Lawmakers at a House Oversight subcommittee hearing on Sept. 9, 2025, viewed video that appears to show a U.S. drone firing a Hellfire missile at a glowing orb off Yemen and the object remaining intact and continuing on its path, prompting urgent questions about the origin and capabilities of the phenomenon.
The footage, unveiled by Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., showed one MQ-9 remotely piloted aircraft tracking an orb while a second MQ-9 launched a Hellfire missile that struck the object. Instead of disintegrating or losing momentum, the round appeared to "bounce right off," according to journalist George Knapp, who showed the clip to the panel.
Members of the subcommittee and several witnesses said no known U.S. weapon in the inventory could survive a Hellfire strike and continue functioning as depicted. "Are you aware of anything in the U.S. arsenal that can split a Hellfire missile like this…and do whatever blob thing it did, and then keep going?" Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., asked witnesses during questioning.
U.S. Air Force veteran Jeffrey Nuccetelli, U.S. Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer Alexandro Wiggins, U.S. Air Force veteran Dylan Borland, investigative journalist George Knapp and Project On Government Oversight senior policy counsel Joe Spielberger were sworn in to testify at the hearing titled "Restoring Public Trust Through UAP Transparency and Whistleblower Protection." All three veteran witnesses said the video frightened them.
Beyond the Hellfire footage, witnesses related earlier encounters. Nuccetelli described what he called the "Vandenberg Red Square," a 2003 incident at what is now Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, in which radio traffic conveyed alarm as an object closed rapidly on personnel before suddenly departing. Wiggins recounted a separate "Tic Tac" encounter in which the craft displayed no "conventional propulsion signatures" as it maneuvered away, testimony that matched other public accounts of similar incidents.
Knapp told the panel there are additional videos and data that congressional members have not been allowed to see. "There are servers where there's a whole bank of these kind of videos that Congress has not been allowed to see," he said, pressing for broader disclosure. Lawmakers emphasized that the unexplained footage and veteran testimony underscore the need for greater transparency, clearer declassification standards and protections for whistleblowers who bring material forward.
Committee members did not offer a conclusion about the object's origin during the hearing and witnesses stopped short of asserting any particular explanation. Instead, the session focused on documenting the footage, testing witness credibility, and seeking procedural changes to ensure that potentially relevant material is preserved and, where appropriate, made available to Congress and the public.
The hearing reflects growing congressional attention to unidentified anomalous phenomena and persistent concerns among some members and veterans that existing processes for cataloging and declassifying such encounters are insufficient. Lawmakers signaled intentions to press executive branch entities for access to additional records and to consider policy responses aimed at improving transparency and strengthening whistleblower channels.
No federal agency provided a new assessment of the footage's provenance during the hearing, and witnesses acknowledged limits to what could be determined from the video alone. Committee staff said follow-up actions could include requests for more materials and further classified briefings to provide lawmakers with fuller technical context and assessment.
The Sept. 9 session is the latest in a series of congressional efforts to examine UAPs, a subject that has drawn attention from members of both parties, military personnel and outside researchers. Lawmakers said the goal of the current inquiry is to reduce unknowns about aerial encounters, evaluate any potential threats to personnel or national security, and establish clearer rules on declassification and whistleblower protections so that credible evidence reaches oversight bodies.