AAROAll-domain Anomaly Resolution OfficeUAP Glossary
Every term, agency, and file reference used across 15 archives
A
- U.S. DoD office established under 10 U.S.C. § 1683 (NDAA FY22) to detect, identify and attribute UAP across maritime, air, space, and trans-medium domains. Successor to AATIP and the UAP Task Force.See also: AARO archive · UAPTF
AATIPAdvanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program- 2007-2012 DoD programme initially funded under Senator Reid's appropriation. Studied UAP under classified contracts including the Wilson-Davis memo era. Closed; absorbed by UAPTF then AARO.
AAWAnti-Air Warfare- Naval doctrine for engagement of airborne threats. AAW commanders aboard ships like USS Princeton (CG-59) detect, classify and engage. Origin of multi-sensor data on the Nimitz Tic-Tac events.
ATFLIRAdvanced Targeting Forward-Looking Infrared- AN/ASQ-228 targeting pod carried by F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. Recorded the Gimbal, FLIR1, and GoFast footage.
AkamaiAkamai Technologies- CDN fronting
war.gov,aaro.miland several other defence domains. Its TLS-fingerprint bot protection blockscurl,wgetandrequests— realufo.org uses curl_cffi + Wayback fallback to retrieve content.
C
CEFAA/SEFAAComité de Estudios de Fenómenos Aéreos Anómalos- Chilean Air Force (DGAC) UAP committee. Established 1997 as CEFAA, renamed SEFAA (Sección) in 2014. One of three official Latin American UAP programmes.See: Chile archive
CEFAeComisión de Estudio de Fenómenos Aeroespaciales- Argentine Air Force commission for UAP investigation, established 2011.See: Argentina archive
COMPTUEXComposite Training Unit Exercise- U.S. Navy pre-deployment training cycle for a Carrier Strike Group. The 2004 USS Nimitz events occurred during COMPTUEX off Baja California.
CRIDOVNIComisión Receptora e Investigadora de Denuncias de Objetos Voladores No Identificados- Uruguayan Air Force UAP commission, founded 1979. One of the world's longest-running active UAP investigation bodies.
curl_cffiPython TLS-impersonating curl wrapper- Python wrapper around
curl-impersonate, replicating a real Chrome TLS handshake byte-for-byte. Used to retrieve content from Akamai-fronted hosts (war.gov, aaro.mil).
D
DEFE 24/1948UK MoD file series- The Rendlesham Forest MoD file. Released by UK National Archives in 2001 under the 30-year rule. Contains the Halt memo, witness statements, radiation log, and press cuttings.See: discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk
DGACDirección General de Aeronáutica Civil (Chile)- Chilean civil aviation authority. Hosts the SEFAA committee.
DoDDepartment of Defense- U.S. cabinet department; parent of AARO and originator of the 27 April 2020 declassification of FLIR1, Gimbal and GoFast videos.
DoWDepartment of War- Re-designation of the U.S. Department of Defense under the PURSUE Release programme. Custodian of war.gov / UFO records.
DVIDSDefense Visual Information Distribution Service- Public DoD media distribution platform (
cdn.dvidshub.net). Hosts most original-resolution UAP video. realufo.org pulls direct.
F
FABForça Aérea Brasileira- Brazilian Air Force. Custodian of OVNI records under LAI; conducted Operação Prato; Brazil archive.
FLIRForward-Looking Infrared- IR imaging sensor class. FLIR1 is the colloquial name for the F/A-18F ATFLIR pod recording on 14 November 2004.
FOIAFreedom of Information Act- U.S. 5 U.S.C. § 552 — public-records statute. AARO's FOIA reading room is mirrored in /aaro/.
G
GEIPANGroupe d'Études et d'Information sur les Phénomènes Aérospatiaux Non identifiés- The French CNES civilian UAP study group. World's longest continuously operating government UAP programme (1977–present). 3,343 cases public.See: GEIPAN archive
GimbalF/A-18F ATFLIR recording, 20 Jan 2015- 35-second clip of a rotating oblong object off the U.S. east coast. Declassified by DoD 27 Apr 2020.See: /aaro/gimbal.html
H
Halt memoLt. Col. Charles Halt's memorandum, 13 Jan 1981- One-page MoD memo titled "Unexplained Lights" describing events at RAF Woodbridge / Bentwaters on 26-28 Dec 1980. Centrepiece of file DEFE 24/1948.
L
LAILei de Acesso à Informação (Lei nº 12.527/2011)- Brazilian access-to-information statute. Authorises the OVNI declassification programme and the public release of FAB UAP records.
LCPLargest Contentful Paint- Core Web Vital — time to render the largest visible image/text block. realufo.org targets < 2.5s on a 4G connection.
N
NDAANational Defense Authorization Act- Annual U.S. defense appropriations + authorization statute. NDAA FY22 § 1683 codifies AARO at 10 U.S.C. § 1683.
NARANational Archives and Records Administration- U.S. federal records repository. Custodian of Project Blue Book and the JFK collection.See: /nara/
O
ODNIOffice of the Director of National Intelligence- Publisher of the 2021 Preliminary Assessment on UAP and subsequent annual reports.
OGL v3Open Government Licence v3.0- UK Crown copyright reuse licence governing the realufo.org mirror of UK National Archives MoD UAP files.
OIFAAOficina de Investigación de Fenómenos Aéreos Anómalos- Peruvian Air Force UAP office.
ONIOffice of Naval Intelligence- Published the 2019 Executive Summary on the USS Nimitz 2004 events.
OVNIObjeto Volador No Identificado / Objeto Voador Não Identificado- Spanish/Portuguese for UFO. Used throughout the Brazilian, Argentine, Chilean, Spanish, Peruvian and Uruguayan archives.
P
PANPhénomène Aérospatial Non identifié- French equivalent of UAP. GEIPAN uses a four-tier classification: PAN A (identified), B (probably identified), C (insufficient data), D (unexplained).
PURSUEPresidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters- U.S. Department of War's UAP release programme. Releases 01 (158 records, May 8 2026) and 02 (64 records, May 22 2026) are mirrored at realufo.org root.
S
SIGADAERSistema de Gestão de Acervos da Aeronáutica- Brazilian Air Force records catalogue. Indexes Operação Prato and other historical case files for public consultation.
SIOANISistema de Investigação de Objetos Aéreos Não Identificados- 1969-1980 FAB UAP investigation system, the institutional predecessor of the modern OVNI declassification programme.
SOBEPSSociété Belge d'Étude des Phénomènes Spatiaux- Belgian civilian research society. Cooperated formally with the Belgian Air Force on the 1989-90 wave; succeeded by COBEPS.
SPY-1AN/SPY-1 phased-array radar- Naval radar aboard Aegis cruisers like USS Princeton. Tracked the Tic-Tac contacts in November 2004.
T
Tic-TacPilot descriptor, USS Nimitz 2004 events- Colloquial name for the white, ~40 ft, wingless, exhaustless object observed by Cmdr Fravor. /aaro/tic-tac.html.
TNAThe National Archives (UK)- UK's official records repository at Kew. realufo.org's UK mirror harvests via the TNA Discovery API.
U
UAPUnidentified Anomalous Phenomena- Current U.S. government term, replacing UFO from c. 2020. Encompasses airborne, transmedium, space and submerged objects.
UAPTFUnidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force- 2020-2021 Navy-led task force, predecessor of AARO.
UFOUnidentified Flying Object- The historical term. Retained by foreign archives (FAB OVNI, MoD UFO files, GEIPAN); replaced by UAP in current U.S. usage.
V
VIRINVisual Information Record Identifier Number- DoD identifier for every official visual asset. Format:
YYMMDD-X-XX####-###. Surfaces in the war.gov / DVIDS manifests.
W
Wayback MachineInternet Archive's web snapshot service- Used by realufo.org's dl scripts as fallback when Akamai blocks direct retrieval. URL pattern:
web.archive.org/web/<ts>id_/<url>.