Combat-Zone UAP Reports: Middle East 2020 and Iraq, May 2022

Among the unresolved-UAP reports surfaced through PURSUE, two stand out for the operational context they were filed in: DOW-UAP-PR21, listed as an Unresolved UAP Report from Iraq with an incident date in May 2022, and DOW-UAP-PR44, an Unresolved UAP Report from the Middle East with a 2020 incident date.

Combat-zone UAP reporting carries a different evidentiary character than peacetime range-fouler reporting. The sensors involved are typically those a deployed unit happens to have available; the reporting environment is high-tempo; and the threshold for filing a formal report tends to be higher because the workload is heavier. Cases that did get filed and that remained unresolved after AARO review are typically the ones that defied the most plausible conventional explanations.

Iraq in May 2022 was a relatively stable security environment compared to a decade earlier, but with significant ongoing U.S. and coalition aviation activity related to ISR and counter-ISIS operations. Middle East 2020 covers a broader theater with multiple national militaries operating in close proximity to U.S. forces.

Both reports are filed in the catalogue with the "PR" prefix — distinguishing them from "D" series reports as a separate Pentagon classification. Neither has a public narrative summary in the PURSUE catalogue. The PDFs themselves are the source for whatever sensor data, witness statements, and analytic reasoning the reports contain.