The Gulf of Oman is not typically a place where the U.S. military files reports on things it cannot explain. On June 7, 2024, one operator did.
That report, released under the PURSUE archive on May 8, 2026, is a standardized Mission Report form — a MISREP. It describes a single Unidentified Anomalous Phenomenon detected by an aircraft returning to base after an Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance mission. The aircraft, identified only by the callsign (b)(1)1.4a, had taken off from Al Minhad Air Base in the United Arab Emirates the night before, at 2100Z on June 6.
The operator estimated the object’s altitude at 24,000 feet. Its speed was pegged at 163 knots — 187 miles per hour. The detection happened at 0457Z. The narrative in the document is stripped down: “DURING RTB (b)(1)1.4a DETECTED 1X UAP (SEE UAP 1).” RTB is military shorthand for Return to Base.
The mission itself was not a secret. It was part of Operation ENDURING SENTINEL, assigned to the 3rd Special Operations Squadron, part of Air Force Special Operations Command. The asset type is listed as (b)(1)1.4a, (b)(1)1.4g. The details redacted are the ones that matter for operational security — the exact aircraft model, the crew names, the specific sensor data. What remains is the bare fact of an encounter.
Context matters here. The Gulf of Oman is a chokepoint. Iranian fast boats, commercial shipping, and American naval and air assets all move through it. The U.S. military has been flying ISR missions out of Al Minhad for years. Al Minhad is a hub for special operations in the region. The 3rd SOS flies MQ-9 Reapers and other platforms out of that base. A detection at 24,000 feet, at a modest 163 knots, is not the profile of a high-performance jet. It is not a satellite. It is something else.
The Department of War’s official summary is careful. It says all descriptive language in the report “reflects the reporter’s subjective interpretation at the time of the event.” That is standard caveat language. But the report exists. It was filed. It was kept, and then it was released. That is the point.
Why does this matter now? Because the PURSUE archive is part of a broader push to declassify UAP-related military records. The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office — AARO — is the clearinghouse for these reports. Every MISREP filed with a UAP sighting is supposed to go to them. This one did. The document is dated October 2023 in its header, but the event happened in June 2024. That mismatch suggests the report was compiled later, or the date on the form refers to the document’s creation, not the event.
There is no video with this release. No radar track. No second witness. Just one operator, in one aircraft, over the Gulf of Oman, who saw something and wrote it down. The military calls it a UAP. The public calls it an unidentified object. The file is now part of the public record.
The Gulf of Oman is a busy place. It is also a place where the U.S. military has now officially recorded something it cannot identify, at 24,000 feet, moving at 163 knots, at 0457Z on a June morning. That is the fact. Everything else is interpretation.
