PURSUE Record — PURSUE Case PR-064: Jul 2017: U.S. Department of War / AARO · · Jul 2017 · CENTCOM · Infrared | AFSOC Kabul UAP, Afghanistan · Jul 2017

PURSUE Case PR-064 is a military sensor video released on May 8, 2026 as part of PURSUE Release 01 — the U.S. Department of War's first large-scale declassified UAP disclosure. The record documents an unresolved aerial observation made in July 2017 over Kabul, Afghanistan, captured in the infrared spectrum by assets operating under U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) within the CENTCOM area of responsibility. It is one of 28 videos included in the 162-document release.

What this record contains

PR-064 is classified as a VID — a military sensor video file — consisting of a single file part. The releasing authority is the U.S. Department of War in coordination with AARO (the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office), the federal body tasked with cataloguing and analyzing UAP reports from across the military services. The incident metadata places the event in July 2017, in the CENTCOM theater, specifically associated with an AFSOC presence in Kabul, Afghanistan. The official description designates it as the "AFSOC Kabul UAP, Afghanistan," indicating it was flagged and retained as an unresolved aerial observation rather than dismissed at the unit level.

The public release does not include detailed metadata for this record beyond the sensor type, command designation, location, and date. No witness statements, object descriptions, altitude estimates, or analytical conclusions are attached to the declassified version catalogued on the SkyLens UAP files page.

Sensor & operational context

Infrared sensors — whether forward-looking infrared (FLIR) or wide-area infrared arrays — detect thermal emissions rather than reflected visible light. They are standard equipment on AFSOC aircraft including AC-130 gunships, MC-130 special operations transports, and ISR platforms routinely operating over Afghanistan in 2017 as part of Operation Freedom's Sentinel. In a dense urban environment like Kabul, IR sensors are used for pattern-of-life surveillance, force protection overwatch, and target acquisition. An object that registers anomalously on an IR feed — through unusual thermal signature, flight behavior inconsistent with known platforms, or absence of identifying heat sources like engine exhaust — would stand out sharply against the thermal background noise of a city.

July 2017 placed this observation in an active combat theater with high sensor density and experienced aircrews. AFSOC operators in particular are among the most sensor-literate personnel in the military — the fact that this footage was preserved and eventually referred to AARO rather than resolved locally is itself a data point, though not a conclusion.

What this does and does not prove

What the record establishes: an infrared sensor video was captured by AFSOC assets over Kabul in July 2017, was flagged as unresolved, and was retained long enough to be included in a formal government disclosure. What it does not establish: the nature, origin, or flight characteristics of whatever appears in the footage. "Unresolved" in AARO's framework means the case has not been sufficiently explained — not that anything anomalous, extraterrestrial, or novel has been confirmed. Sensor artifacts, atmospheric phenomena, and misidentified conventional aircraft are all live possibilities. Without the full video, associated sensor metadata, and analytical documentation, no independent assessment of the object itself is possible.

How it fits PURSUE Release 01

PR-064 sits within the contemporary Department of War mission-report tier of PURSUE Release 01 — the subset of cases drawn from active military operations rather than historical FBI archives or NASA program records. Alongside other CENTCOM and theater-sourced videos in the release, it reflects AARO's mandate to surface unresolved cases from operational commands that might otherwise remain buried in classified sensor libraries. Readers can compare it against the full range of Release 01 cases — including resolved examples used to demonstrate analytical rigor — in the broader PURSUE coverage on this blog.

Editorial note: This analysis is independent commentary on a publicly released document. The original record, source links, and full release metadata are catalogued on the SkyLens UAP files page alongside every other case in the PURSUE Release 01 set.