DOW-UAP-PR21, Unresolved UAP Report, Iraq, May 2022

A U.S. military surveillance aircraft operating over the Eastern Mediterranean in May 2022 recorded ten seconds of infrared video showing two areas of contrast moving together, which personnel aboard the platform could not immediately identify. The aircraft, which had taken off from Sigonella Air Base on May 29, 2022, was conducting intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance operations in support of U.S. Central Command when the unidentified object was observed at approximately 0117 UTC on May 30. According to the file, a screener monitoring the infrared imagery could not obtain a positive identification of the phenomenon. The aircraft was operating at Flight Level 240 at an airspeed of 142 knots indicated when the contact was detected in the vicinity of the Israel-Lebanon-Syria region.

The mission report that accompanied this video file, designated DoW-UAP-D14, characterized the observed phenomenon as a "probable SU-27/35," designations for fighter aircraft operated by the Russian Federation's armed forces. This assessment appeared in the observation section of the report, recorded at 0011 UTC, which describes one probable SU-27/35 landing at a specific location in the Al Assad airfield area. However, the UAP section of the same report, documenting the earlier sighting at 0117 UTC, indicates that the object that was observed flying north to northeast could not be positively identified by the screener, despite attempts to follow it for as long as possible. The discrepancy between the two time stamps and the two separate observations suggests the video footage may correspond to the unresolved sighting rather than to any identified aircraft.

The mission itself was extensive, lasting more than twenty hours, with the aircraft remaining on station for approximately fourteen hours while conducting target development and collecting signals intelligence across multiple locations in the Eastern Mediterranean and surrounding region. The flight was not significantly impacted by a reaction from two to three aircraft, possibly including Russian Su-30 fighters, which approached from the Syrian coast to within approximately five nautical miles before departing westward. Weather conditions were not a factor in either the reaction event or the observations recorded during the mission. The file was declassified by the U.S. Central Command Chief of Staff in October 2025 and is now part of the public record through the Department of War PURSUE Release.