Gulf of Oman: AC-130 crew reports about 25 “cold orbs” during a night exercise
On 8 September 2021 the crew of a U.S. Special Operations Forces AC-130 gunship reported about 25 observations of small objects that appeared cold on infrared over the Gulf of Oman. An Intelligence Information Report and six video clips were declassified in August 2026.
Background
During a night-time live-fire exercise over the Gulf of Oman, the crew of a U.S. Special Operations Forces AC-130 gunship reported first observing two phenomena after dropping a water-activated flare: stationary, roughly four feet across, zero to twenty feet above the water. Over the course of the sortie they reported about 25 similar observations on the infrared sensor and called the objects “cold orbs”. Estimated speeds range from 250 to 1,300 miles per hour; the report describes the behaviour as “maneuvering aggressively” and “flying in various formations” and records that the phenomena appeared to react to deployments of the aircraft’s onboard weapons systems.
The crew stated they could not record the phenomena because the aircraft’s digital video recorder was not working. The six released videos are therefore secondary captures: a cellular device filming the infrared sensor display. That reduces fidelity and resolution, and artifacts such as blurring or flickering may be present.
Source-critical note: an Intelligence Information Report is unevaluated raw reporting, not a finished assessment. The report itself states that its descriptive and estimative language reflects the reporter’s subjective interpretation at the time and should not be read as a determination about the presence or characteristics of any object.