For 21 seconds, the shape stayed near the center of the frame. The viewer suggested it might be a reflection in the water.
Footage from a heat-sensing camera shows an inverted teardrop shape with a vertical streak beneath it. The viewer suggested it might be a reflection of something in the water.
21-second declassified infrared (IR) sensor video released by the Department of War as DOW-UAP-PR29 (DVIDS asset 1006074), submitted by U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO). Footage was captured from an IR sensor aboard a U.S. military platform in 2024 over the Gulf of Oman / United Arab Emirates area of operations. The sensor frames a sea-surface scene in monochrome IR with a small bright object visually resembling an 'inverted teardrop' with a vertical linear trailing mass beneath it; the object remains generally near the center of the field-of-view throughout. The accompanying mission report DoW-UAP-D8 notes the observer's alternative hypothesis that the UAP may instead be a reflection from an object in the water; the case is publicly listed as unresolved.
An infrared sensor aboard a U.S. military platform recorded a 21-second clip of a small bright contrast feature on or just above the sea surface. The sensor HUD includes a corner-bracket field-of-view reticle, a center crosshair that intermittently becomes a square tracking box, an 'N' compass indicator near bottom center, and a redaction block (solid black rectangle) covering the top-center of the frame where sensor metadata/banner text would normally appear. The object — described in the official release as an 'inverted teardrop with a vertically linear trailing mass suspended below' — is visible in every keyframe and stays near the center of the FOV; its position relative to the crosshair drifts slightly between frames, consistent with platform/sensor motion rather than high-velocity object motion. The observer logged an alternative hypothesis that the feature could be a reflection from an object floating on the water.
Gulf of Oman, Oman/UAE maritime
United Arab Emirates
U.S. military platform with infrared sensor (specific platform not disclosed)
sensor
Top-center of every video frame: a solid black rectangle masks the on-screen sensor banner / header text (likely platform ID, sensor mode, time/date, or coordinates).
Likely reason: Operational security — concealment of the originating platform, sensor type/mode, and precise time-location metadata.
Pair this video with the DoW-UAP-D8 mission report PDF (if/when released in the corpus) for the narrative companion. This is one of multiple maritime / IR sensor UAP videos in the 5/8/26 release batch — useful for a 'maritime IR UAP morphology' cluster in reports. Geographic note: manifest tags Gulf of Oman as the incident_location while the DVIDS public title says 'United Arab Emirates' — both refer to the same USNORTHCOM-submitted UAE/Gulf-of-Oman event.
An inverted teardrop-like shape with a narrow vertical streak beneath it.
That is one possibility raised by the viewer, but the report does not determine what the footage shows.
Footage filmed in the Gulf of Oman shows a shape resembling an inverted teardrop, with a narrow vertical streak extending below it. The recording lasts 21 seconds, and the shape stays near the center of the frame for most of that time.
The streak appears to be attached to the bottom of the shape. But the viewer offered another possibility: perhaps this is not an object with a streak beneath it, but a reflection of something in the water. The difference between the two possibilities changes what the image seems to show.
The footage was recorded in 2024 by a heat-sensing camera aboard a U.S. military vehicle. This is not a conventional image showing colors and details as a person would see them. Instead, it displays areas that register differently on the sensor, including the teardrop-like shape and the streak beneath it.
The footage description says the shape and streak usually remain near the center of the frame. The result is a relatively steady image: one shape, with a vertical streak beneath it. The description offers no clear movement to explain what is there or how the image was produced.
The accompanying report described the image as an object with a rod or vertical streak attached beneath it. But the person who watched the footage suggested another explanation: it could be a reflection of an object in the water.
If it is a reflection, the streak that appears to hang beneath the shape may be part of the image on the water’s surface. If not, it may be part of the object itself. The footage shows the shape and the streak, but not what lies outside the frame or what produced them.
It is not known what the footage shows. The report does not determine whether it depicts an object with a streak beneath it or a reflection of something in the water. The reflection is a possibility raised by the viewer, not a confirmed explanation.
The shape stays near the center, and the streak extends beneath it. On screen, they appear connected—but perhaps only the water connects them.