DOW-UAP-PR042

Unresolved UAP Report, Middle East, 2020

Format
Video
Incident date
Not given
Place
Arabian Gulf
Released
Release 01, May 8, 2026
Source
DVIDS

Description from war.gov

The United States Central Command submitted a report of an unidentified anomalous phenomenon to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) consisting of four minutes and 53 seconds of video footage from an infrared sensor aboard a U.S. military platform in 2020. The reporter did not provide any oral or written description of the observation. Video Description: 00:00-00:12: An area of contrast enters the sensor field-of-view from the bottom left corner of the frame. The sensor pans to track the area of contrast, keeping it generally within the lower left quadrant of the frame. 00:13-00:40: The area of contrast intermittently loses distinctiveness against the background, seeming to disappear and reappear irregularly. 00:41: The sensor narrows its field-of-view to zoom in on the area of contrast. 00:42-00:52: An area of contrast exits the sensor field-of-view from the left half of the top of the frame, after which the sensor pans up and to the left. 00:53-02:09: The sensor pans erratically, with an area of contrast appearing in a relatively fixed position to the left and slightly below the center of the frame. 02:09-02:29: The sensor switches imaging modalities, and the area of contrast appears to the right and slightly above the center of the frame. 02:30-04:53: The sensor switches imaging modalities again, and the area of contrast returns to its previous position to the left and slightly below the center of the frame. 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.

Redactions war.gov lists this record as redacted. Withheld material is blacked out in the file itself.

Machine summary

Written by Claude Sonnet 4.6 (Anthropic) on May 22, 2026, from the record's text and war.gov's description. It is not part of the record and can contain errors; check it against the document.

DOW-UAP-PR042 is a video record submitted by U.S. Central Command to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), documenting a UAP observation over the Arabian Gulf in 2020. The footage runs four minutes and 53 seconds and was captured by an infrared sensor aboard an unspecified U.S. military platform. No oral or written description was provided by the reporting party. The video shows an area of contrast tracked by the sensor across multiple imaging modalities and field-of-view adjustments, with the object intermittently losing definition against the background before reappearing.

The absence of any accompanying written or verbal report from the observer is a significant gap, leaving the footage without contextual data such as altitude, speed, or crew observations. The object's intermittent disappearance in infrared and its persistence across sensor modality switches are noted but unexplained. No OCR text is available, indicating the record is video-only with no embedded documentation. AARO classifies this incident as unresolved. The platform type and specific sensor system remain unidentified in the released material.

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