MIDDLE EAST
Unresolved UAE-airspace UAP report, October 2023.
Still from video captured near the United Arab Emirates featuring reported UAP.
FILED BY DOWOctober 2023United Arab Emirates

What you’re looking at
A still from video captured in or near the United Arab Emirates in October 2023. Public-release identifier PR26.
Context
Sits in the Middle East regional cluster alongside PR19 (May 2022) and PR45 (2020, Southern U.S. tag but Middle East cluster per the manifest). Recurring U.S. military operator reports from a single broad theater is a pattern worth noting independent of any individual report's content.
Why this matters
The October 2023 timestamp places this report in a window of heavy U.S. military activity in the region. Operator reports during high-tempo operations are statistically more common — but also more likely to be misidentifications of friendly or adversary platforms.
What it does NOT show
The 'unresolved' tag does not exclude misidentification of foreign drones, commercial aircraft, or atmospheric phenomena. It only confirms that the reviewing office could not yet assign a cause.
Open questions
Was the capture from a U.S. aircraft, ground unit, or partner-nation source?
Were UAE air-defense radar logs cross-referenced?
Does the still come from EO/IR (electro-optical/infrared) sensors?
Evidence rating
Single still without published companion data. The unresolved designation gives it provenance the FBI cluster lacks, but the lack of multi-sensor corroboration in the public release keeps it mid-low.
Listen
ECHO-7
Still from video captured near the United Arab Emirates featuring reported UAP.
Colophon
- Filename
- DOW-UAP-PR26-Unresolved-UAP-Report-United-Arab-Emirates-October-2023.jpg
- Source
- https://www.war.gov/portals/1/Interactive/2026/UFO/Slideshow/DOW-UAP-PR26-Unresolved-UAP-Report-United-Arab-Emirates-October-2023.jpg
- Agency
- DOW · DOW-UAP-PR26
- Cluster
- middle east
- Release
- RELEASE 01
More in this cluster
Files alongside this one.

DOW-UAP-PR19
Unresolved DOD UAP report from Middle East operations, May 2022.
DOW, 2022-05

DOW-UAP-PR38
Eight-pointed infrared contrast feature, Middle East, 2013 — the oldest report in the DOW set.
DOW, 2013

DOW-UAP-PR45
U.S. Air Force-reported UAP, southern United States, 2020. Note: location and cluster tag disagree.
DOW, 2020