ICA-UAP-D001, Analysis: Colorado Springs UAP Incident, 2022
WAR.gov / Department of War PURSUE Release 03
Official WAR.gov Release 03 pdf record ICA-UAP-D001: ICA-UAP-D001, Analysis: Colorado Springs UAP Incident, 2022. Agency: Intelligence Community Agency; incident context: 2022, Colorado Springs, Colorado, U.S..
Document Highlights
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Short overview
The document contains analysis by an AARO Intelligence Community partner of a reported 2022 airborne object near Colorado Springs. The analysis assessed with low confidence that the phenomenon might be explained by sunlight backscattering. The description also says the incident remained unresolved as of June 2026.
Why this is interesting
- The file is an example of a cautious, low-confidence assessment rather than a final explanation.
- The analysis separates witness reports from a possible meteorological or optical account.
- It names uncertainties involving field of view, snow cover, elevation, and cloud cover.
- One passage states that no anomalous data or characteristics were recorded or assessed.
Selected passages
- Page 3: Five U.S. Army service members reportedly observed an airborne object over Cheyenne Mountain on February 15, 2022.
- Page 3: The sunlight-backscattering assessment is explicitly described as low confidence.
- Page 3: Uncertainties include witness field of view, snow cover, and the exact elevation and cloud cover.
- Page 4: An analyst note defines backscattering as sunlight reflecting upward from snow-covered ground and scattering through low-level clouds.
Background
This document contains analysis by an All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) Intelligence Community (IC) partner to account for a 2022 incident involving an airborne object near Colorado Springs, Colorado. U.S. military service members reported the incident to AARO in 2023. AARO’s IC partner assessed, with low confidence, that the reported phenomenon, which observers characterized as resembling an “angular, non-symmetrical potato,” was attributable to sunlight backscattering, where sunlight reflecting from mountain snow cover illuminated the underside of low-altitude clouds. This low-confidence assessment contributes to AARO’s consideration of the incident, which remains unresolved as of June 2026.