DOW-UAP-D028, Mission Report, Iraq, September 2024

Official Conclusion

Assessed as benign; no advanced capabilities or materials observed; path appeared predetermined; UAP not reobserved after engagement.

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. 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.

Key Findings

• →The UAP flew through the aircraft's IR sensor field of view at a high rate of speed in between munition release and munition impact of an AGM-176 Griffin missile.
• →The UAP produced an IR lens flare on both the MX-20 and MX-25 sensors, indicating a significant heat source from the object.
• →No parties reported an additional aircraft in the airspace, and no radar interrogation of the UAP was conducted.
• →It is unknown whether an object detached from the primary UAP immediately before it left the sensor field of view, suggesting possible splitting behavior.
• →The UAP's path of movement appeared predetermined and not in response to the crew's detection; the observer assessed it as benign with no effects on personnel or equipment.

Extracted Entities