DOW-UAP-D020, Mission Report, Iraq, 2023

Official Conclusion

Unresolved; reported as possible UAPs with no further resolution noted in document

Official 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 “several bright objects maneuvering quickly” west to east northeast. The operator reported achieving a track on the UAP via an onboard targeting pod for approximately 20 seconds. The report describes that UAP then dimmed and disappeared from the targeting pod. 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.

Key Findings

• →A 2-ship of F-16CM aircraft from the 77 EFS observed between 10 and 20 possible UAPs at 2302Z on 31 March 2023 while conducting Defensive Counter Air (DCA) operations northeast of RLZ in the ESSA killbox.
• →The UAPs were described as several bright objects maneuvering quickly from west to east at an estimated altitude of FL600+, well above the friendly aircraft altitude of FL265.
• →The crew obtained a track on the UAPs via targeting pod (TV mode) for approximately 20 seconds before the objects dimmed and disappeared from the pod.
• →No UAP RF signatures were detected, and UAP effects on persons were reported as none.
• →An analyst comment notes the crew compared the targeting pod return of the possible UAP against a star and the results were different, suggesting the objects were not stellar in origin.

Extracted Entities