◆ CASE FILEThe facts, corroborated
The Balloon at 31,000 Feet
On a 2020 mission that the release places over the Arabian Gulf, a US military aircrew took a weapons-quality track on a UAP drifting with the winds at 31,000 feet and identified it on its infrared targeting sensor. Its own report says the object looked like a balloon and resembled a UAP reported earlier by the 48th Fighter Wing. This is the record of what the crew reported, not a verdict on what was at altitude.
◆ THE SHORT VERSION
- The Balloon at 31,000 Feet is a reported UAP case in Arabian Gulf (per release title; position redacted), International waters (Arabian Gulf), 2020.
- A 2020 mission report logs "a weapons quality 1 track of a UAP traveling with the winds at 31,000 ft MSL".
- The crew, the report says, was able to "visually ID the UAP in the TFLIR", its infrared targeting sensor.
- The report's own description reads: "Looks like a balloon, similar to previously reported UAP from 48FW."
- Five of the report's six pages are blacked out, and its date and place rest only on the release title.
- For this case Fractured Realities holds 1 distinct source, 1 corroborating primary document and 1 claimant on its resolved list.
- The archive grades it L4 · OFFICIAL RECORD — a released government record names who saw it, the top of our scale, though no independent testimony sits beside that record.
Counts are resolved totals of what sources say, computed 2026-10-03; the reported details above are claims in the record, not findings. A record of reports, not a verdict on what happened.
EVENT DATE
2020
LOCATION
Arabian Gulf (per release title; position redacted) · International waters (Arabian Gulf)
INDEPENDENCE
L4 · OFFICIAL RECORD
SOURCES
1 distinct
CLAIMANTS
1
STATUS
Known from released government records
NUMBERS COMPUTED 2026-10-03 · RESOLVED COUNTS, NOT A VERDICT
