UNCLASSIFIED // PUBLIC RECORDSENSOR FOOTAGE
OFFICIAL VIDEO · ARABIAN GULFThe Middle East 2020 UAP Video
This infrared clip, two minutes and 17 seconds long, was part of the Pentagon’s first UFO and UAP file release on May 8, 2026. AARO lists it as DOW-UAP-PR36, an ‘Unresolved UAP Report’ from the Middle East, May 2020, submitted by U.S. Central Command. DVIDS gives the location only as undisclosed, but the release’s listing for the accompanying debrief places it over the Persian Gulf on May 14, 2020.
At five seconds a spot of contrast briefly enters from the left. The sensor then pans away while cycling contrast and zoom settings. At 19 seconds the spot re-enters from the top of the screen and stays generally in view for about a minute. The sensor zooms in at 1:16 and again at 1:56. At 2:10 a blue reticle appears but does not lock on, and in the last seconds the sensor changes mode and loses the object.
According to AARO, an accompanying ‘Range Fouler’ debrief described the UAP as ‘a solid white object making erratic movements above the water’. AARO has not published altitude, speed or size estimates for this case, and the video shows no lock-on that would give a measured range.
AARO attaches the same caution to every description in the release: it is ‘provided for informational purposes only’ and is not ‘an analytical judgment, investigative conclusion, or factual determination’. The Pentagon has described the material in the first release as ‘unresolved cases, meaning the government is unable to make a definitive determination’.
No official explanation for this clip has been published. Like the other recent military videos in the release, it is significant mainly as a window into the routine reports that reach AARO from operational areas: short, partial sensor recordings with a sentence or two of description. Without range data, ‘erratic’ apparent movement can be hard to separate from the motion of the sensor itself.
