Metallic orb is an aaro-recognized spherical UAP shape class characterized by reflective / metallic-appearing spheres recurring across pilot reports in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and other CENTCOM-area observations.
AARO’s 2025 mission brief described a 2022 MQ-9 Reaper electro-optical capture of a metallic orb whose characteristics were “consistent with other ‘metallic orb’ observations in the region.” The metallic-orb pattern is one of the most well-attested recurring UAP shape classes in declassified DoD imagery and a focus area for pursue Release 02 previews (src-debrief-pursue-next-batch-preview-2026-05).
Distinguish from Tic Tac (elongated/cigar-shaped) and from the broader transmedium-uap category.
PURSUE Release 03 orb cases
pursue Release 03 added several orb cases (src-cbs-pursue-release-03-2026-06):
- Silent tandem “tethered” lights (July 2025, U.S. Northeast).
- A plasma-like sphere (Oct 2024, “Orbs Over the Pond”).
- Orbs “hatched”/“expelled” from a larger light (Oct 2023, western U.S., described as “grapes from a basketball”).
PURSUE Release 05 “cold orb” case (August 2026)
pursue Release 05 added the September 2021 Gulf of Oman case: an AC-130J gunship crew observed ~25 “cold orbs” flying 250-1300 MPH in varying formations, some appearing to react to the aircraft’s main-cannon fire during a live-fire exercise. Unresolved by aaro (src-cbs-pursue-release-05-2026-08).
Conventional-physics explanation attempts (July 2026)
avi-loeb, for the uap-science-advisory-council, proposed ball-lightning and laser-induced plasma as candidate conventional-physics explanations for some reported metallic orbs. Neither explains jon-kosloski’s June 5, 2026 aaro “mother orb” report (hours-long persistence, orblet launching) — a case tim-gallaudet also says has no conventional explanation. See src-loeb-ball-lightning-orbs-2026-07, src-loeb-laser-plasma-orbs-2026-07, src-ibtimes-uap-council-clueless-2026-07.
A third candidate, john-birks’s meteoritic dust cloud hypothesis (src-loeb-meteoritic-dust-orbs-2026-07), proposes orbs are ionized dusty plasma stabilized by remnant magnetization of meteoritic iron/nickel/magnetite — correlated (>99% confidence) with meteor fireball reports. It likewise does not account for the “mother orb” case’s multi-hour persistence.
Sources
- src-debrief-pursue-next-batch-preview-2026-05
- src-cbs-pursue-release-03-2026-06
- src-cbs-pursue-release-05-2026-08 — Gulf of Oman AC-130J “cold orb” swarm
- src-loeb-ball-lightning-orbs-2026-07
- src-loeb-laser-plasma-orbs-2026-07
- src-loeb-meteoritic-dust-orbs-2026-07
- src-ibtimes-uap-council-clueless-2026-07