PURSUE Record — PURSUE R02 DOW-UAP-PR086 — East Coast UAP (December 2019): U.S. Department of War / U.S. Navy or East Coast command · U.S. East Coast · December

PURSUE R02 DOW-UAP-PR086 is an official military sensor video documenting an unidentified aerial phenomenon observed along the U.S. East Coast in December 2019. Released on May 22, 2026, as part of the PURSUE Release 02 video bundle, it carries official identifier DOW-UAP-PR086 and was made available by the U.S. Department of War under the broader PURSUE declassification initiative. This is a single-file record — one video — and its contents represent raw sensor data from a specific moment in time, not a concluded investigation.

What this record contains

The record is a single sensor video file (VID) attributed to the U.S. Department of War — most likely originating from U.S. Navy or an East Coast military command, consistent with the location and agency attribution. The incident captured on film dates to December 2019, and the footage was packaged alongside other Release 02 material in the archive file uap052226.zip, distributed on May 22, 2026, approximately two weeks after the initial PURSUE Release 01 batch on May 8.

The Department of War's official description reads: "Official ID DOW-UAP-PR086. Sensor video from December 2019 captured on the U.S. East Coast. Released in the PURSUE Release 02 video bundle (uap052226.zip). Specific platform and sensor details not yet widely surfaced in public reporting." That final clause matters: as of this writing, neither the platform — ship, aircraft, shore installation, or otherwise — nor the sensor modality has been confirmed in publicly available documentation. Geography is confirmed broadly as East Coast; specific coordinates or operational context have not been released.

Sensor & operational context

Military sensor videos in the UAP record set are typically captured by electro-optical or infrared systems mounted on naval aircraft, surface vessels, or shore-based surveillance assets. Without confirmed platform details for DOW-UAP-PR086, it is not possible to specify the imaging geometry, altitude, slant range, or field of view — all variables that bear directly on how an object's apparent size, speed, and behavior should be interpreted. Infrared sensors image thermal contrast rather than visible-light reflectance, meaning object shape and surface detail render quite differently than in conventional footage. Analysts must account for sensor artifacts — atmospheric shimmer, gimbal rotation, pixel blooming — before drawing physical conclusions from any observed anomaly in this type of recording.

December 2019 sits at a historically notable point in U.S. military UAP reporting. The Navy had updated its formal UAP reporting procedures earlier that year, and by late 2019, aircrews and sensor operators on the East Coast were operating in an environment where anomalous aerial reporting was more structured than it had been in prior decades — though the formal AARO reporting infrastructure would not be established until 2022. Any footage collected during this window reflects that transitional institutional posture.

What this does and does not prove

What is documented: a sensor video exists, assigned official identifier DOW-UAP-PR086, captured along the U.S. East Coast in December 2019, and released by the U.S. Department of War. That is the full extent of what the public release confirms. The footage has not been accompanied — at least not in publicly available documentation — by platform telemetry, radar track data, witness statements, or analytical conclusions. Without those corroborating data streams, it is not possible to determine what the sensor recorded, whether the observed phenomenon has a prosaic explanation, or whether any formal investigation was ever completed. The release of this video is a disclosure of raw evidence, not a finding.

How it fits the PURSUE release series

DOW-UAP-PR086 is one of several dozen sensor videos released across the PURSUE declassification effort. The May 8, 2026 Release 01 established the framework — combining AARO-coordinated military sensor records, NASA archive materials, and historic FBI files stretching back to 1947 — and Release 02, issued May 22, extended that video set. Among the Department of War contributions, contemporary sensor videos like this one stand in contrast to the FBI archive series and NASA program imagery: they represent present-era military surveillance capability applied to UAP documentation, and their release signals an institutional willingness to surface recent, operationally sensitive footage alongside the historical record. The full catalogue of every PURSUE record is indexed on the SkyLens UAP files page, and broader editorial context for the release series runs throughout our PURSUE coverage.

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.