A Military Sensor Tracks Blips as They Appear and Vanish

A blip appears near the center of a military sensor’s display. The sensor tracks it, then another blip enters from the lower-right corner.

The sensor turns to follow both, but the second blip moves out of frame. Later, the blips nearly disappear into the background, then become visible again. The video runs for almost five minutes. By the end, nothing remains on the screen. The U.S. Department of War released the footage to the public. But what does it show, and why is it interesting when there’s no answer?

Footage Uploaded to a Classified Network

The video was uploaded to a classified network in August 2020. Its official description says it was likely recorded that year. It was reportedly captured by an infrared sensor, a device that displays differences in heat, aboard a U.S. military vehicle.

At the start of the video, the sensor tracks an area that looks different from the background. A short time later, another area enters from the lower-right side. The sensor turns to follow both, but the second moves out of frame, beyond the area shown by the camera.

The Blips Fade Into the Background

More areas appear later, moving in and out of frame. The sensor changes how it displays differences in the image. At one point, the areas become barely distinguishable from the background. A moment later, they are visible again.

Near the end of the video, the sensor turns to follow one of the areas. It moves out of the right side of the frame. For almost a minute afterward, nothing else appears. That’s the image left at the end: a blip being tracked, then a blank screen.

What We Still Don’t Know

It’s unknown what the areas on the screen were or what caused them to appear and disappear. The official description makes clear that it does not draw conclusions about what happened or what the video shows.

The screen stays blank. What was there just before the blip moved out of frame?