UNCLASSIFIED // PUBLIC RELEASERELEASE 01 · MAY 8, 2026
PENTAGON UFO FILE · VIDEO · DOW-UAP-PR027Unresolved UAP Report, United Arab Emirates, October 2023
Central Command submitted this 4-minute-57-second infrared video to AARO alongside a brief October 2023 mission report from the United Arab Emirates, DoW-UAP-D23, which says only that one UAP was observed. A second, much shorter clip, DOW-UAP-PR026, is linked to the same report. The platform is not named, and parts of the record are redacted.
A slow start and an unsteady finish
The first 1 minute and 55 seconds are blank. At 1:56 a patch becomes visible on the right side of the picture, and over the next 20 seconds the operator pans to center it and then narrows the field of view to zoom in. For more than a minute after that the patch stays close to the middle of the screen.
From 3:27 to the end, the sensor’s own movement makes the patch dart erratically around the display, and the tracking system repeatedly loses it and picks it up again near the center.
What AARO attributes the movement to
AARO’s description is careful on one point: the erratic motion in the last minute and a half is put down to the movement of the sensor, not to anything the object was doing. Beyond that it offers no explanation and no finding, and the report gives no shape, size or speed to work from. “Area of contrast” is AARO’s deliberately neutral phrase for anything that stands out from the background in a sensor image; on an infrared camera that usually means something warmer or cooler than its surroundings.
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 four minutes and 57 seconds of video footage from an infrared (IR) sensor aboard a U.S. military platform in 2023. An accompanying mission report, DoW-UAP-D23, mentions a UAP was observed during the mission.
Video Description: 00:00-01:55: No content. 01:56: An area of contrast becomes distinguishable against the background in the center of the right side of the display. 02:04: The IR sensor pans to center on the area of contrast. 02:14: The sensor field-of-view narrows to zoom in on the area of contrast. 02:15-03:26: The area of contrast remains generally in the center of the sensor field-of-view. 03:27-04:57: The sensor motion causes the area of contrast to move erratically across the display. Due to this motion, the sensor system repeatedly loses and reacquires the area of contrast within the center area of the display.
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.