Unresolved UAP Sighting Over Middle East (May 2022) — Pentagon Report
A declassified Pentagon report details a 2022 infrared sensor recording of an unidentified object moving across a military sensor field-of-view.
Case Overview
The Unresolved UAP Sighting Over Middle East, documented in May 2022, remains a subject of interest within the archives of anomalous aerial phenomena. The incident involves a brief period of sensor activity captured by United States military hardware operating within the Middle Eastern theater. According to the declassified documentation, the event is characterized by a very short duration of visual data and an ambiguity regarding the nature of the objects observed.
Documentation and Evidence
The primary evidence for this event is contained within the document DOW-UAP-PR19, an Unresolved UAP Report pertaining to the Middle East from May 2022. This specific record was made public as part of the Department of War PURSUE release on May 8, 2026, and is included in the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) public document set.
The core of the reported phenomenon consists of five seconds of video footage captured by an infrared sensor mounted on a U.S. military platform. The visual data shows a specific area of contrast moving from left to right across the bottom third of the sensor field-of-view, appearing at the two-second mark of the recording. While the video provides a visual record of motion, the technical nature of the footage leaves the identity of the moving object unconfirmed.
Mission Analysis and Observations
Accompanying the video footage is a mission report, identified as DoW-UAP-D10, which provides the initial military assessment of the sighting. In this report, the United States Central Command submitted the observation to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office. The mission report offered two distinct classifications for the objects detected during the sensor sweep. The moving area of contrast seen in the video was described as a “possible missile.” Additionally, the report noted the presence of four other objects that were not captured in the provided video footage, which were classified as “possible birds.”
Historical and Analytical Context
The Middle East has frequently been a site for the documentation of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) due to the high density of advanced surveillance, radar, and sensor-equipped military platforms operating in the region. The presence of sophisticated infrared and electro-optical sensors allows for the detection of objects that might otherwise evade conventional radar. In the modern era of aerial monitoring, the distinction between known technological threats, such as missiles, and natural phenomena, such as migratory birds, often presents a significant analytical challenge for intelligence agencies.
The classification of such events has undergone significant structural changes in recent years. The transition from the older frameworks of Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) reporting to the current All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) protocols reflects an institutional shift toward a more rigorous, multi-domain approach to analyzing anomalies. This approach seeks to integrate data from air, space, and maritime sensors to determine if observed phenomena represent adversary technology, natural occurrences, or unknown phenomena.
This specific case is representative of a broader category of “sensor-only” reports, where the duration of the encounter is too brief to allow for comprehensive identification. Such cases often rely heavily on the ability of analysts to differentiate between the thermal signatures of biological entities and the kinetic signatures of man-made projectiles. Because the 2022 sighting lacks long-term tracking data, it remains categorized as an unresolved event within the official Department of War archives.