Department of War PURSUE File
DOW-UAP-D28, Mission Report, Iraq, September 2024
Iraq·9/20/24
Editorial summary
On September 20, 2024, during a weapons calibration test in Iraq, a U.S. military aircraft crew operating advanced infrared sensors observed an unidentified aerial phenomenon moving at high speed through their field of view. According to the file, the incident occurred as the aircraft was conducting an armed overwatch mission near Ayn al Asad Air Base. The crew, identified as the weapons systems officer and combat systems officer, reported seeing the object immediately after releasing an AGM-176 air-to-surface missile. The phenomenon was not visually observed by the crew but was detected on the aircraft's MX-20 and MX-25 infrared sensors, where it registered as a lens flare indicating a significant heat source. The object traversed the sensor field of view at what the crew characterized as a high rate of speed, appearing between the moment of munition release and the moment of impact on the target.
The report indicates that the unidentified object's movement pattern appeared predetermined and showed no apparent reaction to the aircraft's presence or detection methods. The crew maintained laser guidance on their intended target throughout the observation and continued the mission to completion. A notable detail in the file states that it remains unknown whether a separate object may have detached from the primary phenomenon immediately before it left the sensor field of view. The aircraft did not reobserve the object after it passed through the sensor range.
The mission took place within the Ayn al Asad Restricted Operating Zone during Operation Inherent Resolve, a U.S. Air Force armed overwatch tasking. The aircraft remained on station for three hours and fifty-three minutes before departing at 2323Z on September 20. The crew reported no effects on equipment from the incident and characterized the phenomenon as benign in their official assessment. No additional aircraft were reported in the airspace at the time, and no third-party observers or radar correlations were documented.
This mission report was declassified in October 2025 and is now part of the public record through the Department of War's PURSUE Release 01.
Editorial summary written by govweird from the declassified document text. The official government description follows below.
Government description
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. While conducting a weapons calibration test, U.S. military operators reported observing a lens flare via MX-20 and MX-25 IR sensors after firing an AGM-176 Griffin air-to-surface missile. The operators described the source of the flare as a UAP moving through the aircraft’s sensor’s field-of-view at a high rate of speed. The reporter assessed that the flare was associated with “a significant heat source.” 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.
Caption issued by the U.S. Department of War on war.gov/ufo. Verbatim, unedited.
Originating agency
Department of War
Record type
Incident date
9/20/24
Incident location
Iraq
Release tranche
Release 01 (May 8, 2026)
Distribution
Cleared for public release