PURSUE Record — PURSUE R02 DOW-UAP-PR050 — 4-UAP formation over Iran (26 Aug 2022): U.S. Department of War / CENTCOM · Over water near Iran — U.S. Central Comma

Record DOW-UAP-PR050 is a declassified military sensor video released by the U.S. Department of War through U.S. Central Command as part of the PURSUE Release 02 video bundle on May 22, 2026. The incident it captures occurred on 26 August 2022 over water near Iran — U.S. Central Command theater — and is formally catalogued as a multi-object case: four unidentified aerial phenomena observed in formation. This is primary sensor footage from an active operational environment, not a summary document or secondhand account.

What this record contains

The record is classified as type VID — a sensor video file — shipped as a single file part within the approximately 5.6 GB uap052226.zip bundle comprising the PURSUE Release 02 video collection. The releasing agency is the U.S. Department of War, coordinated through CENTCOM, which holds operational responsibility for Middle East theater airspace. The official description states it shows "four unidentified objects in formation over water near Iran" — making it one of the more geometrically unusual records in the release. The majority of sensor video cases in the PURSUE catalog involve a single unresolved contact; PR050 documents four simultaneous ones, in apparent formation.

Beyond what the metadata explicitly establishes, the public release does not include detailed supplementary information for this record. No sensor platform identification, altitude or speed data, or follow-on analytical assessment is publicly attached. What exists is the video itself and its official catalogue entry.

Sensor & operational context

Military sensor video originating from the CENTCOM theater typically comes from electro-optical (EO) or infrared (IR) systems mounted on ISR aircraft, unmanned platforms, or ship-based installations. These systems operate in spectra invisible to the naked eye — thermal infrared in particular renders heat signatures against cool backgrounds with high contrast, which is why featureless blobs on raw footage can carry analytically significant data in post-processing. The August 2022 timeframe falls within a period of sustained U.S. ISR activity across CENTCOM's area of responsibility, with persistent surveillance assets regularly operating over regional waterways and contested airspace. Four objects in apparent formation — as opposed to a single contact — introduces the possibility of coordinated movement, though the footage alone cannot establish whether the objects were related, similarly sized, or operating at comparable altitudes and distances from the sensor.

What this does and does not prove

What the record documents is this: a military sensor system, operating in U.S. Central Command's area of responsibility on 26 August 2022, captured imagery of four aerial contacts in formation over water near Iran that remained unidentified at the time of release. That is the extent of what the official metadata establishes. It does not prove the objects were extraordinary in origin or advanced in propulsion. Formation geometry is a documented characteristic of balloon clusters, birds at altitude, and certain sensor artifacts. Equally, it rules nothing out. The record is listed as unresolved — meaning no explanation has been officially assigned, not that an anomalous explanation is warranted. Responsible engagement with this footage requires holding both possibilities open until further analysis is published.

How it fits PURSUE Release 02

DOW-UAP-PR050 sits within the Department of War's contemporary sensor video cohort in PURSUE Release 02 — one of dozens of military-origin records in that bundle covering incidents from active operational theaters. Where the broader PURSUE program (beginning with Release 01 on May 8, 2026, spanning 162 documents from FBI archives to NASA imagery) establishes historical baseline, Release 02's video component draws almost entirely from modern sensor platforms operating today. PR050's four-object formation geometry makes it a notable data point within that cohort, and it joins other multi-contact cases documented across the PURSUE releases as a reminder that whatever the ultimate explanations prove to be, the unresolved cases are not exclusively single-object in character.

Editorial note: This analysis is independent commentary on a publicly released document. The original record, source links, and full release metadata are catalogued on the SkyLens UAP files page alongside every other case in the PURSUE Release 01 set.