Unresolved UAP Report, Middle East, 2025 — Department of War Video (DOW-UAP-PR135)
The United States Central Command submitted a report of an unidentified anomalous phenomenon to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) consisting of 1 minute of video footage from an infrared sensor aboard a U.S. military platform in 2025. An accompanying mission report, DOW-UAP-D108,…
Incident Overview
In 2025, 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 1 minute of video footage from an infrared sensor aboard a U.S. military platform in 2025. An accompanying mission report, DOW-UAP-D108, described the UAP as “six small spherical objects grouped together, and characterized their behavior as “seem[ingly] agile,” and “frequently changing direction.” The reporter estimated the speed of the UAP to have been 480 miles per hour.
Video Description: 00:00-00:04: No content. 00:05-00:10: Several areas of contrast transit the sensor field-of-view, entering from the top of the frame and exiting from the bottom. 00:11-00:47: The sensor pans to track the areas of contrast, keeping them generally within the center of the frame. 00:48-1:00: The sensor changes its level of magnification. No content.
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.