DOW-UAP-D55, Mission Report, Syria, November 2016

Plain-English Summary

• What happened:This document is a mission briefing summarizing an observation of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) by a U.S. military platform near Latakia, Syria. A U.S. military pilot flying a P-8A aircraft reported observing an object via the aircraft’s EO/IR sensor, which they characterized as appearing to be in “sea skim mode,” traveling at approximately 500 knots (575 mph) on a southeasterly heading. The P-8A lost visual contact with the object after two minutes. 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.
• Who reported it:Department of War
• What evidence exists:document
• What the government says:This document is a mission briefing summarizing an observation of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) by a U.S. military platform near Latakia, Syria. A U.S. military pilot flying a P-8A aircraft reported observing an object via the aircraft’s EO/IR sensor, which they characterized as appearing to be in “sea skim mode,” traveling at approximately 500 knots (575 mph) on a southeasterly heading. The P-8A lost visual contact with the object after two minutes. 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.
• What remains unclear:Not provided in source.

Key Facts

Title

DOW-UAP-D55, Mission Report, Syria, November 2016

Release

Release 01

Release date

2026-05-08

Incident date

2016-11-18

Agency

Department of War

Location

Syria

Location precision

region_only

Status

unknown

Source domain

war.gov

Source Documents

• pdf

  Source document
  Cached copy ↗Originalwww.war.gov↗

Media Gallery

• thumbnail
  Thumbnail
  View originalwww.war.gov↗

Skeptical / Mundane Explanations

Editorial draft pending.

What we still don't know

Editorial draft pending.

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