The Yemen orb and the Hellfire — shown to Congress
At a House Oversight hearing on UAP transparency on September 9, 2025, Rep. Eric Burlison showed a 50-second infrared clip he said came from a whistleblower and was taken on October 30, 2024 off the coast of Yemen. An MQ-9 Reaper tracks, and appears to laser-designate, a bright object moving on a steady path; a Hellfire missile fired by a second Reaper streaks in, appears to hit it and throw off fragments, and glances away without exploding, while the object carries on until the clip ends. Burlison would not speculate on what it was and said an independent review was under way; a defense official told The War Zone, “We do not have anything to provide on this.” The clip was also a rare public sign that Reapers were engaging aerial targets during the Houthi attacks on shipping.
Explanation
Unverified: the clip came from a whistleblower and the Pentagon has said nothing about it. Analysts suggested a Houthi cruise missile or drone, or a balloon, and noted that a Hellfire without a proximity fuse can pass through a light target without exploding.
What was seen
Shape: A bright orb, at moments more cylindrical, moving on a steady course
Witnesses: MQ-9 Reaper crews (sensor video)
Duration: About 50 seconds of video
Sources
- House Oversight Committee — Restoring public trust through UAP transparency and whistleblower protection (2025)
- The War Zone — MQ-9 Reapers engaging aerial targets: the revelation from the UAP hearing (2025)
- ABC News — Newly released video appears to show US missile bouncing off object (2025)
Browse
- 2020s
- Unresolved
- Military encounters
- Video footage
- Infrared or other sensor data
- Spheres and orbs
- Cylinders and cigar shapes