PURSUE Record — FBI Photo B7: FBI · Western United States · Late 2025

FBI Photo B7 is a declassified PDF released on May 8, 2026 as part of PURSUE Release 01, the U.S. Department of War's coordinated declassification effort. It originates from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and documents a single still image derived from a U.S. military sensor system, captured sometime in late 2025 in the Western United States. The file comprises one part and was submitted by the FBI to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) for cataloguing and analysis. The operating system aboard the platform that captured the image had an incorrectly configured date and time — a noted limitation in the official documentation.

What this record contains

The FBI submitted this report to AARO consisting of a still image pulled from a U.S. military system in 2025. Critically, the original imagery was altered — redactions were applied before submission, meaning the public-facing version does not represent the complete unprocessed capture. No accompanying mission report was provided with the submission, and the operator who recorded the event reported that they were unable to positively identify the object or objects in the frame. The public release metadata confirms the incident occurred in the Western United States in late 2025 but does not specify a more precise location.

The official narrative description characterizes the image as monochrome with a grainy texture and a central crosshair reticle — consistent with military targeting, surveillance, or sensor-feed display formatting. In the upper right quadrant, a dark object is described as consistent in appearance with a helicopter. A second, smaller, dark circular object is visible below the reticle. The background is described as indistinct. The narrative description carries an explicit caveat: it is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute an analytical judgment, investigative conclusion, or factual determination about the event's nature or significance.

Historical & documentary context

Unlike the 1940s–1960s FBI files also included in PURSUE Release 01 — records from an era when the Bureau actively investigated aerial anomalies alongside Project Sign and Project Blue Book — FBI Photo B7 is a product of the post-AARO institutional architecture. AARO was established in 2022 specifically to serve as a clearinghouse for UAP reports across all U.S. government agencies, including law enforcement bodies. This record reflects that newer pipeline: a military sensor operator flags an unidentified object, the FBI coordinates submission to AARO, and the case enters the formal review process. The FBI's role here is less investigative in the classic sense and more curatorial — a federal conduit between a military sensor event and the centralized resolution office.

The visual characteristics described — a crosshair reticle overlay, monochrome rendering, grainy texture — are hallmarks of electro-optical or infrared sensor feeds as displayed on mission-system monitors or cockpit/ground-station screens. The fact that the platform's system clock was misconfigured is a documented technical limitation, not an anomaly in itself; it complicates any attempt to precisely timestamp the event relative to air traffic data or other corroborating records. The redactions applied before submission further constrain what the public release can support analytically.

What this does and does not prove

What is documented: a U.S. military sensor system captured a monochrome image in late 2025 over the Western United States showing at least two dark objects — one described as helicopter-consistent, one smaller and circular — and the operator could not positively identify the second object. That is the factual floor. What is not established: the altitude, speed, or trajectory of either object; whether the helicopter-consistent shape and the circular object are related; what the redacted portions of the image show; or whether any subsequent investigation reached a conclusion. The absence of a mission report means there is no accompanying operational context on record. The "unresolved" classification reflects the limits of available information, not a determination that anything anomalous occurred.

How it fits PURSUE Release 01

FBI Photo B7 sits within the contemporary-submission tier of PURSUE Release 01 — cases submitted to AARO by federal agencies from recent years, distinct from the historic 1947–1968 FBI archive materials and the Department of War's own operational sensor videos also in the release. It is one of 120 PDFs among the release's 162 total documents, and it illustrates the Bureau's formal role as a reporting agency under the post-2022 UAP disclosure framework. Readers looking to compare it against other FBI-sourced records or against the Department of War's contemporary mission reports can find the full catalogue on the SkyLens UAP files page, and broader analysis of the PURSUE Release 01 set is available across 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.