Department of War PURSUE File
DOW-UAP-D35, Mission Report, Greece, October 2023
Aegean Sea·10/29/23
Editorial summary
On October 29, 2023, a U.S. Air Force intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft operating in the Aegean Sea observed an unidentified object flying just above the ocean surface, according to a declassified mission report released by the Department of War. The aircraft, on a planned intelligence-collection mission, spotted the object at approximately 0811 UTC while conducting full motion video surveillance. The operator described the object as seemingly circular in shape and too small to discern additional details from the sensor feed. The object was observed flying straight above the ocean toward land before the aircraft lost visual contact with it at 0811 UTC.
The sighting occurred during a nine-hour-and-twenty-four-minute surveillance collection period that began when the aircraft arrived on station at 2018 UTC on October 28. Prior to the UAP observation, the crew had conducted pattern-of-life monitoring on multiple targets of interest with no anomalous activity detected. They also observed six vehicles on a parking garage rooftop. Weather conditions during the mission were clear, which supported effective surveillance operations.
The aircraft, equipped with full motion video collection systems and data-link capabilities, recorded the encounter. The mission report indicates that the observer assessed the object as benign, though the object's propulsion means, advanced capabilities, and materials remain unknown. The report documents an estimated velocity of thirty miles per hour and provides coordinates placing the observation in the Aegean Sea. No reaction to observer actions was recorded, and no personnel effects or equipment effects were reported. The full motion video was exploited by the appropriate intelligence exploitation unit, with approximately nine hours and twenty-four minutes of video collected during the mission.
This document is now part of the Department of War's public PURSUE release, made available following declassification in January 2026.
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. A U.S. military operator reported observing a UAP “flying just above the surface of the ocean.” The report describes the UAP as “[flying] straight above the ocean towards lands.” 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
10/29/23
Incident location
Aegean Sea
Release tranche
Release 01 (May 8, 2026)
Distribution
Cleared for public release