UNCLASSIFIED // PUBLIC RELEASERELEASE 01 · MAY 8, 2026
PENTAGON UFO FILE · DOCUMENT · DOW-UAP-D074Mission Report, Syria, November 2023
This mission report (MISREP) covers an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance sortie under Operation Inherent Resolve, with several surveillance taskings over Syria. Its pages carry a release recommendation dated June 2, 2025. The UAP sighting came at 2153Z on November 9, 2023, as the crew was returning to base.
What the crew reported
According to the event text, the crew saw a probable UAP “shaped as a bouncy ball” approach from the south at nearly the same altitude. They watched it lose altitude and pass their aircraft safely while holding a steady speed of about 424 knots. After seven minutes it moved out of range and the crew continued home. The report says it gave off no emissions, was not considered a threat to the aircraft or to public safety, and had no effect on the crew.
How the form scores it
The structured fields are not fully consistent. Under “advanced capabilities” the crew answered yes, citing the steady 424-knot speed for at least seven minutes; yet intelligent control is marked “NO,” anomalous behaviors “N/A,” maneuverability “NONE,” and the observer’s assessment is “Benign.” The aircraft was heading southeast; its own altitude is redacted, and the object’s altitude field reads only “170,” without units. No imagery is attached to this file. The speed is the crew’s estimate, and the report draws no conclusion about what the object was.
The official description
From war.gov/UFO, released May 8, 2026, quoted in full
This document is a Mission Report (MISREP), a standardized reporting form the U.S. Military uses to record the circumstances surrounding its operations. U.S. military services often use MISREPs to report Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) to AARO. The GENTEXT, or “general text” section of these reports often contains important qualitative, contextual information, distinguishing it from the more quantitative, or numerical, data found elsewhere in the report. A U.S. military operator reported observing one UAP “shaped as a bouncy ball.” The observer described the UAP as traveling “~424kn (483 mph) consistently for at least 7mins.” The reporter described the UAP approaching from the south. The operator assessed the object as “benign.” All descriptive and estimative language contained in this report reflects the reporter’s subjective interpretation at the time of the event. Such characterizations should not be interpreted as a conclusive indication of the presence or absence of any intrinsic object features or performance characteristics.