Dept. of DefenseUnresolvedAmbiguous
Single UAP/UAV observed flying west to east — Baghdad area, Iraq, 1 December 2022
Dec 1, 2022Baghdad area, Iraq (MGRS 38SMB4, redacted) (approx.)
Analysis — our summary
On 1 December 2022 at 1620Z, an ISR aircraft from 482 ATKS/20 FW operating over Baghdad, Iraq at FL180 observed 1 possible UAP or UAV flying west to east near MGRS 38SMB4. The observer did not follow the UAP and continued the tasked mission; no further UAP events were observed. No RF signatures or effects on persons were reported.
As reported — verbatim from the document
“"AT 1620Z, [REDACTED] OBSERVED 1X POSSIBLE UAP/UAV FLYING WEST TO EAST IVO 38SMB4[REDACTED]. [REDACTED] DID NOT FOLLOW UAP. [REDACTED] CONTINUED THE MISSION AS TASKED, NO FURTHER EVENTS WERE OBSERVED."”
Analyst notes — caveats & confidence
Moderate-to-heavy redaction (FOIA b)(1)1.4a, 3.5c, b)(6)). The document explicitly describes the object as 'possible UAP/UAV', making UAV a plausible mundane explanation not resolved by this report. Friendly aircraft location given as 38SMB4[REDACTED] at FL180. Aircraft type and tail number redacted. Mission under Op INHERENT RESOLVE, ~19 hours duration, takeoff/landing OKAS. Report ID: MDR 25-0094.
Provenance
Source documentDOW-UAP-D18-Mission-Report-Iraq-December-2022.pdf
Document typeMISREP
Reporting agencyDept. of Defense
Source pages6
Redaction markers in doc12
Declassified2025
Held classified~3 years
Extraction confidence ModerateHow cleanly this record could be parsed from the source — driven by legibility & redaction. It is not a measure of how credible or anomalous the sighting is.