White Sphere Over Working Area 28314, May 2020

Brief

On May 14, 2020 at 20:40:00Z, a U.S. military ISR crew operating in working area 28314 in the Middle East detected an unidentified solid white, round object using an ATFLIR infrared sensor in Black Hot mode at approximately 22,000 feet. The crew temporarily lost and then reacquired the contact, achieved 4x zoom, and ultimately lost track due to poor sensor placement; radar trackfile was intermittent throughout. The report was processed through the SPEAR program, which strips all aircrew identifying information before analysis. USCENTCOM declassified and released the form to AARO under MDR case 26-0019 on January 26, 2026.

Metadata

Agency

Department of War

Release

5/8/26

Location

Middle East

Type

PDF • .pdf

Length

1 pages

Classification

UNCLASSIFIED

Programs

SPEAR, AARO

Tags

solid white, round, infrared, Black Hot, Persian Gulf, 2020, erratic movement, ATFLIR, SPEAR, overwater

Key points

• Detection occurred on May 14, 2020 at 20:40:00Z during a night ISR tasking in working area 28314.p.1
• Single contact, round shape, moving; radar trackfile was intermittent and no electronic attack indications were logged.p.1
• Contact altitude recorded at approximately 22,000 feet over water at coordinates consistent with a Persian Gulf overwater position.p.1
• Crew used an ATFLIR infrared sensor in Black Hot mode and achieved 4x zoom before losing the object due to poor track placement.p.1
• The object was temporarily lost and then reacquired; sensor operator continuously manipulated the sensor throughout the encounter.p.1
• SPEAR is identified as the sanitizing body: no aircrew or squadron identifying information is retained for analysis.p.1
• Crews are instructed to save cockpit display recordings as .wmv files under a standardized naming convention and upload to a shared repository.p.1
• Declassified by MG Richard A. Harrison, USCENTCOM Chief of Staff, MDR 26-0019; approved for release to AARO on January 26, 2026.p.1

Verbatim

• While preforming an ISR tasking (UL TN/Black Hot/Lin), a solid w ite 1 object flew through the FOV.

  p.1

• There was a temporarily lose of the object but re-acquired shortly there after.

  p.1

• The crew was able to follow the object as it appeared to make erratic moments above the water.

  p.1

• During the follow, crew was able to obtain 4x zoom on the object but lost the object due to poor track place ent.

  p.1

• the sensor operator was continuously manipulating the sensor to maintain eyes on th1 e object. This is apparent by the waves of the water in the background being visible and not being visible.

  p.1

• SPEAR sanitizes all r ports of identifying information. Absolutely no identifying information for aircrew or squadmn will be recorded for analysis.

  p.1

Most interesting

• Contact coordinates (latitude entry 28314, longitude entry N 49524 E 20000) are consistent with a Persian Gulf overwater position — placing this incident in a high-traffic U.S. naval operations zone.
• The SPEAR reporting program — which was already sanitizing UAP reports before analysis — predates AARO's establishment, indicating USCENTCOM had a parallel UAP intake infrastructure by at least 2020.
• The shape checklist has only 'Round' selected; propulsion, metallic, reflective, translucent, and markings fields were all left blank, suggesting no surface features were resolved even at 4x zoom.
• Per the companion video description (DOW-UAP-D38), a blue targeting reticle appeared at the 02:10 mark but failed to lock on the object — implying the contact did not present a trackable IR or radar signature.
• The form's instructions require cockpit display recordings to be saved as .wmv files with a standardized date-and-squadron filename and uploaded to a shared repository, revealing a systematic digital evidence pipeline in place by 2020.
• The sensor cycled contrast settings and zoom levels mid-encounter — a behavior the video description notes explicitly — corroborating the crew's account of continuously manipulating the sensor to maintain contact.