A newly released document from the U.S. Department of War, made public through the Pentagon’s PURSUE archive, details a U.S. military observation in Iraq during May 2022. The report describes aircrew identifying what they termed a “probable SU-27/35” landing at Al Assad Airbase. The record, designated “DOW-UAP-PR21, Unresolved UAP Report, Iraq, May 2022,” consists of a ten-second infrared video and an accompanying mission report.
Both have been reviewed and released by the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO). Originally classified as SECRET, the document was declassified on October 8, 2025, by U.S. Central Command Chief of Staff Major General Richard A.
Harrison. The mission narrative describes an intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) flight conducted by a U.S. Air Force asset. The aircraft departed from Sigonella Airbase in Italy and operated over the Eastern Mediterranean and Iraq.
According to the timeline, at 0011Z, the crew noted “one possible small UAP was observed.” A subsequent observation at 0117Z recorded “one probable SU-27/35 landing IYO Al Assad AFLD.” AARO notes that the SU-27 and SU-35 designations refer to military aircraft operated by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The Department of War’s official summary states that U.S. Central Command submitted the incident to AARO as an unidentified anomalous phenomenon.
The submission included ten seconds of infrared sensor footage from a U.S. military platform. The official video description notes it “depicts two areas of contrast moving together near the center of the field-of-view throughout the runtime.” The department cautions that this description is provided “for informational purposes only” and does not represent an analytical judgment or factual determination about the event’s validity or significance.
The mission report, labeled DoW-UAP-D14, identifies the UAP as a “probable SU-27/35.” It references multiple mission phases, including signals and imagery intelligence collection, and a reaction to “1-3 ACFT, including lX POSS RFAF SU-30.” Classification restrictions limit the document’s contents to the United States and the Five Eyes intelligence alliance. While the document lists a declassification date of May 29, 2047, it was released to the public in May 2026 under the PURSUE archive.
AARO, as summarized by Wikipedia, is an office within the U.S. Office of the Secretary of Defense tasked with investigating unidentified objects in air, sea, space, and land domains. Its first director was physicist Sean Kirkpatrick, who reported to then-Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks. The current director is Jon T.
Kosloski. The document contains redactions, including personal identifying information of personnel and operational details such as aircraft tail numbers and callsigns, withheld under Freedom of Information Act exemptions.
The PURSUE archive, hosted at war.gov, has published multiple reports in recent months, though many remain heavily redacted. Several questions remain unanswered. The video description offers no analysis regarding whether the two areas of contrast represent a single or multiple objects, or whether sensor data confirms the aircraft identification. The report describes the SU-27/35 as “probable,” not confirmed, and it is unclear if the aircraft was positively identified through other means like radar or communications intercepts.
The document also references a separate “possible small UAP” observed earlier in the mission but provides no further details. Future PURSUE releases may include additional sensor data or analysis from AARO that could clarify whether the observed aircraft was a Russian-operated SU-27 or SU-35 in Iraqi airspace.
