JULY 2019 — PACIFIC OCEAN — DECLASSIFIED 2021
In July 2019, USS Omaha — a Freedom-class littoral combat ship operating in the Pacific Ocean — tracked multiple unidentified objects on both radar and forward-looking infrared (FLIR) camera systems. The objects were spherical in appearance and were observed maneuvering in a manner inconsistent with conventional aircraft or known drone technology.
The encounter is significant for a reason beyond standard UAP characteristics: in the footage, one of the objects is observed appearing to descend and enter the ocean. If this observation is accurate, it makes the USS Omaha case a potential instance of a "transmedium" phenomenon — an object operating seamlessly across both air and water environments.
Audio captured during the encounter includes ship personnel — including the Combat Information Center team — reacting in real time to the objects' behavior, noting when objects disappear from radar and attempting to coordinate tracking. A submarine was reportedly deployed to search the area where the object entered the water. No recovery was reported publicly.
The USS Omaha incident was not isolated. The summer of 2019 saw a series of documented UAP encounters involving multiple U.S. Navy vessels operating off the California coast. Ships including USS Russell, USS Kidd, USS Rafael Peralta, USS John Finn, and USS Omaha all reported encounters with unidentified objects. These encounters were sufficiently widespread and documented that they formed a significant portion of the evidence base that drove the 2021 DNI UAP assessment and the establishment of AARO in 2022.
The footage was declassified in 2021. As with the 2004 Nimitz footage, the Pentagon confirmed its authenticity. The objects remain unidentified. The transmedium behavior — if it occurred as observed — would represent a capability with no known parallel in human aerospace or underwater technology.
The USS Omaha case has been cited by researchers and members of Congress as among the most compelling evidence for the need for serious investigation of UAP, precisely because it involves multiple sensor modalities (radar and FLIR), multiple witnesses, and behavior that goes beyond simply appearing in the sky.
Navy FLIR and infrared footage from the 2019 Pacific encounters, confirmed by the Pentagon.
Infrared footage from USS Omaha Combat Information Center, July 15, 2019. Shows a spherical object maneuvering above the ocean before entering the water. Crew can be heard exclaiming "Splash!" Pentagon spokesperson confirmed authenticity in May 2021.
Night vision footage recorded aboard USS Russell, July 2019. Shows apparent triangular/pyramid-shaped objects in the sky. Originally shot through a night-vision camera; the triangular appearance may result from light passing through night vision goggles, but the Pentagon confirmed in April 2021 that the footage was taken by Navy personnel.
Declassified footage from a U.S. Navy F/A-18, East Coast, January 2015. Shows a fast-moving object tracked by infrared targeting pod traveling just above the ocean surface. Part of the same 2020 Pentagon release as FLIR and GIMBAL.
Historic Senate Armed Services subcommittee hearing where AARO Director Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick presented newly declassified UAP videos, including MQ-9 Reaper drone footage of an unidentified metallic orb in the Middle East. Kirkpatrick testified that this object remains unexplained and that similar reports continue from multiple operational theaters.
Never-before-seen infrared footage presented at the September 9, 2025 House Oversight hearing, appearing to show a Hellfire missile impacting an unidentified object off the coast of Yemen (October 2024). This evidence was introduced as part of testimony regarding ongoing UAP encounters in active military operational zones.