DOW-UAP-PR055, "Spherical UAP over AFG in and out of clouds 23 Nov 2020"

Investigation reading

This Release 02 item is an official Department of War/DVIDS video record from WAR.GOV/PURSUE release row 114. The source label is DOW-UAP-PR055, with the uploader-defined title “Spherical UAP over AFG in and out of clouds 23 Nov 2020.” Open Sky treats that wording as a source title, not as an analytical finding about object identity or shape.

The official Release 02 description says AARO identified responsive materials on a classified network after an eight-member House request on March 6, 2026. It also says many materials in this collection lack a substantiated chain of custody. For this item specifically, AARO assesses the media is likely derived from an infrared sensor aboard a U.S. military platform operating in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility in November 2020. The description further states that the video was digitally altered before upload to a classified network and is presented as received.

The downloaded source file is therefore best read as a released derivative/presentation video: it contains title cards, zoomed and enhanced excerpts, and a later “Original Video” segment. The page below records what is visible in that released item and separates source labels from investigative conclusions.

What the released item appears to contain

The 47.27-second MP4 is a monochrome or near-monochrome sensor-display-style video over cloud texture. The released presentation is explicitly segmented:

• 00:00–00:02 — a black title card reading “zoomed in.”
• 00:03–00:10 — a zoomed cloud scene where a small dark contrast feature is visible in some sampled frames.
• 00:11–00:12 — a black title card reading “sharpened, zoomed / motion tracked / contrast enhanced / slow to 60% speed.”
• 00:12–00:28 — a processed replay. In the sampled frames, the feature is most distinct as a compact dark dot-like speck against brighter cloud texture in some frames, but the section is explicitly sharpened, zoomed, motion-tracked, contrast-enhanced, and slowed.
• 00:28–00:29 — a black title card reading “Original Video.”
• 00:30–00:47 — a smaller original-video view within black borders/overlays. A tiny dark feature is visible in parts of the sampled original-video segment, but it is small and not sufficient on its own to determine identity, range, size, altitude, speed, or cause.

Sampled stills support the cautious statement that a small dark contrast feature is visible in selected frames. They do not establish that the feature is anomalous or even necessarily a discrete physical object. Any stronger interpretation would require the unaltered source, platform/sensor data, exact timing and location, and frame-by-frame motion analysis.

Derived contact sheet from the downloaded official MP4, sampled across title cards, processed segments, and the “Original Video” segment. This is a review aid, not a substitute for the source file.

Upper-band crop from the same sampled frames. Several samples show a compact dark speck against cloud texture; visibility varies with crop, contrast, and processing.

Source asset review

The DVIDS page resolved to https://www.dvidshub.net/video/1007713/dow-uap-pr055-spherical-uap-over-afg-and-out-clouds-23-nov-2020 and exposed a direct official CloudFront MP4 URL for DOD_111719732.mp4. That individual media file was downloaded and inspected; the full Release 02 video ZIP was not downloaded as a substitute.

DVIDS page metadata observed during this pass: title DOW-UAP-PR055, "Spherical UAP over AFG in and out of clouds 23 Nov 2020"; date taken 11.23.2020; date posted 05.22.2026 07:30; category Briefings; video ID 1007713; VIRIN 201124-D-D0360-6238; filename DOD_111719732; length 00:00:47; location field US.

The source title and official description are consistent with the visual structure of the MP4: a presentation video with explanatory black cards, an explicitly processed replay, and a final original-video segment. The audio track exists in the container but contains no measurable signal in this decode.

Source custody and provenance

Primary provenance for this page is the official WAR.GOV/PURSUE Release 02 manifest, the official DVIDS page, and the direct DVIDS/CloudFront MP4 exposed by that page.

The Release 02 video bundle inventory also contains a central-directory entry for this item: video_2605_DOD_111719732_DOD_111719732.mp4, size 17,633,158 bytes, CRC32 65f28c40. The directly downloaded DVIDS MP4 is 17,638,967 bytes, which is 5,809 bytes larger than the ZIP-entry inventory size. That mismatch should be treated as a source-custody reconciliation lead, not as evidence that either copy is wrong.

Other provenance fields also need careful handling. The manifest incident location is CENTCOM, the title says AFG, and the DVIDS page location field reads US. The title says 23 Nov 2020, the DVIDS date-taken field reads 11.23.2020, and the VIRIN begins with 201124. These fields may reflect source-event date, posting/catalog metadata, or DVIDS filing conventions; they should not be collapsed into a single precise event timestamp without additional source records.

The official description says the media was digitally altered before upload to a classified network. That is a hard limit: the public release is not confirmed raw sensor footage, and its enhanced/slow-motion presentation can affect apparent size, sharpness, motion, and visibility.

Graph context

The current Open Sky graph context did not return exact Release 02 graph nodes for this DVIDS ID, title, or selected slug. That absence is not a contradiction of the official release; it means this page is currently anchored to the official manifest and source media while graph ingest catches up.

Any title-related or dataset-wide records should be treated as leads only. This page does not create a finding, hypothesis, or object classification from graph context.

Leads to check

• Reconcile the direct DVIDS MP4 with the Release 02 video ZIP entry, including whether the byte-size difference is container metadata, transfer/versioning, or a genuinely distinct copy.
• Locate any unaltered or less-processed source clip, if it exists, because the released MP4 explicitly includes zoomed, sharpened, motion-tracked, contrast-enhanced, and slowed segments.
• Confirm event timing and location beyond broad CENTCOM/AFG labels: platform, sensor, altitude, look angle, exact UTC time, weather/cloud deck, and operating area matter for prosaic checks.
• Compare the tiny dark feature across the processed and “Original Video” segments frame by frame, with platform/sensor motion modeled separately from apparent feature motion.
• Test prosaic possibilities before escalation: bird or debris against cloud, atmospheric/cloud-shadow contrast, sensor/display artifact, compression/sharpening artifact, and apparent motion induced by sensor/platform movement.

Limits

This is a source-review draft, not a conclusion. The official source itself warns that Release 02 contains materials with incomplete chain-of-custody and that this media was digitally altered before upload to a classified network. The released MP4 does not provide the unaltered sensor stream, exact geolocation, platform/sensor metadata, range, altitude, or independent corroborating observations.

The contact sheets are derived from sampled frames and are included only to make the source review auditable. They show visible presentation structure and selected appearances of a small dark contrast feature; they do not prove identity, anomalous performance, or physical characteristics.

Graph coverage for this exact Release 02 asset is currently absent in the read-only context used for this page. Until graph ingest, source normalization, and cross-case links are added, graph-based aggregation should not be used as evidence for this item.

Sources

• WAR.GOV/PURSUE landing page: https://www.war.gov/UFO/
• Release 02 manifest row 114, DOW-UAP-PR055, release date 5/22/26, agency Department of War, kind VID.
• DVIDS video page: https://www.dvidshub.net/video/1007713
• DVIDS canonical page observed during source review: https://www.dvidshub.net/video/1007713/dow-uap-pr055-spherical-uap-over-afg-and-out-clouds-23-nov-2020
• Direct official MP4 exposed by DVIDS: https://d34w7g4gy10iej.cloudfront.net/video/2605/DOD_111719732/DOD_111719732.mp4
• Release 02 video ZIP bundle: https://d34w7g4gy10iej.cloudfront.net/uap052226.zip; bundle SHA-256 8200c60f179767f50f5e6d0bf8373dfef7220326728610241394bcb8de22272d; central-directory entry video_2605_DOD_111719732_DOD_111719732.mp4, CRC32 65f28c40.