Mission Report, Syria, November 2016
A P-8A Poseidon crew operating near Latakia picks up an unidentified object on their electro-optical/infrared sensor moving at roughly 500 knots and hugging the surface — what pilots call "sea skim mode" — before losing track of it after two minutes. The P-8A is a sophisticated maritime patrol aircraft with serious sensor packages, so this isn't a casual visual sighting; it's a trained crew using purpose-built detection equipment in an active operational environment. The combination of speed, altitude profile, and abrupt loss of contact in a complex airspace makes this one worth close reading.
This document is a mission briefing summarizing an observation of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) by a U.S. military platform near Latakia, Syria. A U.S. military pilot flying a P-8A aircraft reported observing an object via the aircraft’s EO/IR sensor, which they characterized as appearing to be in “sea skim mode,” traveling at approximately 500 knots (575 mph) on a southeasterly heading. The P-8A lost visual contact with the object after two minutes. All descriptive and estimative language contained in this report reflects the reporter’s subjective interpretation at the time of the event. Such characterizations should not be interpreted as a conclusive indication of the presence or absence of any intrinsic object features or performance characteristics.