Mission Report, Arabian Gulf, 2020
- Date
- Date unknown
- Record
- Pentagon file
- Assessment
- Not assessed
- Evidence strength
What was reported
A MISREP fragment in which the crew itself proposes an explanation: the object 'looks like a balloon,' similar to a previously reported UAP from the same wing (48FW), traveling with the winds at 31,000 ft. The crew achieved a track and visually identified it in the targeting FLIR.
What officials concluded
Tentative explanation
Crew assessment: 'looks like a balloon,' consistent with a previously reported UAP from the same unit.
- Agency
- Department of War
- Released in
- 123456
Evidence profile
- Yes: Visual
- Yes: Infrared
- No: Radar
- No: Video
- No: Photo
- No: Film
- No: Audio
- No: Night vision
- No: Other sensor
- No: Civilian
- Yes: Military aircrew
- No: Military ground
- No: Airline crew
- Yes: Sensor operator
- No: Law enforcement
- No: Scientist
- No: Astronaut
- No: Intelligence official
- No: Other
- No: Light only
- No: Orb or sphere
- No: Disc
- No: Triangle
- No: Cylinder
- No: Cube
- Yes: Other shape
- No: Physiological
- No: Physical trace
- No: Electromagnetic
- No: Sound
- No: Silent
Why this rating Single sensor (TFLIR/visual); the crew's own tentative identification (a balloon drifting with prevailing winds) is a conventional, mundane explanation and is internally consistent with a repeat sighting by the same unit.
As described in the file
- Witnesses
- One U.S. military operator (48th Fighter Wing)
- Sensors
- Visual, TFLIR
- Shape
- Not otherwise described
- Motion
- Traveling with the winds
- Duration
- Not stated
- Altitude or range
- 31,000 ft MSL
Pentagon files
DOW-UAP-D007, Mission Report, Arabian Gulf, 2020
Open the original on war.gov
What the file claims
- Unverified
The crew visually identified the UAP in the TFLIR and assessed it as resembling a balloon drifting with the winds at 31,000 ft, similar to a prior 48th Fighter Wing report.