Documented case · Western United States military airspace
Western United States lights
2021 · Details below are limited to the linked public record. Source conclusions are attributed and do not establish an extraordinary cause.
- Incident date
- 2021
- Place in source
- Western United States military airspace
- Location precision
- The AARO report names only Western United States military airspace. This marker is a broad regional anchor, not a sensor or object position.
Documented record
Military personnel reported five equidistant lights moving at a relatively constant pace and raised a possible restricted-airspace concern. The recording used an infrared sensor.
Source assessment
AARO assessed that the lights were almost certainly commercial aircraft on known routes, as far as 300 nautical miles from the sensor. It attributed apparent shape changes to sensor vibration and autofocus.
Details stated in the record
- Evidence
- Infrared sensor observation
- Reported altitude
- 20,000–40,000 feet
- Reported shape
- Oblong dots or lights
- Reporter
- Military personnel
- AARO case status
- Resolved; assessed as commercial aircraft up to 300 nautical miles from the sensor
Not available in the cited public record
- The public case summary gives no exact date or coordinates.
- The public summary does not identify the individual commercial flights.
Source references
- Western United States UAP case resolution (opens in a new tab)
AARO · U.S. Department of Defense