Unresolved UAP Report, United Arab Emirates, October 2023
- Date
- 24 Oct 2023
- Place
- United Arab Emirates / Arabian Gulf (39R/40R grid, NAVCENT AOR, OP Spartan Shield)
- Record
- Pentagon file
- Assessment
- Not assessed
- Evidence strength
What was reported
Forty-three seconds of infrared video, the first of two UAP contacts logged on a single NAVCENT-supporting ISR sortie out of Al Dhafra (mission report DOW-UAP-D023). This first contact (0241Z) is a brief tracked object; the aircrew's structured form records it as solid, benign, thermally cold, and moving at an estimated (not measured) 320 mph. The same sortie also received an Iranian Air Defense guard call 56 minutes earlier.
What officials concluded
Unresolved
Aircrew's structured form categorizes the object as 'Benign' and 'Solid' with no advanced capabilities and no reaction to observation, but offers no identification of what the object was.
- Agency
- Department of War
- Released in
- 123456
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, no radar or second-sensor corroboration, all kinematic data flagged 'Estimated' rather than measured, and the aircrew's own form does not report anomalous performance (no intelligent control, no advanced capabilities, no reaction to the platform).
As described in the file
- Witnesses
- One USAF ISR aircrew (50 ATKS), unnamed, redacted
- Sensors
- FMV/infrared (single sensor)
- Motion
- Estimated kinetic velocity 320 MPH, trajectory unknown
- Duration
- 43 seconds released
- Altitude or range
- Aircraft at FL243, 162 KTAS
- Effects
- UAP Effects on Persons: NO; thermal signature 'showed cold'
Pentagon files
DOW-UAP-PR026, Unresolved UAP Report, United Arab Emirates, October 2023
Open the original on war.gov
What the file claims
- Unverified
The aircrew's structured UAP fields record the object as solid, thermally cold, judged benign, not under apparent intelligent control, with an estimated (not measured) speed of 320 mph.
- Unverified
This sortie also received a guard call from Iranian air defense 56 minutes before the first UAP contact, an unrelated but contemporaneous event on the same mission.
On the map
26.00° N, 54.00° E, a position at sea, approximate
Show on the map