DISCLOSURE / FILEAugust 31 CENTCOM Multi-Object Infrared Part Two
DOW-UAP-PR089, "31 AUG [CALLSIGN] [CALLSIGN] Observes UAP part2"
A 4:58 infrared video uploaded to a classified network in August 2020, showing a U.S. military sensor tracking multiple unidentified areas of contrast in the CENTCOM AOR, released by AARO as part of a congressional response to an eight-member House request for 51 potentially UAP-related records.
Brief
Eight House members requested access to 51 potentially UAP-related records from the Department of War and the Intelligence Community on March 6, 2026. AARO identified responsive materials on a classified network, noting that many items in the collection lack a substantiated chain-of-custody. The video — uploader-titled '31 AUG 2020 [CALLSIGN] [CALLSIGN] Observes UAP part2' — runs 4:58 and is assessed by AARO as likely derived from an infrared sensor aboard a U.S. military platform operating in the CENTCOM area of responsibility. AARO explicitly withholds any analytical judgment on the nature or significance of what the sensor recorded.
Metadata
- Agency
- Department of War
- Release
- 5/22/26
- Incident
- 2020
- Location
- CENTCOM
- Type
- VIDEO • .mp4
- Length
- 4:59
- Programs
- AARO
- Tags
- infrared, CENTCOM, 2020, multi-object, classified-network-upload, congressional-disclosure, callsign-redacted
Key points
- AARO assesses the video is 'likely derived from an infrared sensor aboard a U.S. military platform operating within the United States Central Command area of responsibility in 2020.'
- A user uploaded the video to a classified network in August 2020; both pilot callsigns in the title are redacted, making crew attribution impossible from the public record.
- AARO states that many materials in the responsive collection 'lack a substantiated chain-of-custody,' raising formal provenance questions about the footage.
- At timestamps 01:10-01:22, the sensor cycles contrast modes, causing the tracked object to momentarily lose distinctiveness against the background — a detail AARO reports with no interpretive comment.
- At 00:46-01:09, a second independent area of contrast enters the frame from the lower right; the sensor attempts to track both simultaneously before the second object exits the field-of-view.
- From 04:02 to 04:58 — the final 56 seconds — the sensor captures no content, suggesting the tracked phenomenon had fully exited the sensor's range by that point.
- The release originates from a March 6, 2026 congressional access request signed by eight House members targeting 51 records held across DoW and the Intelligence Community.
Most interesting
- Both callsigns in the video's uploader-defined title are redacted, meaning the identities of the observing aircrew remain classified even in this disclosed form.
- The sensor's contrast-mode cycle at the 01:10 mark — a routine infrared calibration maneuver — briefly caused the tracked object to blend into the background, introducing a gap in continuous observation during an active-tracking phase.
- At least two distinct areas of contrast appear on screen simultaneously during the 00:46-01:09 window, with the sensor attempting to hold both in frame before one exits — a multi-object tracking event.
- The footage was uploaded to a classified network, not an open or commercial repository; its path to public release ran entirely through AARO's congressional response pipeline, not a standard declassification review.
- AARO's boilerplate disclaimer — that the video description should not be read as reflecting 'an analytical judgment, investigative conclusion, or factual determination' — is applied even to the purely physical, timestamp-by-timestamp account of what appears on screen.