In a report released under a 2024 label, a U.S. military aircraft during Operation Inherent Resolve flying armed overwatch under Operation Inherent Resolve (the file is labeled East China Sea, but the narrative places the mission in the CENTCOM region) recorded an unidentified object its crew could not explain.
The encounter is documented in an official USCENTCOM mission report, declassified and released through AARO — the Pentagon's UAP office.
The report confirms the crew observed an unidentified aerial phenomena. But the specifics — position, sensors, identities — are withheld under national-security and privacy exemptions.
Below is the document itself, reconstructed with the redactions preserved, followed by the full narration transcript and the approximate location of the encounter.