UNCLASSIFIED // PUBLIC RELEASERELEASE 01 · MAY 8, 2026
PENTAGON UFO FILE · DOCUMENT · DOW-UAP-D075Mission Report, Gulf of Aden, July 2024
This mission report (MISREP) comes from the 124th Attack Squadron and a sortie on July 14, 2024, that began with target-development work for NAVCENT, the Navy’s Middle East command, over the Gulf of Aden and was later retasked to support AFCENT, the Air Force’s regional command. The sighting came at 0517Z, during the first tasking.
What the form records
The crew logged one UAP in a straight flight path at a constant altitude, entered as “LOW,” on a northwest trajectory. Its speed is redacted, and the anomalous-behavior field says the UAP was faster than the “flying speed” of something whose name is also redacted. The crew followed it until the distance became too great. The UAP’s response to being observed, its propulsion, whether it was under intelligent control and whether it had advanced capabilities are all marked unknown, and the observer, listed as “TSGT/E-5,” assessed it as benign.
What is missing
The description field begins “UAP HAD” and the rest is redacted, so the report gives no shape, color or size. The aircraft’s altitude, speed and type are also withheld, which makes the comparison of speeds impossible to check. Weather was recorded as not a factor. The positions are given as partly redacted grid references. Like other MISREPs, this is the crew’s immediate account; it contains no follow-up analysis or explanation.
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 on July 14, 2024. The observer reported that the UAP maintained a “straight flight path at same altitude”. The report notes that the UAP’s “speed was faster than flying speed,” and the operator assessed the object as “benign.” The operator reported following the UAP “till the distance became too far.” 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.