During a flight over the Arabian Gulf, a crew member reported two anomalies within five minutes. The report offers just one clue about their direction of travel.
A military crew member reported two anomalies in video from an aircraft sensor, five minutes apart. The report says the second moved northwest but does not describe what appeared in the video.
USCENTCOM mission report (MISREP 5039166 / MOR 26-0028) covering an AREC (Airborne Reconnaissance) sortie on 2-3 November 2020 in support of NAVCENT in the Arabian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz, and Gulf of Oman. The aircraft (callsign and type redacted) flew 20 hours 42 minutes from OKAS, conducted scans against a target deck and open-water UUV searches, was hailed on GUARD by Iranian Air Defense at 1012Z, and observed two Unidentified Aerial Phenomena via FMV at 2143Z and 2148Z on 2 November 2020.
Aircraft observed an Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon at FL220, heading 110 T, airspeed 105 KIAS, with bearing 080 T from observer; altitude of UAP unknown.
Five minutes after the first observation, aircraft observed a second/additional UAP traveling NW. Aircraft at FL220, heading 110 T, airspeed 107 KIAS.
Aircraft hailed on GUARD by Iranian Air Defense; standard call issued, aircraft responded with standard response. No impact to mission.
"AT 2143Z [REDACTED] OBSERVED 1X UNIDENTIFIED AERIAL PHENOMENON IVO 39RWK[REDACTED] ALTITUDE UNKNOWN WITH A BEARING OF 080 T."
Why it matters: First UAP observation, captured on FMV from a USAF ISR platform supporting NAVCENT.
Page 6
"AT 2148Z, [REDACTED] OBSERVED AN ADDITIONAL UAP TRAVELING NW IVO 39RWK[REDACTED]"
Why it matters: Second UAP observation only five minutes after the first, suggesting either two distinct objects or a re-acquisition; direction of travel (NW) is documented.
Page 7
"AT 1012Z [REDACTED] WAS HAILED ON GUARD [REDACTED] BY IRANIAN AIR DEFENSE. ORDERS GIVEN: STANDARD CALL. [REDACTED] RESPONDED WITH STANDARD RESPONSE. NO IMPACT TO THE MISSION"
Why it matters: Documents a same-day Iranian Air Defense radio interaction roughly 11 hours before the UAP observations during the same sortie.
Page 6
"FMV WAS EXPLOITED BY DOSI. 20.42 MISSION HOURS, 18.55 IMINT HOURS, 1 IMINT TASKING PROSECUTED"
Why it matters: Confirms downstream exploitation of the full-motion video imagery on which the UAPs were observed.
Page 1
"(U) HAZE PRECLUDED IMINT COLLECTION"
Why it matters: Atmospheric conditions documented as degrading IMINT collection during the mission window in which UAPs were nevertheless observed.
Page 5
MG Richard A. Harrison
Declassification Authority / USCENTCOM Chief of Staff · USCENTCOM · Page 1
Arabian Gulf
Page 1
Strait of Hormuz
Page 1
Gulf of Oman
Page 1
OKAS (takeoff/landing ICAO)
Page 4
39RUP (tasked start point grid, redacted)
Page 5
39RUN (guardcall aircraft location grid, redacted)
Page 6
39RWK (UAP observation grid, redacted), Arabian Gulf area
Page 6
482 ATKS
USAF · Page 1
432 AEW
USAF · Page 2
609 CAOC / 609th Operations Center
USAF · Page 1
12 AF PAROC
USAF · Page 2
379 AEW
USAF · Page 2
NAVCENT
US Navy · Page 1
DOSI (FMV exploitation)
Page 1
Iranian Air Defense
Aircraft callsign, ATO mission number, supported operation name, and platform/sensor designators throughout the narrative
Likely reason: (b)(1) 1.4a / 1.4g — National security / classified intelligence sources & methods
POC names, phone numbers, and emails for SrA preparer, contractor QC, and TSgt approver
Likely reason: 3 5c (b)(6) — personal privacy
Asset type (aircraft type) and aircraft tail number
Likely reason: (b)(1) 1.4a, 1.4g — classified military capability
Tasked start point grid digits beyond '39RUP' and supported operation name
Likely reason: (b)(1) 1.4a — operational location/operation classified
Guardcall ground-station callsign and partial UAP observation grid coordinates
Likely reason: (b)(1) 1.4g, 1.4a — sources/methods and precise location
Aircraft airspeed not recorded for guardcall entry
Likely reason: Field left blank in form
USCENTCOM MOR 26-0028 / MISREP 5039166. Declassified 16 March 2026 by MG Richard A. Harrison. Document declassification date listed as 20450301 ('2045-03-01'). Aircraft type and callsign redacted under (b)(1) 1.4a/1.4g but the platform profile (ANDAS4 targeting pod, AREC tasking, ~21h endurance, 482 ATKS / 432 AEW out of OKAS) is consistent with an MQ-9 class RPA. Slug references 'Iran' but the actual UAP observations occurred over the Arabian Gulf / Strait of Hormuz operational area in support of NAVCENT; the 'Iran' label appears tied to the Iranian Air Defense GUARD hail logged earlier in the same sortie. Two UAP observations five minutes apart in grid 39RWK should be cross-checked against other CENTCOM MISREPs in the corpus for repeat geographic clustering.
The report does not describe what the anomalies looked like or what in the video prompted the crew member to report them.
It was reported five minutes after the first, and the report says it moved northwest.
Iran · Page 6
ANDAS4
sensor (targeting pod / primary sensor) · Page 3
AH_GMESH_VORTEX
sensor (additional avionics) · Page 3
AH/GMESH
sensor (sensors available) · Page 5
FMV
sensor (full-motion video) · Page 6
During a military flight over the Arabian Gulf, a crew member watched video from an aircraft sensor. At 21:43, they spotted an unidentified anomaly.
Five minutes later, another anomaly appeared. This time, the report also recorded its direction of travel: northwest. That is all the report says about what the anomalies looked like. It does not even make clear what in the video prompted the crew member to report them.
The flight was supporting the US Navy, and the crew was scanning areas of the Arabian Gulf. During the scans, the crew member reported the first anomaly, then the second. The report describes them as separate sightings, five minutes apart.
The video came from an aircraft sensor. That helps explain how the sighting was made, but not exactly what appeared in the footage. The report offers no description of the first anomaly’s shape, color, or movement.
The second anomaly was reported at 21:48. This time, the report says it moved northwest. It gives no similar detail about the first anomaly, so it is impossible to know whether the two looked alike.
The report also does not say whether another crew member saw them, or whether the second anomaly appeared in the same area as the first. It records two sightings close together in time, but does not say what the crew member saw in the video or what led them to identify two anomalies.
The report does not say what the anomalies looked like, how high the first one was, or what caused them. It offers no conventional explanation and does not identify what was seen.
Only five minutes separated the two sightings. One direction remains on the record: northwest.