Sightings of 'green orbs' reported near New Mexico, unsealed UFO files show

Several "green orbs", "discs" and "fireballs" were reported near a military base in New Mexico from 1948 and 1950, new unsealed UFO files show. The files unsealed by the Trump administration on Friday refer to at least 209 sightings of unexplained green orbs, discs and fireballs.

A total of 222 files have been released today by the department.

The first batch of files was made public earlier this month, on May 8. Among them were the reported sightings, all between the last two years of the 1940s, near a military base in Sandia, New Mexico. Witnesses, the files say, reported the phenomena manoeuvring, flying out of sight, disappearing or exploding. The base near which the sightings were reported was part of the Armed Forces Special Weapons Program (AFSWP), which was the direct successor to the Manhattan Project to manage the military aspects of nuclear weapons.US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the documents, photos and videos of what are officially known ‌as "unidentified anomalous phenomena" had long fuelled speculation about the existence of UFOs. He said in a statement: "It's time the American people see it ‌for themselves."

The move followed a previous report from the Pentagon's UFO office, which stated it had "found no verifiable evidence that the US government or private industry has ever had access to extraterrestrial technology." That conclusion sparked controversy, and the latest release appears to be a response to the ongoing debate surrounding unidentified aerial phenomena.

The first release included 161 files in total, containing a mix of old US State Department cables, FBI records, and NASA transcripts from crewed space missions.

More than 20 video files were also part of the collection, each showing unidentified objects detected by military sensors in locations ranging from Japan and Syria to North America.

The footage varied widely - from tiny, fastmoving specks in the distance to a more distinct, Americanfootballshaped object reportedly seen over the East China Sea in 2022.

Donald Trump has been hinting at the release of UFOrelated material since February, and last month he said the US defence department would be publishing some "very interesting documents" on the subject "very, very soon."

According to the Pentagon, the president wants to provide the public with as much transparency as possible so people can "make up their own minds" about what the files contain, with further releases planned "on a rolling basis."

This follows a 2022 directive from Congress requiring the Pentagon to begin declassifying decades of UFO reports and establishing an office dedicated to handling that material, prompted in part by military personnel sharing accounts of unexplained aerial encounters.

The office's first major report in 2024 detailed hundreds of new UAP incidents but concluded that there was still no confirmed evidence of alien technology.