The Department of War has declassified and released a report detailing an unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) encounter that occurred over Syria in August 2022. The document, designated PR89, was released under the Pentagon’s PURSUE policy framework, which aims to increase transparency regarding UAP incidents while protecting sensitive sources and methods. The report was processed by the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) within the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
According to the report, the incident involved a U.S. military aircraft operating in Syrian airspace on August 31, 2022. The platform’s sensors detected an unidentified object exhibiting flight characteristics not consistent with known aircraft or environmental phenomena. The object was tracked for approximately 12 minutes before it departed the area at high speed. The report does not specify the exact type of aircraft or sensor system involved, but notes that the data was collected by a combination of radar and electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) sensors.
The released file, titled “dow-uap-pr089-31-aug-callsign-callsign-observes-uap-part2,” indicates that the encounter was observed by two aircraft using the same callsign. The filename suggests this is the second part of a larger report, though the first part has not been declassified. Technical details from the report describe the object as having no visible propulsion system or control surfaces, and it executed maneuvers that generated g-forces beyond the tolerance of human pilots. The object’s speed was estimated at Mach 2.5 during its departure.
The report does not draw conclusions about the nature or origin of the object. It states that AARO analysts reviewed the data and classified the incident as “unresolved,” meaning that after analysis, the object could not be identified as any known U.S., allied, or adversary technology. The report also notes that no electronic emissions were detected from the object, ruling out some forms of electronic warfare or drone activity.
The release of this report is part of a broader effort by the Department of War to comply with congressional mandates for UAP transparency. Under the PURSUE policy, AARO is required to declassify and release reports that do not compromise national security. This particular report was prioritized due to the high quality of sensor data and the object’s anomalous flight characteristics.
Moving forward, AARO may request additional data from the units involved, including maintenance logs, crew interviews, and any other sensor recordings that may exist. The office also has the authority to task intelligence collection assets to search for similar objects in the region. AARO’s next step will be to determine whether the object’s flight path can be correlated with other sensor data from the same time period.
