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DOW-UAP-PR050, "4 UAP Formation Iran 26 Aug 2022 over water [CALLSIGN]"

This Release 02 page covers WAR.GOV/PURSUE manifest row 1, a Department of War video record mirrored through DVIDS as video ID 1007706. The official release framing says that, after a March 6, 2026 request from eight members of the U.S. House of Representatives, AARO identified…

Release 02#war-gov#pursue#release-02#official-source#evidence#video#dvids

DOW-UAP-PR050, "4 UAP Formation Iran 26 Aug 2022 over water [CALLSIGN]"

Investigation reading

This Release 02 page covers WAR.GOV/PURSUE manifest row 1, a Department of War video record mirrored through DVIDS as video ID 1007706. The official release framing says that, after a March 6, 2026 request from eight members of the U.S. House of Representatives, AARO identified responsive materials held on a classified network and cautioned that many of the materials lack a substantiated chain of custody. That caveat is part of the source record and should travel with any downstream interpretation of this clip. [S1][S2]

For this item, the official description says AARO assesses the video is likely derived from an infrared sensor aboard a U.S. military platform operating in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility in 2022. The uploader-defined title is quoted as “4 UAP Formation Iran 26 Aug 2022 over water [CALLSIGN],” and the source text says a user uploaded the video to a classified network in June 2024. Those are source claims, not independent Open Sky findings. [S1][S2]

A bounded media check was possible because the DVIDS page exposes a small direct MP4 for DOD_111719709. The checked direct MP4 is about 3.10 MB, decodes as a 640×360 H.264 video of about 9.94 seconds, and includes a silent AAC stereo stream. Sampled frames show a monochrome sensor-style view with overlay/masking elements and small moving high-contrast regions broadly consistent with the official description. This draft still treats object identity, distance, speed, platform, and scene context as unresolved. [S2][S3]

What the released item appears to contain

The official description says that from 00:01-00:04, four areas of contrast transit the sensor field of view, entering from the lower third of the left side of the screen and exiting near the center of the bottom of the frame. It also says that from 00:05-00:06, another area of contrast enters from the top-left corner. [S1][S2]

DVIDS page metadata lists the item as B-roll, date taken 08.26.2022, date posted 05.22.2026 07:30, VIRIN 220826-D-D0360-7996, filename DOD_111719709, and location displayed as IR/Iran. The DVIDS page lists a video length of 00:00:09, while the release description text says Video Duration: 00:00:20. The checked direct MP4 duration is approximately 9.94 seconds, so the duration mismatch is a source-metadata issue to preserve for review rather than smooth over. [S1][S2][S3]

The visible sampled video content is best described cautiously: an infrared-style or monochrome sensor view with display overlays, black masked regions, background texture that shifts over time, and multiple small high-contrast areas moving relative to the field of view. The sampled frames do not establish what the contrast areas are.

Source custody and provenance

The primary public custody chain for this draft is the WAR.GOV/PURSUE Release 02 landing page and manifest, then the DVIDS record at video ID 1007706. The manifest row identifies this as Release 02, release date 5/22/26, agency Department of War, kind VID, row number 1, with incident date 2022 and incident location CENTCOM. [S1]

The WAR.GOV Release 02 document bundle URL is preserved for release-level provenance, with SHA-256 8200c60f179767f50f5e6d0bf8373dfef7220326728610241394bcb8de22272d. This particular item is a video record rather than a PDF document row. The remote video ZIP was not downloaded as a whole; the available remote central-directory inventory identifies the relevant video entry as video_2605_DOD_111719709_DOD_111719709.mp4, size 3,097,929 bytes, CRC32 84b3d8ac. [S1][S4]

The DVIDS page also exposes a direct MP4 source for DOD_111719709. That bounded direct MP4 was checked separately: size 3,103,288 bytes, SHA-256 b542f90ec73780e22740561c5fa4c6bc929505019f69a318e1267a686e9be3b2, H.264 video, approximately 9.94 seconds. The direct MP4 byte size differs from the remote ZIP entry size, so the direct DVIDS file and the ZIP entry should be treated as related official-source media paths that still merit exact byte-level reconciliation before any final media-analysis claim. [S2][S3][S4]

Graph context

The current Open Sky graph probe returned no exact graph records for this Release 02 slug or DVIDS ID, and no Release 02 dataset label counts were available in the graph context returned for this worker. That absence is not evidence against the source record; it means this page is operating from official WAR.GOV/DVIDS provenance until Release 02 graph ingest catches up.

No graph-derived finding is made here. Any future title-related or sensor-event records should be treated as leads until they are linked back to the official source row, the DVIDS media record, and verified source-media bytes.

Leads to check

  • Reconcile the duration mismatch: release description text says 00:00:20, DVIDS metadata says 00:00:09, and the checked direct MP4 decodes to about 9.94 seconds.
  • Reconcile the direct DVIDS MP4 against the Release 02 video ZIP entry: byte size differs, while filename identity and source context point to the same DOD_111719709 media family.
  • Create a proper frame-by-frame analyst contact sheet from the official source file, separating real scene content from sensor overlay, black masking, compression artifacts, and display annotations.
  • Check whether the title phrase “over water” can be supported visually or from source metadata; the sampled frames alone are not enough to establish scene geography.
  • If graph ingest adds Release 02 nodes later, link this page to the canonical source/document/media nodes and preserve the chain-of-custody caveat from the official description.

Limits

This is a source-review draft, not a finding. The official description itself warns that readers should not treat the description as an analytical judgment, investigative conclusion, or factual determination about the event’s validity, nature, or significance. Open Sky should preserve that warning.

The media check here was bounded to the small direct DVIDS MP4 and sampled visual review. It does not establish object identity, size, range, speed, platform, altitude, weather, sensor settings, or whether the contrast areas are airborne objects, surface features, sensor artifacts, birds, debris, munitions, or another prosaic source. No classified-chain provenance is available in the public release beyond the official statement that the video was uploaded to a classified network in June 2024.

Sources