DOW-UAP-D028, Mission Report, Iraq, September 2024
This document is a Mission Report (MISREP), a standardized reporting form the U.S. Military uses to record the circumstances surrounding its operations. U.S. military services often use MISREPs to report Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) to AARO. The GENTEXT, or “general text” section of these reports often contains important qualitative, contextual information, distinguishing it from the more quantitative, or numerical, data found elsewhere in the report. While conducting a weapons calibration test, U.S. military operators reported observing a lens flare via MX-20 and MX-25 IR sensors after firing an AGM-176 Griffin air-to-surface missile. The operators described the source of the flare as a UAP moving through the aircraft’s sensor’s field-of-view at a high rate of speed. The reporter assessed that the flare was associated with “a significant heat source.” All descriptive and estimative language contained in this report reflects the reporter’s subjective interpretation at the time of the event. Such characterizations should not be interpreted as a conclusive indication of the presence or absence of any intrinsic object features or performance characteristics.
The summary above is sourced from the released file metadata as published to war.gov. The analysis sections below are original to this tracker.
Text of the document
Machine-extracted from the PDF war.gov published (its text layer or OCR), so expect errors, especially in names, numbers and handwriting; the PDF is the authoritative copy. Lines that did not extract as readable text are left out. Showing about 989 words from pages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 of 6.
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Declassified by MG Richard A. Harrison USCENTCOM Chief of Staff SECRET//REL TO USA, FVEY Declassified on: 24 October 2025 (SECRET//REL TO USA, FVEY) (b)(1)1.4a DEPARTED OKAS AT 1740Z TO CONDUCT ARMED OVERWATCH IVO 38SKC63 2 (b)(1)1.4a ARRIVED ON STATION AT APPROXIMATELY 1930Z AND CHECKED IN WITH (b)(1)1.4a PERFORMED A WEAPONS CALIBRATION, HAVING RELEASED 20x105mm, 101x30mm, 1xAGM-176. (b)(1)1.4a 's CREW OBSERVED AN UNIDENTIFIED AERIAL PHENOMENA DURING ITS PGM SHOT (SEE UAP 1). (b)(1)1.4a WAS CLEARED OFF STATION AT 2323Z. GFC INTENT MET. (b)(1)1.4a LANDED AT OKAS AT 0046Z. (S/RELIDO) Mission Narrative • Classification: SECRET • Associated Caveats: REL TO USA, FVEY • Classification Source (MS or Classification Guide ID): MS • Declassification Date (YYYYMMDD): 20490921 • Operation: INHERENT RESOLVE • Domain: AIR • Major Command (MAJCOM): AFSOC • Combatant Command (COCOM): USCENTCOM • Report Type: MISREP • Originator (Unit or Squadron): SOTU 016 • Submit Date: SECRET//REL TO USA, FVEY Approved for Release to AARO
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Declassified by MG Richard A. Harrison USCENTCOM Chief of Staff SECRET//REL TO USA, FVEY Declassified on: 24 October 2025 • Tasking Order (ATO): HM • Mission Type: ARMED OVERWATCH • ATO Mission Number: • Country Tasked: US -UNITED STATES • Rank: CAPT • Full Name: • Phone Number: • Service: Air Force • Operations Center: Other • Rank: SrA • Full Name: • Unit: Unavailable • Phone Number: • Service: Air Force • Operations Center: Other • Full Name: • Unit: ACF • Phone Number: • Service: Air Force • Operations Center: 609 CAOC SECRET//REL TO USA, FVEY Approved for Release to AARO
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Declassified by MG Richard A. Harrison USCENTCOM Chief of Staff SECRET//REL TO USA, FVEY Declassified on: 24 October 2025 • Full Name: • Phone Number: • Operations Center: • Radar Name or Destination: AN/APN-241 • Radar Software Load or Mission Data: AN/ALR-56M • Radar Warning Receiver (RWR) Name or Designator: ALR-56M • RWR Software Load or Mission Data: AAR-47 • MWS Software Load or Mission Data: - • IRCM Name or Designator: AN-AAQ-24 • IRCM Software Load or Mission Data: - • ECM Name or Designator: AAQ-24B • ECM Software Load or Mission Data: ALE-47 • Num Chaff or Cartridges: 716 • Towed Decoy Name or Designator: - • Towed Decoy Software Load or Mission Data: - • Num Towed Decoys: - • Type of Radar-Guided AAM: - • Num Radar-Guided AAM: - • Type of IR-Guided AAM: - • Num IR-Guided AAM: - • Num Gun Rounds: • Air-to-Ground Wpn to Include Num of Each: 1.4(a) SECRET//REL TO USA, FVEY Approved for Release to AARO
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Declassified by MG Richard A. Harrison USCENTCOM Chief of Staff SECRET//REL TO USA, FVEY Declassified on: 24 October 2025 • Data Link: GATEWAY (IF BOTH) • Number of Aircraft: 1 • Asset Type (Aircraft): • Takeoff Location (ICAO Code): OKAS • Mode 3 (IFF Codes): • Mission Canceled: • Last Land Location (ICAO Code): OKAS • Last Land Time: 210046:00ZSEP24 • Last Engine Shutdown Time: 200101:00ZSEP24 • Total Mission Time: 7 hours 6 minutes On Station • JTAR Number: • Killbox (Location): • Mission Type: ARMED OVERWATCH • JTAC Callsign: • Did not Arrive On Station: Off Station • Total Time On Station: 3 hours 53 minutes SECRET//REL TO USA, FVEY Approved for Release to AARO
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Declassified by MG Richard A. Harrison USCENTCOM Chief of Staff SECRET//REL TO USA, FVEY Declassified on: 24 October 2025 • UAP Event Type: UAP Incident • UAP Maneuverability Observations: UAP FLEW THROUGH (b)(1)1.4a SENSOR IN BETWEEN MUNITION RELEASE AND MUNITION IMPACT • UAP Response to Observer Actions: NONE OBSERVED • Tail Number: • Friendly Aircraft Trajectory: 096 STRAIGHT AND LEVEL • Observer Assessment of UAP: Benign • Friendly Aircraft Speed: 170 KIAS • Observation Interrogation of UAP (yes/no; if yes list sensor(s) and returns):: NO • Third-party Observers and/or Reporters: NO PARTIES REPORTED AN ADDITIONAL AIRCRAFT IN THE AIRSPACE WITH (b)(1)1.4a • Friendly Aircraft State: • Training Range (If applicable): YES • Operational Range: AYN AL ASAD ROZ RAINDROP • UAP Physical State: Solid • Number of UAP Sighted: • UAP Propulsion Means: • UAP Payload: • UAP Under Intelligent Control (yes/no; if yes, describe): • UAP Signatures: IR SIGNATURE DETECTABLE BY MX-20 & MX-25 • UAP Advanced Capabilities And/Or Materials (yes/no; if yes, describe): NONE OBSERVED • UAP Event Serial Number: 202027ZSEP2024-CENTCOM • UAP Effects on Persons: NO • UAP Objects/Material Recovered (yes/no; if yes, describe): NO • UAP Effects on Equipment: NONE • Full Name: • Observer Engagement of UAP (yes/no; if yes, describe): NO • First Seen Radius: • Last Accuracy: Precise • Last Seen Radius: • Kinetic Altitude Accuracy: Estimated SECRET//REL TO USA, FVEY Approved for Release to AARO
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Declassified by MG Richard A. Harrison USCENTCOM Chief of Staff SECRET//REL TO USA, FVEY Declassified on: 24 October 2025 • Kinetic Altitude: • Kinetic Depth Accuracy: Estimated • Kinetic Depth: • Kinetic Velocity Accuracy: Estimated • Kinetic Velocity: • Kinetic Trajectory Accuracy: Estimated • Kinetic Trajectory: • UAP Date of DoD Acquisition: 210000:00ZSEP24 • UAP Reaction to Observation, Interrogation, Engagement (yes/no; if yes, describe): NONE OBSERVED; PATH OF MOVEMENT APPEARED PREDETERMINED AND NOT IN RESPONSE TO • UAP Anomalous Characteristics/ Behaviors: IT IS UNKNOWN AT THIS TIME WHETHER AN OBJECT DETACHED ITSELF FROM THE PRIMARY UAP IMMEDIATELY BEFORE LEAVING THE SENSOR FIELD OF VIEW. • First Accuracy: Precise • UAP First Seen Location: • UAP Last Seen Location: • UAP Altitude, Depth, Velocity, and Trajectory (indicate estimated or measured): • UAP Description (e.g., size, shape, color, markings, recognizable features): UAP CREATED IR LENS FLARE ON MX-20 & MX-25 SENSORS, INDICATING A SIGNIFICANT HEAT SOURCE. THE UAP MOVED AT A HIGH RATE OF SPEED THROUGH THE SENSOR FIELD OF VIEW. THE CREW MAINTAINED LASER ENERGY UNTIL THE MUNITION IMPACTED ITS DESIRED TARGET. (b)(1)1.4a DID NOT REOBSERVE THE UAP. • Gentext (UAP Event Description): (S//REL TO USA, FVEY) (b)(1)1.4a ENTERED AYN AL ASAD AIRBASE's (AAAB) RESTRICTED OPERATING ZONE (ROZ) RAINDROP AT APPROXIMATELY 1930Z TO CONDUCT A WEAPONS CALIBRATION. (b)(1)1.4a
Where this file fits in the PURSUE archive
This file is one of DoD's 257 files in the Trump PURSUE disclosure. Within the DoD agency block it ranks #179 of 257 by Anomalousness Index. Across the entire 450-file archive it ranks #353 of 450.
That places it in the lower-scoring band of the archive (353 of 450 by score), typical of investigative-record style files where the report is paper-based rather than instrumented.
Anomalousness Index: 53/100
Evidentiary weight that this encounter remains unexplained after conventional analysis. Not a probability of extraterrestrial origin - that number is not honestly computable from the released files and this tracker refuses to publish it.
🤖 AI-ASSISTED SCORING · methodology
The six rubric components break down for this file as follows. Each component has a weighted contribution to the final score; the per-component explanation below describes what this file's particular value on that component means in the rubric's framework.
No sensor, camera, or instrument backs this observation - it is testimony, relayed through the Department of War, and scored on the rubric's lowest sensor-quality tier for that reason. That doesn't bear on the witness's credibility (a separate axis); it reflects only that nothing beyond human perception recorded the event.
Reported by trained U.S. military personnel during an operational mission (9/20/24) - a high witness-credibility tier, ranked in the rubric below astronaut, trained-aviator, and federal-agent testimony. This profile is shared across the AARO-submitted infrared-capture cluster that anchors the archive's densest scoring band, at 66.
On corroboration, this file from the Department of War - like every single-tier file in the PURSUE archive - is a single-witness or single-instrument capture per the released metadata. The rubric doesn't infer multi-witness confirmation the summaries don't actually establish; this score reflects the honest limit of what was released, not a judgment about the underlying event.
The released file contains no speed, acceleration, or vector data precise enough to score on the kinematic axis - and that's true archive-wide, not specific to this file. The rubric declines to infer kinematic anomaly from a witness's narrative estimate of how fast something moved; that itself says something about what PURSUE actually released: descriptive accounts, not flight-path telemetry.
Every file in the archive, including this one, scores this tier: a conventional explanation was considered in the released record but isn't treated as dispositive. That's a pattern in how war.gov's own summaries are written - they consistently hedge against strong conclusions either way - and the rubric takes that hedging at face value rather than resolving it for them.
This file from the Department of War is catalogued as unresolved, with no formal review process having concluded - logged into the system, but not yet finalized by any review. The rubric treats that differently from 'open after review,' because the absence of a completed review is itself part of the file's status, not a placeholder for one.
Bottom line on the score: the Anomalousness Index of 53/100 reflects evidentiary weight that this specific file's encounter remains structurally unexplained by the rubric's six axes - it is not a claim that the underlying event involved anything non-conventional, and it is not comparable across rubrics that use different weights. For the full per-axis weights and the rubric JSON, see /methodology.
Related files in DoD
Other PURSUE files in the same category, ranked by Anomalousness Index.
DOW-UAP-PR024, Unresolved UAP Report, Middle East, 2023
DOW-UAP-PR072, "ADMINISTRATIVE REVISION: IIR 1777 J0032 22 Kazakhstan - UAP in the vicinit…
DOW-UAP-PR106, Unresolved UAP Report, Eastern United States, 2020
DOW-UAP-PR108, Unresolved UAP Report, Western United States, 2020
DOW-UAP-PR109, Unresolved UAP Report, Eastern United States, 2015
DOW-UAP-PR110, Unresolved UAP Report, Eastern United States, 2020
Verification
SHA-256:
This hash is the SHA-256 of the file body war.gov served on the verification date above. War.gov has re-processed some file bodies since first release (re-compression + OCR, no content removed - see /changes); we re-verify and record the change rather than silently serve a stale hash. How to check this yourself →
Source: https://www.war.gov/medialink/ufo/release_1/dow-uap-d28-mission-report-east-china-sea-2024.pdf