated the aircraft's position with key sensor parameters (e.g., elevation, azimuth, and slant angle) to model the objects’ flight path. The IR sensor first detected the objects near the northeastern side of the airport at an altitude of approximately 200 meters (656 feet). The objects drifted southwest at wind speed before the IR sensor lost contact with them over the airport's central parking apron. AARO reconstructed the sensor’s look angle by plotting the aircraft's position and the sensor's view-to-ground projection onto a map (Figure 1). The reconstruction demonstrates that the objects remained over land during the encounter. Apparent Separation: AARO assesses with high confidence that the reco…
Metadata
- Agency
- Department of Defense. Office of the Secretary of Defense. (09/18/1947 - )
- Classification
- UNCLASSIFIED
- Department
- Department of Defense. Office of the Secretary of Defense. (09/18/1947 - )
- Catalog source
- View NARA catalog record
NARA Source
- NAID
- 493468580
- File
- 10_Puerto_Rico_UAP_CR.pdf
- Type
- application/pdf
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