A U.S. Air Force mission report declassified by U.S. Central Command in October 2025 documents that two F-16CM pilots assigned to the 77th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron observed what the record describes as "multiple possible UAPs" over Syria on the night of 12–13 March 2023, while conducting defensive counter-air operations as part of Operation Inherent Resolve. The report, designated DOW-UAP-D20 and released under mandatory declassification review, represents one of the relatively few official military records acknowledging a UAP observation during an active combat air patrol.
The Mission
According to the declassified report, the two-ship formation launched from Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia — designated OEPS in military parlance — and was tasked to conduct defensive counter-air, or DCA, operations within the Eastern Syrian Support Area between 2100 and 0000 local time. The flight proceeded as fragged, meaning it followed its assigned tasking order without deviation.
The crew checked on-station with a controlling element identified by the callsign "Kingpin" after entering Syrian airspace and later transited Iraqi airspace, with the report noting "nothing further to report" for both the Iraqi transit legs. The formation checked off-station and returned to Prince Sultan, landing at approximately 0148 Zulu with an estimated safe date of 0215. The mission was filed by the 77th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, subordinate to the 378th Air Expeditionary Wing, and processed through the 609th Combined Air Operations Center.
The UAP Notation
The sighting is recorded tersely in the mission narrative. At approximately 2302 Zulu — roughly two hours into the on-station period — the report states the flight "observed multiple poss UAPs" and directs readers to a separate UAP section of the report. That supplementary section, however, does not appear to have been included in the material released under this declassification review, leaving the precise nature, number, altitude, behavior, and sensor data associated with the objects undisclosed in the available record.
The language "possible UAPs" reflects standard military hedging and does not itself constitute a determination that the objects were anomalous in origin or capability. The report does not indicate whether the observations were made visually, via radar, or through electro-optical and infrared sensors, all of which are available to F-16CM crews.
Declassification and Document Provenance
The record was declassified on 8 October 2025 by Major General Richard A. Harrison, USCENTCOM Chief of Staff, under mandatory declassification review numbers MDR 25-0094 through MDR 25-0099, reference JS-250710-TM8S. It was approved for release to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, or AARO, the Pentagon body established in 2022 under the National Defense Authorization Act to standardize UAP reporting and analysis across the military services.
The document's original classification was marked at the SECRET level with associated caveats, and carried a scheduled declassification date of 1 April 2048 before the mandatory review advanced its release by more than two decades. Certain fields within the record remain redacted under FOIA exemptions (b)(3), (b)(6), and exemption 130b, shielding the personal identifying information of the filing officer, quality-control reviewer, and approving noncommissioned officer, as well as the aircraft callsign, radar designations, and mission data loads — the latter redacted under the 1.4a and 1.4g national security classification authorities covering military plans and intelligence sources and methods.
The originating unit — the 77th EFS — is a reserve-component F-16 squadron that has deployed to the USCENTCOM area of responsibility in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, the counter-ISIS mission that has maintained a persistent air presence in Iraq and Syria since 2014. The 609th Air Operations Center at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar serves as the air component command and control node for AFCENT operations across the region.
The report does not contain any assessment of the UAP observations, nor does it reference follow-on investigation. Whether AARO has conducted or published any analysis based on this record — or the separate UAP annex that was not included in this release — is not addressed in the available documentation.