CASE FILE D-57
Declassified: A UAP Encounter Over Gulf of Aden (September 2020)
2026-08-12 · Declassified UAP records
In September 2020, a U.S. military aircraft operating over Gulf of Aden recorded an unidentified object its crew could not explain.
The encounter is documented in an official 1172 ATKS mission report, declassified and released through AARO — the Pentagon's UAP office.
The report confirms the crew on 04sep2020, an isr crew tracked a round, cold object in ir at 23,819 feet over the gulf of aden. the object traveled at 277 mph, made abrupt directional changes over 8 minutes, and was observed with a sensor aimed -39 degrees below altitude.. 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.
The Document
SECRET 4 Sep 2020
USCENTCOM Range Fouler Reporting Form (4 Sep 2020)
Range Fouler Reporting Form
- Date: 04 SEP 2020 · Time of detection: 21:09:00Z · Night · Mission: ISR
- Squadron: 172 ATKS · Rank: O-3
- Contact altitude: ~23,819 ft HAT · Contact moving: Yes · Direction/Speed: 168/277
- Number of contacts in group: 1 · Shape: Round
Contact Description (aircrew's own words)
Contact at 21:09z to 21:17z 04SEP2020. MGRS location 38P LT 7 ██████████████(b)(1)1.4a 43 ██████████████(b)(1)1.4a (estimated lat/long ██████████████(b)(1)1.4a). While at 23,819 HAT over the Gulf of Aden we tracked a round, cold object in IR traveling 168 degrees at 277 mph. It made a few abrupt directional changes during the 8 minute contact. Our sensor was aimed -39 degrees below our altitude with a slant range of 6.17NM and ground range of 8.81KM. The IR sensor was set to black hot and the object in question was a bright white.
Declassified by MG Richard A. Harrison — Approved for Release to AARO (USCENTCOM 26-0028); FOUO / Privacy Act applies. · U.S. Department of War — PURSUE UAP release (DOW-UAP-D57)
Where It Happened
Full Transcript
At 23,819 feet over the Gulf of Aden, a military sensor locked onto something round and cold. Then it started moving in ways that made no sense.
It was September 4th, 2020. An ISR crew was tracking this object as it traveled at 277 miles per hour—and then abruptly changed direction, over and over, for eight straight minutes.
The declassified report, released through AARO, documents the encounter. But look at this page: dozens of details are blacked out, including the operation and nearly all mission specifics.
Why hide so much? The sensor was aimed 39 degrees below the aircraft. The object was cold against the sky. And the crew? They left the 'mission description' field blank—or it was redacted.
This is just one case among thousands the government has quietly released. What do you think that object was? Tell me in the comments. Search case D-57 at ufodata.org to read the full file. Subscribe to UFO Data.
Sources
All documents and footage are authentic, public-domain U.S. government releases. Narration is AI-generated text-to-speech.