Department of War PURSUE File
DOW-UAP-D44, Range Fouler Reporting Form, Gulf of Aden, October 2020
Arabian Sea·10/15/20
Editorial summary
On October 15, 2020, a U.S. military operator conducting surveillance over the Arabian Sea detected an unidentified object via infrared sensor. According to the Range Fouler Reporting Form filed that day, the contact occurred at approximately 14:18 Zulu time in the Gulf of Aden region and lasted roughly one minute. The operator described the object as round in shape and characterized it as "cold" based on its appearance in the infrared spectrum, where it registered as bright white against the sensor's black-hot background setting.
The object was observed traveling at a heading of 319 degrees (northwest) at approximately 20 miles per hour. During the contact window, the operator noted that the object executed what were described as "abrupt directional changes." The sensor platform was positioned at 19,073 feet above sea level, with the infrared sensor pointed 50 degrees below the aircraft's altitude. The slant range to the contact measured 4.06 nautical miles, with a ground range of 4.78 kilometers. The operator achieved a stable trackfile on the contact and checked only the "round" descriptor box when asked to categorize the object's shape, leaving all other shape and feature categories blank.
The Range Fouler Reporting Form is a standardized U.S. Navy document used to record unauthorized intrusions into controlled airspace during active military operations or training exercises. Such reports capture the subjective observations of trained military personnel at the moment of detection. The form notes explicitly that characterizations made by observers reflect their interpretations at the time and should not be treated as conclusive indicators of the object's actual features or performance capabilities. The document was declassified and released publicly on May 8, 2026, as part of the Department of War 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 Range Fouler Reporting Form, a standardized reporting form the U.S. Navy uses to record the circumstances surrounding an unauthorized intrusion into controlled airspace during active military operations or training. These reports contain a narrative description of the observer’s experiences. A U.S. military operator reported observing a “round, cold object” via infrared sensor, traveling at 319 degrees (northwest) at approximately 20 mph. The report describes the UAP making “abrupt directional changes” during the event. 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
10/15/20
Incident location
Arabian Sea
Release tranche
Release 01 (May 8, 2026)
Distribution
Cleared for public release