It stood out from the background. The sensor tracked it for a minute and a half, but no one described what they saw.
A military-camera video shows a patch that stands out from the background entering from the left. The camera tracks it for a minute and a half, but the report does not describe what appears in the footage.
Declassified 1 minute 34 second monochrome infrared video (DOW-UAP-PR41) released by the U.S. Department of War as part of the AARO/CENTCOM unresolved UAP case file series. Per the DVIDS description, the footage was recorded in 2020 from an infrared sensor aboard a U.S. military platform in the Middle East/Arabian Gulf area of operations and was submitted to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) without any oral or written description from the reporter. The video shows a wide-FOV IR sensor view of what appears to be a hazy/cloudy sky-and-sea environment with a small bright point of contrast (the tracked UAP) in the lower-right quadrant, while the operator/sensor pans left-to-right keeping the contrast generally framed; the entire central HUD banner that would normally show platform/sensor metadata is masked with a solid black redaction bar across all sampled frames, and the side rails carry additional stepped black redaction blocks over readout columns.
Per the DVIDS description: at 00:01 an area of contrast enters the sensor field-of-view from the bottom third of the left side of the screen; from 00:02 through 01:34 the sensor pans from left to right, tracking the area of contrast and keeping it generally centered within the field-of-view. Sampled keyframes show the tracked object as a small bright point against a hazy mid-grey background that gradually clarifies into what reads as a sea-or-cloud surface in the later frames, while the IR HUD's central status banner remains redacted throughout.
"The United States Central Command submitted a report of an unidentified anomalous phenomenon to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) consisting of one minute and 34 seconds of video footage from an infrared sensor aboard a U.S. military platform in 2020. The reporter did not provide any oral or written description of the observation."
Speaker: DVIDS public-page description (Department of War)
Why it matters: States provenance (USCENTCOM -> AAR0), modality (IR), platform class (U.S. military), year (2020), and explicitly notes the absence of any narrative/witness account from the reporter.
"00:01: An area of contrast enters the sensor field-of-view from the bottom third of the left side of the screen. 00:02-01:34: The sensor pans from left to right, tracking the area of contrast and keeping it generally centered within the field-of-view."
Speaker: DVIDS video description (Department of War)
Why it matters: Official, neutral description of the on-screen behavior, used by AARO/DOW as the only authoritative narration of the clip.
"This video description is provided for informational purposes only. Readers should not interpret any part of this description as reflecting an analytical judgment, investigative conclusion, or factual determination regarding the described event's validity, nature, or significance."
Speaker: DVIDS / Department of War disclaimer
Why it matters: Standardized DOW UAP-release disclaimer accompanying the PR-series clips; signals the case is in an unresolved/non-adjudicated status.
Arabian Gulf, International waters / Middle East
Middle East, USCENTCOM AOR
Unspecified U.S. military platform with infrared sensor
sensor
Central top HUD/status banner across the IR field-of-view, present in all sampled keyframes
Likely reason: Likely classified platform/sensor identification, time/date stamp, coordinates, sensor mode, and/or call sign metadata burned into the IR feed
Multiple stepped black blocks down the left and right side rails (readout columns) of the sensor display
Likely reason: Likely sensor-control state, slant range, bearing, elevation/azimuth, FOV/zoom, and altitude readouts that would identify the platform and its position
This is record 097 in the manifest, a DVIDS-hosted MP4 (1920x1080, 30 fps, ~94.5 s, ~117 MB, AVC/H.264, audio track present though likely silent/noise given 'no oral description' note). It is one of a numbered 'DOW-UAP-PR##' series of CENTCOM->AARO unresolved UAP releases on DVIDS; it should be cross-linked with the adjacent PR-series videos (e.g. PR42 = slug 098). The DVIDS slug encodes the public-page incident location as 'Middle East', while the manifest's incident_location field narrows it to 'Arabian Gulf'. All on-frame text/metadata is redacted; only the DVIDS public-page description provides ground truth.
A patch that looks different from the background enters the frame from the left. The camera follows it, keeping it roughly in the center.
No. The report does not describe the patch’s appearance or explain what made it look different.
In a video filmed over the Arabian Gulf, a patch that stands out from the background enters the frame from the left. A camera aboard a U.S. military aircraft follows it for a minute and a half.
The video shows the camera tracking the patch but does not reveal what is at the center of the frame. Even the person who filed the report did not describe what they saw. We’re left with the camera’s movements and no explanation of what it was tracking.
The video was filmed with a thermal camera. At the start, a patch that looks different from the background appears near the lower left of the frame. That is all the report says about its appearance: it does not say whether it had a particular shape or describe any other details.
The camera then moves from left to right, tracking the patch and keeping it roughly in the center of the frame as the background shifts around it. The camera follows it until the video ends, 1 minute and 34 seconds later.
The report was submitted by U.S. Central Command. The person who filed it provided no verbal or written description of the sighting. Beyond the patch’s movement and the fact that it looked different from the background, the record offers no details about what was observed.
Parts of the report were redacted, but it does not say which details were withheld. The video was released to the public, but the accompanying material does not explain why. It shows the tracking, not the reason for it.
It is not known what appeared in the patch or what made it look different from the background. The record offers no ordinary explanation, and the person who filed the report did not describe the sighting.
The camera keeps moving until the video ends. The patch remains in the frame, with no name or identifiable shape.