DOW-UAP-D077 to D083: Western US Event

Part of Release 3, this seems largely explained as flares. 60% definitely identified as such, but 40% indeterminate. The problem there is that it's all eyewitness accounts. Nothing really stands out as anomalous. The "Kite" sounds like an aircraft, but it's really pointless to speculate without real evidence.


Here's an AI-generated (Claude Fable) summary with links

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1. Western US Event, October 2023 — the case file

DOW-UAP-D077, AARO Unresolved Case Analysis Update: Western United States Event
AARO Case Analysis Update memo, signed Jon T. Kosloski, Director, AARO, dated 05 June 2026. Six federal law enforcement special agents (three teams of two), two days in October 2023, dusk, near a "sensitive national security site" in the western US. Pattern: an orange "mother orb" appears 1-2 s, releases 2-4 red "orbs," disappears; in one account a red orb stayed "stationary above a ridgeline for several hours." No video, photos, or sensor data — narrative only.

AARO's own disposition: flight logs confirm military aircraft were dispensing IR countermeasure flares in the area as part of a standard exercise, and radar/ADS-B correlation "strongly aligns" with ~60% of the reported activity. The residual ~40% is carried as "Unrecognized Technology (Pending)" — explicitly exclusion-based and "unsubstantiated by technical data or physical evidence." Celestial misidentification is rated "more plausible, though still unlikely" for the stationary-loitering subset. The Blue Force section notes the described characteristics "align with those of certain U.S. military technologies," with records "inconclusive" on presence.

DOW-UAP-D078, Notional Map: Western United States Event

Notional overhead map of four incidents "over a period of several days" (the D077 memo says two days): 1 "Orbs Launching Orbs," 2 "Fiery Orb" (~1,000 yd, against a ridgeline), 3 "Dark Kite" (thin dark kite-shaped object, one red and one white light, close range), 4 "Translucent Kite" (close range). genai.mil disclosure bottom-right.

Witness narrative statements (each a first-person memo to AARO):

• DOW-UAP-D079, Narrative Statement 1, Western United States Event, 2023 (Western United States, October, 2023) — This memorandum presents the first-hand narrative from Witness 1 provided to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO). Witness 1 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. Note: also describes "thick spider web looking material" floating in the air — classic "angel hair," and October is peak ballooning-spider season.
• DOW-UAP-D080, Narrative Statement 2, Western United States Event, 2023 (Western United States, October, 2023) — This memorandum presents the first-hand narrative from Witness 2 provided to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO). Witness 2 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. Note: includes car headlights "morphing" into an orb-like light and an "orb-like-disc" gliding to the roadside that was gone when they reached it; compares the experience to "portals."
• DOW-UAP-D081, Narrative Statement 3, Western United States Event, 2023 (Western United States, October, 2023) — This memorandum presents the first-hand narrative from Witness 3 provided to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO). Witness 3 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. Note: NVG-equipped; orange orb crossed ~20° of sky in 3-5 s, expelled three red orbs "mechanical[ly]" "like grapes being expelled from a basketball," red orbs ran south in a line at ~1 s spacing; orbs were gone when a nearby vehicle left.
• DOW-UAP-D082, Narrative Statement 4, Western United States Event, 2023 (Western United States, October, 2023) — This memorandum presents the first-hand narrative from Witness 4 provided to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO). Witness 4 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.
• DOW-UAP-D083, Narrative Statement 5, Western United States Event, 2023 (Western United States, October, 2023) (redacted) — 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. Note: two red orbs released simultaneously, one steady and horizontal; all lights out in ~10 s — consistent with sequential flare burn-out.

AI renderings (FBI-prepared, genai.mil): FBI-UAP-D014/D015/D021 illustrate D079 (Incident 1); D016-D020/D022/D023 illustrate D080 (Incident 2). Links:

• FBI-UAP-D014 — (AI image of DOW-UAP-D079)
• FBI-UAP-D015 — (AI image of DOW-UAP-D079)
• FBI-UAP-D016 — (AI image of DOW-UAP-D080)
• FBI-UAP-D017 — (AI image of DOW-UAP-D080)
• FBI-UAP-D018 — (AI image of DOW-UAP-D080)
• FBI-UAP-D019 — (AI image of DOW-UAP-D080)
• FBI-UAP-D020 — (AI image of DOW-UAP-D080)
• FBI-UAP-D021 — (AI image of DOW-UAP-D079)
• FBI-UAP-D022 — (AI image of DOW-UAP-D080)
• FBI-UAP-D023 — (AI image of DOW-UAP-D080)

FBI-UAP-PR005, Digital Recreation, Narrative Statement 3-1, Western United States Event, 2023

(Western United States, October, 2023, 53s)
(AI digital recreation of DOW-UAP-D081)

FBI-UAP-PR006, Digital Recreation, Narrative Statement 3-2, Western United States Event, 2023

(Western United States, October, 2023, 21s)
(AI digital recreation of DOW-UAP-D081)

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Mick West said:

Note: NVG-equipped; orange orb crossed ~20° of sky in 3-5 s, expelled three red orbs "mechanical[ly]" "like grapes being expelled from a basketball," red orbs ran south in a line at ~1 s spacing; orbs were gone when a nearby vehicle left.

Click to expand...

Do any NVGs show natural colour? (They didn't in the past; usually displaying shades of green).

External Quote:

I was using NVGs to scan the sky when I saw red lights coming from the north, heading south.

https://www.war.gov/medialink/ufo/0...DoW-UAP-D081_Narrative-3_Western-US-Event.pdf

John J. said:

Do any NVGs show natural colour? (They didn't in the past; usually displaying shades of green).

External Quote:

I was using NVGs to scan the sky when I saw red lights coming from the north, heading south.

https://www.war.gov/medialink/ufo/0...DoW-UAP-D081_Narrative-3_Western-US-Event.pdf

Click to expand...

Sunds like such a thing exists, it is not clear to me what sprt of quality you get -- but that includes not being sure or unsure if the quality is amazing!

External Quote:

There is a strong opinion that the full-color night vision improves the old technology working in minimal light or starlight. In other words, the night vision system controls the light level, and when it becomes too low for color video, infrared lighting is turned on. Scientists at the University of California, Irvine, have demonstrated the concept of full-color night vision using artificial intelligence. Using infrared light, they could colorize several images into "full-color," which opened up new possibilities in a variety of industries. The researchers created the basis for full-color night vision. In normal light, white light has many colors mixed in. When light falls on something, it absorbs some colors and reflects others. Thus, a pure red object reflects red and absorbs other colors. Although some systems work by amplifying small amounts of light, they do not work in total darkness. They require night vision devices that illuminate the scene with infrared light. Scientists have suggested that different objects can absorb different kinds of infrared light. Teaching the system what colors correspond to specific absorption characteristics allows the computer to reconstruct the image's color.
The difference between color night vision and non-color night vision

A digital night vision device consists of a lens, a light-sensitive sensor, image processing and control electronics, a display, and an eyepiece. The power supply of digital devices The devices are usually equipped with built-in infrared illuminators based on laser or LED sources.

Unlike black and white, the resolution of color sensors is up to forty percent lower, which is due to the complex pixel system, where one pixel of a color sensor consists of several subpixels, each of which is responsible for a strictly defined light spectrum - red, blue, green. In other words, when monochromatic light hits a color camera pixel, only one subpixel registers the signal. A black and white sensor, on the other hand, will write a signal at every pixel that receives the radiation. This is one of the reasons why the use of color sensors in night vision devices is limited and often impractical.

... With ultra low light sensor technology, the sensor can process the environment at night in color.

https://www.agmglobalvision.com/blogs/agm-blog/what-is-color-nv

I see some cheap "night vision goggles" claiming to show color images on Amazon, again, how well they might work I can't say.
But it looks possible that somebody looking through such things could conceivably see red lights.

I've been reconstructing this case in 3D (I write RR0 and its open-source sighting simulator, UFO@home), and a few things came out that may be useful here, mostly checkable data rather than interpretation. Everything below is a working hypothesis unless stated otherwise.

1. The two evenings can be dated: 14 and 15 October 2023

Witness 4 says that on the second evening he saw, to the south-east, a line of lights he took for a Starlink "deployment". Propagating the October 2023 TLEs (Full Catalog) for that area, the only train still bunched in the evening is 2023-153 (launched from Vandenberg on 9 October), passing to the SE between 18:59 and 19:04 PDT on 15 October. So evening 2 = 15 Oct, evening 1 = 14 Oct (witnesses 2, 3 and 4), and the pre-dawn "kite" episode = the morning of 16 Oct. Witness 1 (D079) puts the orb over the pinnacle on the second night, with other teams reporting lights the first night, which is consistent.

2. Two things that may have misled location searches

Witness 5's "south on I..." is not an Interstate: on the PDF image it is a short redaction box that the OCR read as "I".
Sunset does not rule out Nevada. At Desert Valley on 14 Oct: sunset 18:06, civil dusk 18:32, nautical dusk 19:02 PDT. Witness 2's "dusk transitioned into darkness" around 19:00 fits; only witness 5's "still sunlight to see the mountain formations" at 18:58 sounds late (it's twilight glow by then).

3. Location candidate: the Desert National Wildlife Refuge next to the NNSS

Not proven, but it is the place that meets the most clues:

• the WSJ reported drones over the Nevada National Security Site on three days in October 2023, and witness 2 says they were "tasked to survey an area for individuals launching drones";
• witness 2's valley "with mountain ranges to the west and east and more distant ranges to the north", reached by a rural road then a dirt road north, matches Desert Valley (Alamo Road, between the Desert Range and the Sheep Range), entered from US-95 at Corn Creek;
• witness 5's "Wildlife National park (?name)" sign and the camping along dirt roads fit a wildlife refuge;
• Nellis' ranges (where flares are dispensed) are to the N/NW, Las Vegas' glow to the south;
• the pre-dawn episode "around [lake] toward [base]", 15 min after "the Gate", fits the road along Frenchman Flat inside the NNSS.

What does NOT fit or is unverified: I could not find AARO's "rock pinnacle" ~1,050 m from witness 5: rendering ground-level panoramas from the 10 m USGS DEM at 28 points along the candidate dirt roads gave no distinct pinnacle. An alternative reading of witness 5's route (Pahranagat NWR, Badger Road toward the Area 51 viewpoint, Groom Lake) is not excluded either.

Attached: a KML with the working positions, so anyone can try it in Sitrec or Google Earth (or UFO@home, whose editor imports a KML as traces drawn over a recording's scene).

4. D078, the "Notional Map": a fictional map, or a disguised real one?

So how much of it is real? It says its locations are notional and its images AI-generated, yet it places each observer and draws the directions of what they saw, and those directions partly match the narratives: the incident 1 sight lines fan out to the N, NE and E, as witness 2's five orbs do. So: is it purely an illustration built from the narratives, or was it drawn from AARO's actual data (AARO knows the positions, since it measured the pinnacle at ~1,050 m) and then blurred? If the latter, the orientations would be worth something: for instance, if north is up, the "fiery orb" lies to the SE of its observer, which no narrative says. Has anyone seen AARO or the FBI say how it was made?

I hoped its background was real terrain, but at full resolution (the embedded image is 3999 x 2250) it looks generated, as its note says: the ridges are symmetric "herringbone" spurs repeated on both sides of ruler-straight crests, and the NE range is split by a ruler-straight N-S line between a dark and a lit half over its whole length, where a real crest would wander. The "UNCLASSIFIED" banners are just the usual marking. One caveat: the washes and dirt tracks look less synthetic than the relief (a NW-SE track through the incident 1 marker to a junction of washes near the middle, a long ENE track from the incident 3 marker), so the generator may have restyled a real picture and kept its drainage and tracks. I could not find that layout around Corn Creek or Desert Valley; if anyone recognizes it, it would be a clue, but with no paved road, building or fence in view, the odds look slim.

5. If witnesses 2 and 3 saw the same source, it was high and far

Crossing witness 2's first orb (NNE, "35-45 degrees", ~19:00) with witness 3's (east, "approximately 45 degrees", ~19:00), both observers anywhere along the valley road (Monte Carlo over the stated margins, 200,000 draws, 19,000 crossings within 1.5°): median ~9.5 km above the valley (80% between ~4 and ~16 km), 13-15 km from the witnesses, over the west flank of the Sheep Range. Never under 4 km high nor closer than 6 km. That supports flares/aircraft at altitude rather than a low, quiet craft.

6. Flares, simulated physically: the appearance fits, the southward run does not

I modeled AARO's hypothesis with actual flare physics (ejection, quadratic drag in thinning air, gravity, the archived wind of that evening, a ~4.5 s MJU-7-like burn), from an aircraft at various headings, heights and speeds, and measured the angular gap to each statement over time:

• each red orb appears where a flare ignites, within 1° (witnesses 2, 3 and 5);
• but witness 3 has the three red orbs "moved to the south in a straight line ... until I could no longer see them", within a 30-45 s sighting, while a flare stays nearly put and burns out in 5 s: the gap reaches 8-16° after a few seconds, whatever the aircraft parameters;
• making the orange "mother orb" the dispensing aircraft only reproduces its 20° climb in 3-5 s if it flies low (~750-1000 m), where it would be loud (~79 dB(A) at the witness) for witnesses who heard nothing.

So "largely flares" holds for the orbs' births; their reported travel is the part that stays unexplained (or misremembered: the narratives were written ~2.5 years later).

7. Smaller items

The pre-dawn white/red pair 2-3 ft above the road (witnesses 1 and 5): a ~1.2 m multirotor drone on the course witness 5 describes reproduces it within 0.2°, and its frame width matches the "very thin line, maybe 4 ft wide" seen in NVGs when the lights went off. Objection: it should have been audible (~40 dB(A) at 40 m) with the windows down. A small off-road vehicle fits as long as the lights are on, but it can't "move up". A dashboard reflection in the windshield is ruled out (the pair moves 40° to the right while the car drives straight).
Ruled out quickly: Jupiter (behind the eastern ranges until ~19:40, and it doesn't split), landing lights for Nellis or LAS (under 2° above the SE horizon from the valley, while the orbs are 25-45° up to the N/E), LED balloons or lanterns (the ground wind was ~3 m/s from the SE, the red orbs went south across/against it, and teams 13 km apart saw them in consistent directions).
The FBI recreation PR005 shows saguaros, which don't grow in Nevada: the FBI scenery is probably generic, so don't try to locate from it.

Links:

• Interactive reconstruction (each witness, each reading, with the gap to the narrative measured live)
• Write-up (French)

Happy to share the scripts and data, and to be corrected on any of it.