A declassified U.S. military document has revealed that a single operator reported two separate observations of unidentified aerial phenomena during a single mission over the Persian Gulf in late 2023. The report, a standard Military Mission Report form known as a MISREP, was released on May 8, 2026, through the PURSUE archive. The first sighting occurred at 2:41 a.m. local time on October 31, 2023.
The operator, assigned to the 50th Attack Squadron, was flying a routine signals intelligence and imagery intelligence collection mission under Operation Spartan Shield. The operator was on station in a track designated IRISH SICKLE when they spotted “IX UAP.” A second observation followed at 3:22 a.m., 41 minutes later.
The declassified document does not provide detailed descriptions of what was observed. The Department of War document carries a declassification order signed on September 12, 2025, by U.S. Central Command Chief of Staff Major General Richard A. Harrison.
This establishes a clear chain of custody and paper trail for the report. The operator launched from Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates at 12:15 a.m. Zulu time and returned to the same base at 8:58 p.m. Zulu, a mission lasting nearly 21 hours.
During that extended flight, the operator reported anomalous phenomena on two occasions. The full-motion video from the mission was reviewed by analysts at DGS-2, a Distributed Ground Station, indicating that ground-based personnel examined the footage because something of interest was captured. The MISREP form is specifically designed to document operational circumstances and report UAP to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, or AARO, which was established to centralize and analyze such reports.
A single operator on a single mission filed a report that was classified for nearly three years before being declassified and released. The report notes that the full-motion video was exploited, suggesting the footage was reviewed.
However, the document does not state whether that review resulted in identification or explanation of the observed phenomena. The form records facts but does not always include conclusions. The abbreviation “IX” in military reporting typically denotes the number nine.
The document reports “IX UAP” across two separate events within less than an hour, indicating nine anomalous phenomena observed by the same operator on the same station. The report does not specify whether the two observations involved the same object or different objects.
The PURSUE archive released the document without redaction. The PDF file is 1.3 megabytes and requires downloading for viewing, highlighting that public access to such reports remains indirect and somewhat cumbersome. The document is a genuine U.S. Department of War mission report dated October 2023, declassified by a two-star general, reporting UAP over the Persian Gulf.
