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DOW-UAP-D033

Unresolved

A dot skimming the Aegean Sea (2023)

A U.S. reconnaissance aircraft films for three minutes an infrared dot skimming the Aegean Sea. The crew notes “90-degree turns” at about 80 mph but rates it benign; the video, with its data redacted, cannot confirm the turns.

Date
Oct 27, 2023
Location
Northern Aegean Sea, about 45 km north of Skyros, GreeceWorked out from the report's military grid coordinates, partly redacted: the error may be several kilometers.See the area on the globe →
Platform
Reconnaissance aircraft of the Air Force's 33rd Special Operations Squadron (type redacted), flying from Larissa, Greece, to Jordan, about 35 km from the object [1 · p. 1, 2, 4, 6]
Sensor
Infrared video from the AN/DAS-4 turret · released at 1920 × 1080, with the on-screen data redacted and about 10 distinct frames per second [1 · p. 4][2]
Official status
Unresolved · PURSUE publishes it among unresolved cases and there is no AARO analysis. The crew itself rated it “Benign” and not under intelligent control [5][1 · p. 6]

01 Sensor readout

Official video · verified linkWatch the DOW-UAP-D033 video DVIDS · PURSUE · 177.2 s · 1920×1080 · 123 MBReleased May 8, 2026 · checked Oct 7, 2026 · SHA-256 571c044771d9…Opens on the official site. The frames below are taken from this very file; the built-in player arrives in V2.
Grey sea in infrared with the sensor's blue crosshair in the center, a black redaction block beside it and, bottom left, a tiny white dot.
  1. 1·The object: a bright 2–3 pixel dot
  2. 2+Sensor crosshair
  3. 3▮Redacted on-screen data
  4. 4NNorth indicator

Central crop of the frame, at full size. The object is a 2–3 pixel dot; the black blocks hide the sensor data (angles, range, zoom), without which its motion cannot be told apart from the camera's.

Frame · Video 45.0 s · U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) / DVIDS · PURSUE · Public domain

Image record
Author
U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM)
Origin
DVIDS · PURSUE
Original file
1006080 ↗
License
U.S. Government work: no U.S. copyright (17 U.S.C. § 105)
Retrieved
2026-10-07
Video SHA-256
571c044771d9a40970a337554095d3ea7c50f1e32620b25a71d854538fccd46d

The appearance of U.S. Department of War (DoW) visual information does not imply or constitute DoW endorsement.

Grey sea in infrared with the blue crosshair and, just below it, a small blue box with a bright dot inside.
  1. 1▫Designation box on the object
  2. 2+Sensor crosshair
  3. 3NNorth indicator

A minute later, the sensor has designated the object: the small box follows it automatically. It will lose it at 2:22, after applying a contrast filter.

Frame · Video 70.0 s · U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) / DVIDS · PURSUE · Public domain

Image record
Author
U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM)
Origin
DVIDS · PURSUE
Original file
1006080 ↗
License
U.S. Government work: no U.S. copyright (17 U.S.C. § 105)
Retrieved
2026-10-07
Video SHA-256
571c044771d9a40970a337554095d3ea7c50f1e32620b25a71d854538fccd46d

The appearance of U.S. Department of War (DoW) visual information does not imply or constitute DoW endorsement.

02 Timeline

  1. At 23:39 UTC a reconnaissance aircraft of the 33rd Special Operations Squadron takes off from Larissa, Greece, bound for its mission and Jordan. [1 · p. 1, 4]

  2. 00:35 UTC. The crew sees an object “just above the surface of the ocean water” making “multiple 90 degree turns” at an estimated 80 mph. It loses it at 00:38; the video runs 2:57. [1 · p. 6–7][2]

  3. The same squadron records, off the northeastern tip of Crete, another “seemingly circular” dot flying straight toward land at about 30 mph with no maneuvers (case DOW-UAP-D035). [3 · p. 6–7][4]

  4. Central Command declassifies both reports and releases them to AARO. [1 · p. 1]

  5. PURSUE releases, in its first tranche, the reports and both videos. [5][2]

03 Hypotheses

Status as stated by the official sources cited. The archive takes no side.

04 Testimony

“The UAP took multiple 90 degree turns at an estimated 80 MPH.”
Aircraft crew · Mission report (MISREP 9329374), event description [1 · p. 7]

05 Editor's reading

The editor's opinion, not an official finding. It rests on the records cited and changes if they do.

  1. Conventional explanation likely
  2. Open
  3. Anomalous
  • Nothing measurable is extraordinary: a 2–3 pixel dot about 35 km away, skimming the water, at 30 to 115 mph according to the report's own coordinates. Slow for an aircraft and too small to see in detail. [1 · p. 6–7]
  • The crew who watched it live rated it “Benign”, with no signatures, no effects on equipment and not under intelligent control. [1 · p. 6–7]
  • The “90-degree turns” cannot be checked: with the sensor data redacted and a sea with no fixed references, on-screen motion cannot be separated from the camera's. The official video description does not mention them either. [2]
  • It remains unidentified: no one has published what it was. But what has been released shows nothing that calls for an unusual explanation. [5]

— Isaac Chaves, editor · Reading of

06 Discrepancies between sources

07 The case in PURSUE

How PURSUE publishes this case: its official description and every record, with links to the files. Reproduced as is, catalogue errors included.

Official description

This document is a Mission Report (MISREP), a standardized reporting form the U.S. Military uses to record the circumstances surrounding its operations. U.S. military services often use MISREPs to report Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) to AARO. The GENTEXT, or “general text” section of these reports often contains important qualitative, contextual information, distinguishing it from the more quantitative, or numerical, data found elsewhere in the report.

A U.S. military operator reported observing a UAP “flying just above the surface of the ocean.” The report describes the UAP as taking “multiple 90-degree turns at an estimated 80 mph.”

All descriptive and estimative language contained in this report reflects the reporter’s subjective interpretation at the time of the event. Such characterizations should not be interpreted as a conclusive indication of the presence or absence of any intrinsic object features or performance characteristics.

Catalogue records · 2

  1. DOW-UAP-D033 · Document · Department of War · May 8, 2026 · Main record

    Mission Report, Greece, October 2023

    10/27/23 · Aegean Sea

    File on war.gov ↗View on DVIDS ↗

  2. DOW-UAP-PR034 · Video · Department of War · May 8, 2026

    Unresolved UAP Report, Greece, October 2023

    Greece

    File on war.gov ↗View on DVIDS ↗

    Official description

    The United States Central Command submitted a report of an unidentified anomalous phenomenon (UAP) to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) consisting of two minutes and 57 seconds of video footage from an infrared sensor aboard a U.S. military platform in 2023. An accompanying mission report, DoW-UAP-D33, described the UAP as flying near the surface of the ocean and making multiple “90-degree turns” at approximately 80 miles per hour.

    Video Description:

    00:04: An area of contrast enters the sensor field-of-view from the bottom left quarter of the screen.

    00:07-00:19: The area of contrast moves back and forth horizontally across the field-of-view as the sensor pans to track it.

    00:20-01:00: The area of contrast remains generally centered within the sensor field-of-view.

    01:00-02:01: The sensor designates the area of contrast with a blue reticle, synchronizing its motion with the area of contrast’s relative position.

    02:02-02:21: The sensor engages a contrast filter to better differentiate the area of contrast from the background.

    02:22: The area of contrast becomes indistinguishable against the background, and the reticle drops its lock.

    02:27-02:57: After losing lock, the sensor rapidly cycles zoom levels and contrast thresholds.

    This video description is provided for informational purposes only. Readers should not interpret any part of this description as reflecting an analytical judgment, investigative conclusion, or factual determination regarding the described event’s validity, nature, or significance.

Catalogue discrepancies

Errors or inconsistencies in the catalogue itself, noted as they appear. They do not change what the documents say.

08 Sources

  1. [1]

    Record · U.S. Department of War · PURSUE (USCENTCOM) · May 8, 2026

    DOW-UAP-D033 · Mission Report, Greece, October 2023 (MISREP 9329374)

    Mission report from a 33rd Special Operations Squadron reconnaissance aircraft (7 pp.), declassified by Central Command on 2026-01-22. Includes the UAP sheet of 2023-10-27: “Sharp 90 degree turns”, an estimated 80 mph, “Benign”.

    Checked on Oct 7, 2026 · Open the original ↗

  2. [2]

    Record · U.S. Department of War · PURSUE (DVIDS) · May 8, 2026

    DOW-UAP-PR034 · Unresolved UAP Report, Greece, October 2023 (infrared video, 2:57)

    The case's infrared video, with the on-screen data redacted. The DVIDS page describes it second by second and gives 2023-10-01 as the date taken.

    Checked on Oct 7, 2026 · Open the original ↗

  3. [3]

    Record · U.S. Department of War · PURSUE (USCENTCOM) · May 8, 2026

    DOW-UAP-D035 · Mission Report, Greece, October 2023 (MISREP 9337873)

    Mission report from the same squadron two days later (7 pp.): a similar object flies straight toward land at about 30 mph, with no maneuvers. It is another catalogue case; used for comparison.

    Checked on Oct 7, 2026 · Open the original ↗

  4. [4]

    Record · U.S. Department of War · PURSUE (DVIDS) · May 8, 2026

    DOW-UAP-PR035 · Unresolved UAP Report, Greece, October 2023 (infrared video, 0:24)

    24-second infrared video of the second report: the sensor follows a dot over the sea until, at the coast, it can no longer be told apart.

    Checked on Oct 7, 2026 · Open the original ↗

  5. [5]

    Record · U.S. Department of War

    Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE)

    Department of War program, supported by ODNI, that releases declassified records of unresolved UAP cases from several agencies in tranches. None of the three Navy videos is in it.

    Checked on Oct 4, 2026 · Open the original ↗

May contain errors by the AI and the editor · always check the official source. · Privacy