Unresolved UAP Report, Middle East, 2022 — Department of War Video (DOW-UAP-PR141)
The United States Central Command submitted a report of an unidentified anomalous phenomenon to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) consisting of 2 minutes and 36 seconds of video footage from an electro-optical (right) and infrared (left) sensor aboard a U.S. military platform in…
Incident Overview
In 2022, in the Middle East, the Department of War preserved a sensor video that was declassified and published on September 18, 2026 as part of the sixth tranche of the Department of War’s Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE). The released copy carries redactions.
What the government released
The United States Central Command submitted a report of an unidentified anomalous phenomenon to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) consisting of 2 minutes and 36 seconds of video footage from an electro-optical (right) and infrared (left) sensor aboard a U.S. military platform in 2022. An accompanying mission report, DOW-UAP-D109, described the UAP as “traveling at various speeds between 80-180 miles per hour.”
Video Description: 00:00-00:12: An area of contract enters the sensor field-of-view from the lower right of the frame. The sensor pans to track the area of contrast, keeping it generally within the center of the frame. 00:13-00:14: The sensor switches modes to display an infrared (left) and electro-optical (right) feed. 00:15-00:18: The object enters the frame from the lower right, transiting the sensor field-of-view and exiting from the upper left. 00:19-00:20: The sensor switches to infrared mode, panning to track an area of contrast. 00:21-00:27: The sensor switches modes to display an infrared (left) and electro-optical (right) feed. 00:28-00:52: The sensor switches to infrared mode, panning to track an area of contrast. 00:52-00:57: A second area of contrast briefly enters the sensor field-of-view. 00:58-01:16: The sensor pans to track an area of contrast. 01:17-01:21: The sensor switches modes to display an infrared (left) and electro-optical (right) feed. The sensor pans to track the object. The object leaves the sensor field-of-view from the left edge of the frame. 01:22-01:27: No content. 01:28-01:31: The sensor switches to infrared mode. No content. 01:32-02:36: The area of contrast enters the sensor field-of-view from the lower left of the frame. The sensor pans to track the area of contrast, intermittently losing contact with it.
This video description is provided for informational purposes only. Readers should not interpret any part of this description as reflecting an analytical judgment, investigative conclusion, or factual determination regarding the described event’s validity, nature, or significance.
Related records
This footage was released with Mission Report, Middle East, in which the operator described what they believed they were seeing. The description and the sensor record can be read against each other, which is the most useful way to read either.
Status of the case
Records released under the PURSUE program are designated unresolved by the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, which means the federal government has not concluded the events were anomalous, has not concluded they were conventional, and has not ruled out either possibility. Where AARO has offered a likely source for an item — an infrared sensor aboard a military aircraft, a commercial camera, or a known optical effect — that attribution is the agency’s working assessment rather than a final determination. Conventional candidates such as drones, balloons, flares, satellites, parallax and forced-perspective artifacts, and ordinary aircraft remain on the table for any unresolved case absent better data than a single sensor pass or a witness recollection.