Lake Huron F-16 UAP engagement
Declassified military footage of the February 12, 2023 NORAD engagement over Lake Huron, in which an F-16 fired an AIM-9X Sidewinder missile at an unidentified object. The video was released as part of PURSUE Release 02 on May 22, 2026.
DOW-UAP-PR071: USAF ANG F-16C engagement footage of the small octagonal object over Lake Huron, February 12, 2023. Declassified through PURSUE Release 02.
US Department of War / DVIDS
Provenance metadataFields marked “not disclosed” are transparent gaps in the release, not omissions on our end.
- Coordinates
- Approximately 44.5°N 82.5°W (over Lake Huron, Michigan)
- Altitude
- Approximately 20,000 ft
- Sensor detail
- F-16 gun camera (Selfridge ANG), AIM-9X Sidewinder engagement telemetry, NORAD ground radar
- Encounter duration
- Multi-minute intercept, two-shot engagement (AIM-9X first shot miss, second shot successful)
- Witness count
- F-16 pilot; NORAD Ops crew
- Operational context
- NORAD engagement during heightened February 2023 alert posture following Chinese surveillance balloon incident
- Weather / visibility
- Winter conditions, ice cover on Lake Huron (hampered payload recovery)
- Chain of custody
- 127th Wing Selfridge ANGB → NORAD → NORTHCOM → DoW → PURSUE Release 02
- Classification
- DECLASSIFIED PER PURSUE, May 22, 2026
Official description
Department of War-released footage corresponding to the Lake Huron shootdown engagement. The original NORAD reporting framed the target as a small octagonal object at approximately 20,000 feet. The first AIM-9X missed; a second engagement brought the object down over the lake. Wreckage recovery was hampered by ice cover and was never publicly confirmed.
Editor's context
This engagement was one of four NORAD shootdowns of unidentified objects in February 2023 (a Chinese surveillance balloon over South Carolina on Feb 4, and three additional engagements over Alaska, Yukon, and Lake Huron between Feb 10 and Feb 12). At the time, US officials suggested the three smaller objects were likely 'benign' research or hobby balloons but stopped short of formal identification. The May 2026 declassification of the Lake Huron footage is the first time on-the-record military video of a UAP shootdown has been released. The recovered wreckage status remains undisclosed.
Prevailing explanation
What scientists and analysts generally think
Officials in 2023 publicly favored a balloon hypothesis. The newly declassified PURSUE catalog tags the case as unresolved, meaning AARO did not adjudicate it to a conventional explanation. The footage itself does not settle the question; payload-recovery records would, if released.
In the margins
Transcribed redactions, stamps, and handwritten markings, the paratext of the file. Often the most human part of a declassified document, and worth reading on its own.
- Stampp. video headerDECLASSIFIED PER PURSUE, May 22, 2026
- AnnotationOriginal engagement: February 12, 2023, F-16 fighter from Selfridge Air National Guard Base, AIM-9X Sidewinder missile, two-shot sequence.
- AnnotationObject described at time of engagement as small, octagonal, at approximately 20,000 feet altitude, slow-moving.
- AnnotationRecovery of payload from under Lake Huron ice was never publicly confirmed.
- AnnotationSpecific DVIDS URL for the declassified clip not yet linked from primary war.gov/UFO catalog; secondary catalogs reference DOW-UAP-PR071.
Cite the primary source
Citations center the originating government agency and link to the official record. This archive is listed as the access point, not the author.
U.S. Department of Defense. "Lake Huron F-16 UAP engagement." Released via PURSUE program, 2026-05-22. File ID: PURSUE DOW-UAP-PR071 (per secondary catalogs). https://www.war.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/4499305/department-of-war-publishes-second-release-of-unidentified-anomalous-phenomena/. Accessed 2026-08-01 via Social Media for Aliens archive, https://socialmediaforaliens.com/files/lake-huron-f16-shootdown-2023.
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