Documents / Report
This U.S. Department of War Range Fouler Reporting Form, released through USCENTCOM, records a night ISR mission on 4 September 2020. A crew from the 11th Attack Squadron reported that at 23,819 feet over the Gulf of Aden they tracked a single round object that appeared cold in infrared, heading 168 degrees at 277 mph. The contact lasted about eight minutes, from 21:09Z to 21:17Z, and the object made several abrupt changes of direction. Location details are redacted.
From the source: Release of 2026-05-08 Incident: 9/4/20, Gulf of Aden. Released with redactions. This document is a Range Fouler Reporting Form, a standardized reporting form the U.S. Navy uses to record the circumstances surrounding an unauthorized intrusion into controlled airspace during active military operations or training. These reports contain a narrative description of the observer’s experiences. A U.S. military operator reported tracking a “round, cold object” over the Gulf of Aden for eight minutes via “black hot” IR sensor, making the UAP appear “bright white.” The report states that the UAP was “traveling 168 degrees at 277 mph” and “made a few abrupt directional changes” during the encounter. 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.
Range Fouler Reportin Form
Please complete this form to the best of your ability. If you do n~ot have the requested information,
please leave the field blank. If there was more than one "group " please report each on a separate
form for data collection purposes. You should receive a respons within 5 business days. •
Last Name, First Name Rank Squadron SfPR Email Address Crew Position
0-3 1172 ATKS Other
This information is for contact only. SPEAR sanitizes all r ports of identifying information.
Absolutely no identifying information for aircrew or squadr, n will be recorded for analysis.
09/04/20 21 :09:00 Night ISR
Date {mmlddlyy} Time of detection Day I Night Side No. Buno Mi$$ion Description (CAS, BFM. etc) LFE?
(hh:mm:ss Z)
N E 23819
Contact Won,-ing Area Contact Latitute N/S Contact LongitrJ<Je E,W , ntact Altitllde Altitude W'incJ Dir at Wind
(Ex: W•721A) (DD:MM:SS) (DD:MM:SS) ~ : 22000} Constant? Contact Alt Speed
(From)
Please attempt to determine a Lat I Long for the contact at initial cJete<;t;on. We recommend
using JMPS to reference the sensor-derived beating and range mtat/ve to the bullseye you had Wes the contact moving? Yes
in use. If that methocJ is not available, any reasonable derivation of location will won,-, but please
be as specific as possible and make a note in the comments section. These locations may be Direction/Speedused to cue other means oftracking. 168/277(Ex. 090/15)
Radar Equipped: AIM-9x Self-Track: Please check all that apply:□ Round: [l] Moving Parts: DStable Trackfile?: A TFLIR Autotrack: □ Square: D Metallic: D# of Contacts in "Group": 1 Tally Achieved: □ Balloon-shapecJ: D Mar1<ings: DEA Indications (Check all that apply): Wings/Airframe: D Translucent: D
Other Shape: D Opeque:O
□ □ □ □. Letter False Other/ECM Apparent Propulsion:□ RefTe<:tive: □
An; Identifier Trackfiles Ambiguous
Please use the field below to describe the contact and any inte action in your own words with as much
detail as possible. Please be sure to include any detail not incJJded in questions above.
Contact at 21 :09z to 21 :17z 04SEP2020. MGRS location 38P L+?(~a<aoimJ(estimated lat/long
I (bJ(1 )1.4a ~. While at 23,819 HAT over the ~ulf of Aden we tracked a round, cold object
in IR traveling 168 degrees at 277 mph. It made a few abrupt dir~ctional changes during the 8 minute
contact. Our sensor was aimed -39 degrees below our altitude w th a slant range of 6.1 ?NM and ground
range of 8.81 KM. The IR sensor was set to black hot and the obj ct in question was a bright white.
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it to I 3.5c. (blt61 I(Also in the global). For troubleshooting, call I 3.5c, (bl(6l I
Thank you for your time. Please ensure all display tapes are rip ed for the entire time of interaction and
saved as a .wmv (Example: 4 May VFA-106 HUD.wmv). Squa ron inte/ personnel shall upload those files
to the repository located at this link.
( 0 3::c, c1:JJc61 , I
USCENTCOM 26.0028 Approved for Release to MRO - FOUO / PA applies 03/16/26 000001 Not linked to a story yet.
Report, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 1 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.