The Sea-Skimmer off Crete

The crew was on its way home when it saw the object "flying just above the surface of the ocean water". It "flew straight above the ocean towards lands", the report says. The crew lost it from its feed in the same minute, at 0811Z. The report calls it "seemingly circular, too small to make out details" and estimates its speed at 30 mph. The crew judged it benign and solid and answered no when the form asked whether it was under intelligent control.

What is on the record

The document is a US Central Command mission report, DOW-UAP-D35, filed by the 33rd Special Operations Squadron. It was declassified on 22 January 2026 and published in the Department of War's first PURSUE release on 8 May 2026. The sortie took off from Larissa on 28 October, spent more than nine hours on an ISR task whose details are masked and landed after a 20-hour mission. The UAP fields record no manoeuvres, no response to the crew, no signatures and no effect on equipment. The weather was clear.

The report's first and last coordinates are partly redacted. What survives places them near Itanos at the north-east tip of Crete, a short track running toward the shore. The release titles the case only "Greece". The aircraft type and callsign are withheld.

The paired video is DOW-UAP-PR035, 24 seconds of infrared. AARO describes the sensor zooming onto an "area of contrast" near the centre and tracking it against the sea. At 20 seconds, "as the background scene transitions from being predominantly water to land, the area of contrast becomes indistinguishable." Later frames show a rocky coastline entering the view.

Neither the report nor AARO offers an explanation beyond the crew's own "benign". 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 a special operations 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 skimmed the sea toward Crete is not resolved here.