AARO_Brief_to_SASC_DoD_UAP_Mission_2023-04-19.pdf

A LL-DOMAIN  ANOMALY  RESOLUTION  OFFICE
UNCLASSIFIED
U.S. Department of Defense
UNCLASSIFIED
The US Department of Defense &
the UAP Mission
Seán Kirkpatrick, Ph.D.
Director

ALL-DOMAIN ANOMALY RESOLUTION OFFICE
UNCLASSIFIED
CLEARED FOR OPEN PUBLICATION
APR 17, 2023
Department of Defense
Office of Prepublication and Security Review
UAP Reporting Trends 
1996-2023
REPORTED-UAP ALTITUDES
TYPICALLY-REPORTED 
UAP CHARACTERISTICS
Appearance
Morphology
Round, Atypical Orientation
Size
1-4 Meters
Color
White, Silver, Translucent
Performance
Altitude
10k – 30k feet
Velocity
Stationary to Mach 2
Signatures
Propulsion
No thermal exhaust detected
Radar
Intermittent, X-Band (8-12 
GHz)
Radio
1-3 GHz, 8-12 GHz
Thermal
Intermittent, Shortwave 
Infrared, Medium-Wave 
Infrared
REP…

3
UNCLASSIFIED
UNCLASSIFIED
Middle East, 2022:  MQ-9 observed apparent 
spherical UAP via electro-optical sensors

CHARACTERISTICS
PERFORMANCE
SIGNATURES
BEHAVIOR
EFFECTS
UAP characteristics and behavior consistent with 
other “metallic orb” observations in the region
No demonstration of enigmatic technical 
capabilities and no apparent threat to airborne-
asset safety
Case in “active archive,” pending discovery of 
additional data
AARO uses active-archive cases for trend and 
statistical analyses
UNRESOLVED,
IN ACTIVE-ARCHIVE
Middle East UAP, unresolved (U)

4
UNCLASSIFIED
UNCLASSIFIED
South Asia, 2023:  MQ-9 observed UAP object apparently 
tailed by potentially-anomalous atmospheric wake

CHARACTERISTICS
PERFORMANCE
SIGNATURES
BEHAVIOR
EFFECTS
Phenomenon observed in other forward-looking 
infrared, full-motion video by same platform
The “trail” appears to be cavitation, similar to those 
caused during propulsion
Visible trail is a camera-software artifact
Video-compression algorithms overlay captured 
image on previous frame and resolve differences in 
the gray, infrared gradient
Analyses of the morphology and traffic-control data 
suggest t…

U.S. Department of Defense
UNCLASSIFIED
UNCLASSIFIED
Seán Kirkpatrick, Ph.D.
Director