DOW-UAP-D106: Small UAPs at 80-180 MPH over a Target Area in Iraq, 5 May 2022 -- Mission Report and Infrared Stills PR130/PR131

Source file: DOW-UAP-D106_Mission-Report-Iraq-2022.pdf; stills DOW-UAP-PR130_Unresolved-UAP-Report-Iraq-2022.pdf and DOW-UAP-PR131_Unresolved-UAP-Report-Iraq-2022.pdf Originating agency: U.S. Air Force, 196 ATKS (attack squadron), Operation INHERENT RESOLVE, USCENTCOM; submitted to AARO Document type: Mission Report (MISREP) 7468013, with two infrared still images Date: Sortie 5-6 May 2022; observation at 2026Z on 5 May 2022 Classification: Originally classified (classification field redacted; observation paragraph marked "S//REL"); declassified by MG Richard A. Harrison, USCENTCOM Chief of Staff, 30 June 2026; released 2026 Page count: 8 (MISREP 6; PR130 and PR131 one page each) VIRIN: 260918-D-D0360-1095 (D106); 260918-D-D0360-1143 (PR130); 260918-D-D0360-1144 (PR131) PURSUE Release: 6

Summary

A MISREP is the standardized, field-by-field form a U.S. military aircrew files after a sortie. This one, filed by the 196 ATKS for a reconnaissance mission under Operation INHERENT RESOLVE, is almost entirely routine. One paragraph, printed twice, describes UAP.

At 2026Z (UTC) on 5 May 2022 the crew "periodically observed UAPS flying sporatically" (the document's spelling) inside a target area coded 92AS, at 80 to 180 mph according to a partly redacted onboard system. The objects were estimated at 1 to 2 meters; their altitude was unknown. Two infrared stills, DOW-UAP-PR130 and PR131, carry release page numbers 029 and 030 of the same USCENTCOM declassification batch in which the MISREP occupies 031-036.

Research Article

Reading the form

The printout is divided into labelled blocks. Narrative (page 1) summarizes the sortie in free text. Admin gives the operation, the 609th operations center, the major command (ACC) and USCENTCOM. MSGID/MSNID identify the originator (196 ATKS) and mission type (RECONNAISSANCE). POC, QC and APPROVER list who wrote, checked and approved the report (page 2). ACEQUIP (page 3) fills only two fields: a targeting pod, "ANDAS4", and "AHv2", which the narrative expands as "AIRHANDLER VERSION 2", used to collect signals intelligence (SIGINT). Timeline (page 4), ISR (page 5) and OBSERVATION (pages 5-6) follow. GENTEXT ("general text") fields are the free-text boxes attached to each block. Times are date-time groups: "052026:00ZMAY22" is day 05, 20:26:00 Zulu, May 2022.

An 18-hour sortie

The aircraft "TOOK OFF LATE ... DUE TO WEATHER AT THE LRE" at 0614Z. The document does not expand LRE; in Air Force usage it is the launch and recovery element, which handles takeoff and landing, and the narrative duly records a hand-over from the LRE at 0624Z and a hand-back at 0014Z. That vocabulary is characteristic of remotely piloted aircraft, but the asset-type field is redacted.

From 0640Z to 0005Z the aircraft collected SIGINT; from 1054Z to 2100Z it supported a redacted operation "ISO MAG" (in support of a unit abbreviated MAG). It landed at 0039Z on 6 May: 17 hours 50 minutes on station, 18 hours 25 minutes in total. Its full-motion video (FMV) "WAS EXPLOITED BY DGS 1", an abbreviation left unexpanded. Weather "WAS NOT A FACTOR."

The observation at 2026Z

At the observation time the aircraft was at FL200 (about 20,000 feet) and 100 KIAS (knots indicated airspeed), heading printed as "-75". The range to the activity is 4.98 NM, in killbox 91AS. Both positions are military grid references with their final digits redacted (aircraft 38S MD 41..45.., activity 38SMD38..54..). The surviving digits place both in north-central Iraq, roughly 9 to 10 km apart, consistent with 4.98 NM (about 9.2 km).

Two fields stand out. "Method of Observation" is "FMV": the sighting was made on sensor video. And "Observed Activity Description" reads "UAS", unmanned aircraft system, while the GENTEXT speaks of "UAPs"; the form does not explain the difference. The GENTEXT also calls the target area 92AS, not 91AS. Beyond speed, size and "unable to determine altitude", it gives no count, shape, colour, duration or direction.

The two infrared stills

PR130 and PR131 are single greyscale infrared frames. Each shows a central crosshair, four corner brackets, a letter "N" overlay, and white redaction boxes coded "1.4a, 1.4g" where on-screen data would appear. No time stamp is visible.

In PR130 a small dark spot left of the crosshair is framed by bracket marks, and a dark elongated spot near the lower-left bracket trails a faint streak up and to the right. In PR131 a larger dark elongated blob sits upper right with a streak to its right, and a smaller dark spot lies just above and right of the crosshair. The official descriptions read the streaks as "motion across the focal plane from the top right to the bottom left" and caution that the trail "does not necessarily represent a physical feature." Nothing in the frames ties them to 2026Z; that link rests on the release itself.

Redactions

Withheld text is coded under Executive Order 13526: 1.4(a) (military plans, weapons systems or operations) and 1.4(g) (system capabilities or vulnerabilities), plus "3.5c, (b)(6)" for personal details. Redacted are the callsign, aircraft type, tail number, airfields, operation name, grid digits, the prefix of "MTS", the classification line, and all names and contacts. Some withheld values appear elsewhere: the narrative prints a callsign ("CDR74") and a landing code, "OKAS" (an ICAO indicator in Kuwait's OK series), and the ISR GENTEXT names "OP PHANTOM FLEX".

Significance

The report is thin on description but unusually complete on context: a sensor-derived speed range, a size estimate, and the aircraft's own altitude, speed and range, plus two released frames. It also records a mismatch between the structured field ("UAS") and the free text ("UAPs").

Its closest companion is DOW-UAP-D109, from a different squadron (20 ATKS), covering 0524Z-0704Z on the same date. Its observation paragraph repeats this one almost word for word and adds a southwest heading and dust storms; neither document says whether the crews watched the same area. The 2025 reports DOW-UAP-D107 and D108, by contrast, use a dedicated UAP block that this 2022 form lacks. The 196 ATKS also originated DOW-UAP-D12 (Iraq, 20 May 2022) from an earlier release.

Key People

Locations

Incidents

Notable Quotes

"AT 0614Z, [redacted] TOOK OFF LATE FROM [redacted] DUE TO WEATHER AT THE LRE." -- page 1

"AT 2026Z [redacted] WAS SCANNING POI IVO 38SMD38[redacted]54[redacted] AND PERIODICALLY OBSERVED UAPS FLYING SPORATICALLY WITHIN THE TARGET AREA OF 92AS." -- page 6

"ACCORDING TO THE [redacted] MTS, THE UAPs WERE TRAVELLING AT VARIOUS SPEEDS BETWEEN 80-180 MPH. WE WERE UNABLE TO DETERMINE ALTITUDE." -- page 6

"THE SIZE OF THE UAPs WERE APPROXIMATELY 1-2 METERS. THE UAPs DID NOT HINDER THE MISSION." -- page 6

"Observed Activity Description: UAS" -- page 6