UFO Video over the Middle East, May 2020 (IR, 2 min)
Official file: DOW-UAP-PR036, Unresolved UAP Report, Middle East, May 2020
Published · Updated
Key moments
Key facts
- Official file ID
- DOW-UAP-PR36 (cited as DOW-UAP-PR036 in this file)
- Document type
- Video
- Agency
- Department of War
- Released in
- R01 · 2026-05-08
- Incident date
- not indicated
- Incident location
- Middle East
- Coordinates
- 29, 45
- Pages legible
- 1/1
- Duration
- 137s
Official description
The United States Central Command submitted a report of an unidentified anomalous phenomenon (UAP) to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) consisting of two minutes and 17 seconds of video footage from an infrared sensor aboard a U.S. military platform in 2020. An accompanying Range Fouler report, DoW-UAP-D38, described the UAP as a solid white object making erratic movements above the water.
✦ AI visual analysis
Green false-color FLIR/night-vision video of a ship or boat viewed from above on open water, framed by a military-style targeting HUD: vertical tick-marked range bars on either side, a horizontal green tracking line running through an orange circular lock marker on the vessel, a yellow tally bar, and small triangle/arrow indicators including a red arrow and cyan corner brackets. The vessel's superstructure and deck are visible in green monochrome against lighter gray water. This is clearly a maritime tracking shot rather than an aerial anomaly close-up.
Generated with AI from the official file — may contain errors.
▸Transcript(1 of 1 pages legible)
[PAGE 1] Declassified by MG Richard A. Harrison USCENTCOM Chief of Staff Plea , o , us.~,;t , 13- 02 Range Fouler Debrie Form "submit" button above. Save and email the complete file manually (see below). Please complete this form to the best of your ability. If you do ot have the requested information, please leave the field blank. If there was more than one "group " please report each on a separate form for data collection purposes. You should receive a respons within 5 business days. Last Name, First Name Rank Squadron SIPR Email Address Crew Position This information is for contact only. SPEAR sanitizes all r ports of identifying information. Absolutely no identifying information for aircrew or squadmn will be recorded for analysis. 05/14/20 20:40:00 Night Date (mmldd/yy) Time of detection Day I Night (hh:mm:ss Z) 28314 Contact Working Area (Ex: W-72 1A) 28314 Contact Latitute (DD:MM:SS) ISR Side No. Buno Mission Description (GAS, BFM, etc) N 49524 E 20000 Yes NIS Contact Longitude EM' ' ontact Altitude Altitude (DD:MM:SS) ( : 22000) Constant? Wind Dir at Contact Alt (From) LFE? Wind Speed Please attempt to determine a Lat I Long for the contact at initial detection. We recommend using JMPS to reference the sensor-derived bearing and range relative to the bullseye you had in use. If that method is not available, any reasonable derivation of location will worl<, but please be as specific as possible and make a note in the comments section. These locations may be used to cue other means of tracking. Was the contact moving? Yes Radar Equipped: Stable Trackfile?: Intermittent # of Contacts in "Group": 1 EA Indications (Check all that apply): □ ECM □ □ False □ Letter Other/ Arc Identifier Trackfi/es Ambiguous AIM-9x Self-Track: ATFLIR Autotrack: Tally Achieved: □ □ □ Direction/Speed (Ex. 090/15) Please check all that apply: Round: [Z] Square: D Balloon-shaped: D Wings/Airframe: D Other Shape:O Apparent Propulsion:□ Moving Parts: D Metallic: D Markings: D Translucent: D Opaque: D Reflective: D Please use the field below to describe the contact and any interiaction in your own words with as much detail as possible. Please be sure to include any detail not incl ded in questions above. While preforming an ISR tasking (UL TN/Black Hot/Lin), a solid w ite 1object flew through the FOV. There was a temporarily lose of the object but re-acquired shortly there after. The crew was able to follow the object as it appeared to make erratic moments above the water. During the follow, crew was able to obtain 4x zoom on the object but lost the object due to poor track place ent. While following, the sensor operator was continuously manipulating the sensor to maintain eyes on th1e object. This is apparent by the waves of the water in the background being visible and not being visible. Don't use the purple "submit" button! Save this form with filenam "Date_Squadron_RF.pdr' and email it toj 3.sc, (b)(S) I (Also in the global) For troubleshooting, cal/I 3.Sc, (b)(B) Thank you for your time. Please ensure all display tapes are rip11ed for the entire time of interaction and saved as a .wmv (Example: 4 May VFA-106 HUD.wmv). Squa 1ron lintel personnel shall upload those files to the repository located at this link. I 3.5c, (b)(B) I USCENTCOM MDR 26-0019 Approved for Release to AARO 01/26/26 001
Generated with AI from the official file — may contain errors.
Official video description
00:05: An area of contrast briefly enters the sensor field-of-view from the left side of the screen. 00:06-00:18: The sensor pans away from the scene’s initial subject matter while cycling contrast settings and zoom levels. 00:19: The area of contrast re-enters the sensor field-of-view from near the center of the top edge of the screen. 00:20-01:15: The area of contrast remains generally within the sensor field-of-view. 01:16: The sensor narrows its field-of-view to zoom in on the area of contrast. 01:56: The sensor further narrows its field-of-view to zoom in on the area of contrast. 02:10: A blue reticle briefly appears on screen but does not acquire a lock on the area of contrast. 02:15-02:17: The sensor switches to a different modality and loses track of the area of contrast. 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.
Source: U.S. Department of War / AARO — public domain · war.gov/ufo