F-15E pair sees three possible UAP and a possible balloon near Shaddadi, Syria (21 February 2023)
A two-ship of F-15Es from the 389th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron took off from Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, Jordan, to fly defensive counter-air near Shaddadi in Syria. At 0025Z on 21 February 2023 the crew saw three possible UAP at FL240 while cruising at FL270. They received no radar returns from them, and two showed as white objects that were "IR significant". At 0135Z they saw one possible balloon at FL210. Weapon-system video was produced both times. Earlier, from 0021Z to 0024Z, they had received radar jamming near Shaddadi. The report's working theory puts that down to a Turkish X-band jammer across the border. It gives no explanation for the three objects. The fourth is logged as a possible balloon. *Method note: war.gov blocks this server. Each mission report was read from the original PDF served by the ufotransparency.com mirror. Quotations come from the PDF text layer and were checked against the page images where the scan is poor. Redactions are shown as [redacted]. Field names such as "Observer Assessment of UAP" are the form's own labels. This report's text layer is partly garbled; the quoted lines were checked against the page images.*
Evidence, in date order (1)
- 21 Feb 2023F-15E weapon-system videosensor dataweapon-system video was produced of the objects, two of them IR significant (not released) DOW-UAP-D19
How plausible · High
An official mission report from an F-15E pair records three possible UAP with weapon-system video, separating them from a fourth "possible balloon".
- ●●Access Fighter aircrew at FL240.
- ●●No gain sought Official mission report.
- ●●Restraint Labels a separate object "poss balloon"; doesn't link the jamming.
- ●●Character record Fighter aircrew.
- ●●Checkable details check out Released in PURSUE.
- ●○Independent convergence A two-ship.
Plausibility weighs how well an account fits where secrecy hides the documents by design, so missing records never count against it. Strength measures what is documented. Assessed 2026-10-23.
On the record
- "OBS 3X POSS UAP IVO SHADDADI" (DOW-UAP-D19, p. 9; read from the page image) [redacted] "AT FL240. WSV PRODUCED. NFTR." (0025Z entry)
- "WAS CRUSING IN CAP AT FL270. NO RADAR RETURNS RECEIVED FROM UAP." (DOW-UAP-D19, p. 9; read from the page image)
- "2 WHITE OBJECTS IR SIGNIFICANT." (DOW-UAP-D19, p. 9) Weather: "CLOUDY."
- "POSS BALLOON IVO SHADDADI" (DOW-UAP-D19, p. 10; read from the page image) [redacted] "AT FL210. WSV PRODUCED. NFTR." (0135Z entry; "Aircraft Type: BALLOON")
- Narrative: "0021Z-0024Z - [redacted] RECEIVED MFT RADAR JAMMING IVO SHADDADI [redacted] AT FL270. NTFR." (DOW-UAP-D19, p. 1; read from the page image)
- "THIS EVENT IS STANDARD ON AZIMUTH, MFT RADAR JAMMING EXPERIENCED BY AIRCREW NORTH OF SHADDADI. OUR WORKING THEORY IS THAT IT IS AN AERA OF EFFECT TURKISH X-BAND JAMMER ON OR ACROSS THE SYR/TUR BORDER INTO TURKEY." (DOW-UAP-D19, p. 9; read from the page image) (GENTEXT/EMI entry; it concerns the jamming, not the UAP)