In April 2016, a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft flying over Mosul, Iraq recorded a four-second clip of a metallic sphere maintaining altitude alongside the moving military platform. The footage remained within classified channels until Jeremy Corbell and George Knapp released it publicly on January 24, 2023.
The object in the footage appears as a bright, reflective sphere with no visible means of propulsion. Throughout the four-second capture, the sphere maintained stable flight alongside the aircraft despite the platform’s forward motion. Pentagon analysts subsequently designated the object as a “metallic orb” in official documentation.
Government Analysis and Classification
The footage underwent more than six years of government analysis before its public release. Despite extensive review, the object remained unexplained within Department of Defense records. The Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) retained the footage as a significant unidentified case.
AARO Director Sean Kirkpatrick presented this footage during Senate Armed Services Committee testimony, citing it as one of the most compelling pieces of visual evidence from military reconnaissance operations. The footage’s official designation as “unexplained” reflected the Pentagon’s inability to identify the object as conventional aircraft, weather phenomena, or known sensor artifacts.
Public Release and Documentation
Corbell and Knapp’s January 2023 release marked the first public viewing of the Mosul orb footage. The release included contextual documentation confirming the operational details—the date of capture, the geographic location, and the military platform involved. The footage generated significant media coverage across major news organizations investigating unexplained aerial phenomena.
The object remains relevant to ongoing UAP investigations. This footage represents one of the 46 specific videos requested by Luna in her March 2026 letter to the Pentagon regarding documentation of unexplained military sightings and sensor captures.