UNCLASSIFIED // PUBLIC RELEASERELEASE 01 · MAY 8, 2026
PENTAGON UFO FILE · VIDEO · DOW-UAP-PR019Unresolved UAP Report, Middle East, May 2022
This short clip is the video half of a 2022 report that U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), the military command responsible for the Middle East, passed to AARO. It lasts five seconds and comes from an infrared sensor on an unnamed U.S. military platform. The platform, the exact date and the location are all withheld.
What the clip and its report show
For about two seconds nothing happens. Then a patch of contrast — on an infrared picture, a spot warmer or cooler than what surrounds it — slides from left to right through the lower third of the image and is gone.
The interpretation comes from the companion mission report, which the collection files under Iraq. In it the operator called the object in this clip a “possible missile” and mentioned four further objects, which do not appear in the video, as “possible birds.” So the operator’s own first labels pointed to ordinary objects, though the release does not say they were ever confirmed.
How to read it
Neither label is a finding. AARO stresses that its description of the clip is not an analytical judgment, and the release does not say whether anyone later identified the object. A five-second infrared clip of a single moving contrast spot gives no size, range or speed by itself, which is why the written report matters as much as the footage. Pairs like this — a clip plus the MISREP filed at the time — show how sightings are recorded before any analysis takes place. More on the sensor type is under FLIR, and other footage is collected at videos.
The official description
From war.gov/UFO, released May 8, 2026, quoted in full
The United States Central Command submitted a report of an unidentified anomalous phenomenon to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) consisting of five seconds of video footage from an infrared sensor aboard a U.S. military platform in 2022. An accompanying mission report, DoW-UAP-D10, described the observation as a “possible missile” moving across the field-of-view. The report also described four other objects not depicted in the video as “possible birds.”
Video Description: At the two second mark, the video depicts an area of contrast moving from left to right across the bottom third of the sensor field-of-view.
This video description is provided for informational purposes only. Readers should not interpret any part of this description as reflecting an analytical judgment, investigative conclusion, or factual determination regarding the described event’s validity, nature, or significance.