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Mission Report, Iraq, 2023

U.S. Department of War · 2023-03-31 · 6 pages · text from the file's own layer

This declassified U.S. Air Force mission report (MISREP), filed by the 77th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron under Operation Inherent Resolve, covers a two-ship F-16CM defensive counter-air sortie flown from Prince Sultan Air Base on 31 March 2023. During the mission the flight saw possibly 10 to 20 bright objects moving quickly from west to east. Each one stayed on the targeting pod for about 20 seconds before it dimmed and disappeared. An analyst note says the pod images of the objects differed from those of a star. USCENTCOM declassified the report for AARO in October 2025.

From the source: Release of 2026-05-08 Incident: 3/31/23, Iraq. Released with redactions. 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 “several bright objects maneuvering quickly” west to east northeast. The operator reported achieving a track on the UAP via an onboard targeting pod for approximately 20 seconds. The report describes that UAP then dimmed and disappeared from the targeting pod. 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.

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• Towed Decoy Software Load or Mission Data: MTP AA51
• Num Towed Decoys: 2
• Type of Radar-Guided AAM: AIM-120
• Num Radar-Guided AAM: 2
• Type of IR-Guided AAM: AIM-9X
• Num IR-Guided AAM: 2
• Gun Name or Designator: M61Al
• Num Gun Rounds: 510
• Air-to-Ground Wpn to Include Num of Each:l._____1_.4_a_____,
• TGT Pod Name or Designator: SNIPER LDP
• Additional Avionics: HTS-P R7.85
• Data Link: LINK 16
• Gentext:
ACEQUIP
• Aircraft Callsign: 1.4a
L---,--......,....----,.....r---,
• Radar Name or Destination 1.4a, 1.4g
• Radar Software Load or Mission Data: 8070 / MMC 7.3
• Radar Warning Receiver (RWR) Name or Designator: ALR-56M
• RWR Software Load or Mission Data: 102 / SY0730
• MWS Name or Designator:
• MWS Software Load or Mission Data:
• IRCM Name or Designator:
• IRCM Software Load or Mission Data:
• ECM Name or Designator: ALQ-184
• ECM Software Load or Mission Data: C01856
• CMD Name or Designator: ALQ-213
• Chaff Designator: RR-180
• Num Chaff or Cartridges: 60
• Flare Designator: MW-53, Mm-66
• Num Flares: 45
• Towed Decoy Name or Designator: ALE-50
• Towed Decoy Software Load or Mission Data: MTP AA51
• Num Towed Decoys: 2
• Type of Radar-Guided AAM: AIM-120
• Num Radar-Guided AAM: 2
• Type of IR-Guided AAM: AIM-9X
• Num IR-Guided AAM: 2
• Gun Name or Designator: M61Al
• Num Gun Rounds: 510
• Air-to-Ground Wpn to Include Num of Each:l._____1_.4_a___.....
• TGT Pod Name or Designator: SNIPER LDP
3.5c, FOIA Exemption (b)(6)
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Declassified by MG Richard A. Harrison
USCENTCOM Chief of Staff
Declassified on: 8 October 2025
MDR 25-0094 thru MDR 25-0099 / JS-250710-TM8S 10/17/25 004
Approved for Release to AARO

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Report, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 6 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.