Unresolved UAP Report, Iraq, May 2022
- Date
- 30 May 2022
- Place
- Iraq/Syria border area (36S grid, near Al Assad airfield; USEUCOM/USCENTCOM AOR)
- Record
- Pentagon file
- Assessment
- Not assessed
- Evidence strength
What was reported
Ten seconds of infrared video from a US ISR platform on a long overwater/overland collection sortie out of Sigonella, paired with mission report DOW-UAP-D014. The MISREP's dedicated UAP entry (0117Z) states the screener 'could not get a positive ID' on the object. The PURSUE blurb instead states the mission report 'described the UAP as a probable SU-27/35', but that phrase actually belongs to a separate, non-UAP 'OBSERVATION' entry logged at 0011Z (66 minutes earlier) about a landing aircraft, not the tracked UAP.
What officials concluded
Unresolved
The MISREP's own UAP-specific entry states no identification was achieved; a same-report but separate and non-UAP-tagged 'OBSERVATION' line (different timestamp, different purpose) records a probable SU-27/35 landing, which the PURSUE…
- Agency
- Department of War
- Released in
- 123456
AARO comment
SU-27 and SU-35 are designations for military aircraft operated by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
Evidence profile
- No: 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
- No: 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
- No: Other shape
- No: Physiological
- No: Physical trace
- No: Electromagnetic
- No: Sound
- No: Silent
Why this rating Single infrared sensor, brief clip, generic 'two areas of contrast' description, and the report's own UAP-tagged entry states no ID was achieved. No radar or independent corroboration. The government's public characterization of this file as an identified aircraft is not supported by the underlying document's UAP-tagged entry.
As described in the file
- Witnesses
- One USCENTCOM/USEUCOM ISR aircrew, unnamed, redacted
- Sensors
- FMV/infrared (single sensor)
- Motion
- Flew north to north-east
- Duration
- 10 seconds released; contact at 0117Z
- Altitude or range
- Aircraft at FL240, 142 KIAS
- Effects
- UAP Signatures: No (per MISREP structured field)
Pentagon files
DOW-UAP-PR021, Unresolved UAP Report, Iraq, May 2022
Open the original on war.gov
What the file claims
- Unverified
The mission report's dedicated UAP entry states the screener could not positively identify the object.
- Unverified
A separate, non-UAP 'OBSERVATION' entry in the same mission report, logged 66 minutes earlier, records one probable SU-27/35 landing at a named airfield.
- Unverified
The PURSUE public description attributes the 'probable SU-27/35' characterization to the UAP itself, which the source MISREP does not support.
On the map
34.00° N, 41.00° E, plotted at the centre of the region named in the record
Show on the map