AARO Middle East MQ-9 Orb Video — 2022

On April 19, 2023, the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) released a brief declassified video clip as part of its first major public-facing disclosure effort. The footage had been captured in 2022 by sensors aboard a USAF MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle operating over the Middle East in a classified location.

The video shows a metallic, spherical object moving across the frame. The sphere displays no visible propulsion, control surfaces, or identifying markings. It appears to be at altitude comparable to or above the MQ-9's operating ceiling. The brief clip was released at a public NASA UAP panel held at AARO's direction, alongside other declassified footage.

AAR0 Director Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick acknowledged during the April 2023 public presentation that this specific piece of footage represented an unresolved case. The video is significant as the first officially released UAP footage captured by an unmanned aerial sensor platform — distinct from earlier releases which came from crewed aircraft like the Nimitz F/A-18s. The MQ-9's sensor suite includes both electro-optical and infrared sensors, and the orb's appearance was consistent across sensor modalities.

The release came at a time of increasing Congressional and public pressure on AARO to produce transparency, shortly before the landmark June 2023 Congressional hearings at which David Grusch testified. AARO's presentation of this footage as genuinely unresolved — rather than attributed to a known phenomenon — represented a continued acknowledgment that a category of anomalous aerial objects exists that cannot be readily explained by existing frameworks.