Arabian Gulf: USAF ISR aircraft records UAP on full-motion video
On 16 September 2020 at 17:32 UTC, a U.S. Air Force ISR aircraft of the 482nd Attack Squadron operating at flight level 180 over the Arabian Gulf observed a UAP on full-motion video; the same sortie recorded two lost-link events of unknown type and three Iranian air-defence guard calls.
Background
The mission report documents an ISR sortie from Ali Al Salem (OKAS), Kuwait, launched at 23:02Z on 15 September 2020 in support of NAVCENT in the Arabian Gulf; aircraft type, tail number and callsign are redacted. The observation line records at 17:32Z on 16 September an aircraft position in MGRS grid 39RVM5 (remaining digits redacted), altitude FL180, airspeed 90 KIAS, observed activity 'UAP' at the same grid and method of observation FMV; the gentext states only that the aircraft observed a UAP in the vicinity of that grid, and weather was not a factor. Earlier that day the aircraft experienced two lost-link EMI events of unknown type (12:48–12:59Z and 14:14–14:41Z), each logged with complete system impact, a flight path deviation and medium mission impact and attributed to a 'possible' cause that is redacted, and was hailed three times on guard frequency by Iranian air defence (04:08Z, 04:21Z, 11:41Z) with no mission impact. The document title places the sortie at the Strait of Hormuz, while the grid zone points to the northern Arabian Gulf off the Iranian coast. The report was declassified by the USCENTCOM Chief of Staff on 22 January 2026. The details are taken from the records released by the U.S. Department of War (record code DOW-UAP-D62) and do not represent an independent determination by From Beyond Space.