Pentagon Footage from 2021 Reveals UAP Over Syria Achieving Near-Light-Speed Acceleration

In early February 2026, prominent investigative journalists Jeremy Corbell and George Knapp released a striking video clip reportedly retrieved from the Pentagon’s internal archives. The footage, which dates back to 2021, captures a highly anomalous aerial event that took place over the Suwayda province in Syria, located near the border with Jordan. This recording was captured by the sophisticated sensor array of an MQ-9 Reaper drone, and it showcases an unidentified object displaying flight characteristics that appear to defy the established laws of modern physics.

The 2021 video was originally documented and categorized as part of an extensive investigation conducted by the United States intelligence community. Detailed analysis presented on the WEAPONIZED podcast, hosted by Corbell and Knapp, indicated that the object slowed to approximately 5% of its original speed before performing a violent burst of acceleration. This maneuver was described by analysts as "instantaneous" and potentially reaching speeds close to the speed of light. Marik von Rennenkampff, a former official with the U.S. Department of Defense and the State Department who assisted in the analysis, noted that the background scenery remained entirely stable as the object vanished, which effectively eliminates the theory that the event was merely a camera artifact. The craft was described as mushroom-shaped and notably lacked any visible propulsion exhaust or the infrared signature common to standard drones or military aircraft.

Reports suggest that military sources have labeled the object's rapid departure as a "non-human" maneuver. The capacity to reach such extreme velocities without any visible inertial impact or reliance on known propulsion technology challenges the validity of current aerodynamic and propulsive frameworks. Jeremy Corbell, widely recognized for his efforts in UAP disclosure, stated that the observed performance of the craft fundamentally violates our current scientific understanding of the physical world. George Knapp further emphasized the reliability of the data, citing its official military provenance as a key factor in its authenticity.

This 2021 incident in Syria contributes to a growing body of evidence regarding UAP encounters monitored by the American military. It mirrors previous disclosures, such as the 2012 footage from the Persian Gulf that depicted three spherical objects moving in a coordinated formation. Marik von Rennenkampff, drawing on his extensive experience within the State Department and the Department of Defense, focused his evaluation on ruling out technical malfunctions. He confirmed that the object’s behavior was inconsistent with any known human-made craft, thereby increasing the scientific weight of the data captured by the drone's Multi-Spectral Targeting System (MTS-B).