Western US 'Orbs Launching Orbs' Event Slides (2023)

Summary

Multi-state, multi-witness 2023 event in the western US. Seven federal law enforcement officers across two days observed orange “orbs” in the sky launching smaller red “orbs” in groups of two to four. Per AARO’s own assessment in the slides PDF, the case is “among the most compelling within AARO’s current holdings.”

Verbatim Detail

Three teams of two federal law enforcement special agents each independently described seeing orange orbs in the sky emit / launch smaller red orbs in groups of two to four. This pattern repeated at least five times. Each time:

• The orange orb appeared.
• The orange orb launched red orbs.
• The orange orb disappeared.

The orange “mother” orb was visible only one or two seconds.

The red orbs:

• Generally moved away from the orange orb in a horizontal path.
• One was reported “heading up at an angle.”
• Another witness said red orbs would “swoop down” after being launched.

AARO’s Own Self-Assessment

“the reporters’ credibility, and the potentially anomalous nature of the events themselves — combine to make this report among the most compelling within AARO’s current holdings.”

This is unusually direct language for AARO, which typically remains analytically neutral. “Among the most compelling within AARO’s current holdings” is the office openly flagging the case as significant.

The “Eye of Sauron” Quote In Context

The viral “Eye of Sauron” phrase circulating in coverage of PURSUE is one of the federal officers’ descriptive comparisons in his witness statement, not a formal shape designation. The witness compared what he saw to “the Eye of Sauron from Lord of the Rings, except without the pupil, or maybe an orange Storm Electrify bowling ball.”

That is one officer trying to describe a one-to-two-second visual experience using available cultural reference points. It is not the official AARO shape characterization (which is “orange orb” emitting smaller “red orbs”).

Why This Case Sits Above Most of the Release

1. Witness count. Seven federal officers, three two-officer teams, separate observations.
2. Witness category. Federal law enforcement special agents are credibility-screened by their institutions.
3. Duration and repetition. Five separate appearances of the launching pattern — repeatable phenomenon, not a flash.
4. AARO’s own language. “Among the most compelling within AARO’s current holdings” — the office endorses this case as unusual.
5. Behavior is genuinely strange. Object emission of additional objects is a pattern most explanatory frameworks (drones, balloons, satellites, atmospheric phenomena) don’t fit cleanly.

Adjacent Files In The Same Release

• FBI Photo B1–B24 (24 monochrome stills, late 2025, “Western United States”) — likely related sensor record.
• September 2023 Bronze Ellipsoid — same general region and timeframe, separate but possibly institutionally linked.
• USPER Statement — late 2025, US military facility, super-hot orb outran helicopter, “swarm of lights moving in all directions” + “four or five additional orbs flaring up and down” for 30 minutes. The “swarm + flare-up-flare-down” language is structurally similar.

The combined picture: a recurring multi-year, multi-witness, western US testing-region event series that AARO is treating as among its most compelling, but most of which is being eclipsed in coverage by single viral photos.

Connections

• PURSUE program
• AARO
• PURSUE full inventory
• Bronze Ellipsoid (Sept 2023)
• USPER Statement
• PURSUE master report — master synthesis

Open Questions

• Are these federal officers in the same agency, or multiple agencies (FBI / DEA / ATF / CBP / etc.)?
• Are the western US Bronze Ellipsoid, USPER orb-helicopter case, and orbs-launching-orbs all part of the same AARO investigation thread?
• Will AARO release any sensor / radar / FLIR data corresponding to the federal-officer observations, or stay at testimony level?