The Crossing over Baghdad

Something crossed Baghdad from west to east at 1620Z. A 482nd Attack Squadron crew was flying a surveillance mission over the city at 18,000 feet. It logged the object as "1X POSSIBLE UAP/UAV". Then it let it go. The crew "did not follow UAP", its mission report says, and "continued the mission as tasked, no further events were observed."

What is on the record

The document is a US Central Command mission report, DOW-UAP-D18, filed by the 482nd Attack Squadron under Operation Inherent Resolve. It was declassified on 8 October 2025 and published in the Department of War's first PURSUE release on 8 May 2026. The aircraft spent more than eighteen hours on station scanning for targets "IVO Baghdad, Iraq". The report counts one UAP, no signatures and no effects on anyone. It gives no size, shape, speed or altitude for the object. The aircraft type, callsign and supported task force are redacted. The grid reference is only partly visible.

That fragment still places the sensor over the Karrada district of central Baghdad. Mick West of Metabunk reached the same spot independently by matching buildings in the released footage.

The paired video, DOW-UAP-PR023, runs ten seconds. AARO describes "an area of contrast" moving from the bottom left to the top right of the frame and leaving near the top right corner at about six seconds. The clip's opening frame shows only rooftops and streets.

The crew hedged between an unidentified phenomenon and an uncrewed aircraft. Neither the report nor AARO offers an explanation. Contributors at Metabunk suggest something small and close to the camera, perhaps a bird. The release lists the case as unresolved.

Why it sits where it does

L4 · OFFICIAL RECORD — a released government record names who saw it. The observers are an aircrew identified by squadron, with every name withheld. No independent testimony sits beside the report in the archive, and the tier measures sourcing rather than truth. What crossed Baghdad is not resolved here.