Mosul Orb — Classified DoD Combat Zone Image

A classified reconnaissance image captured by US military sensors over Mosul, Iraq in 2016, during the coalition campaign against ISIS, documents a small, perfectly spherical metallic object at high altitude above the combat zone. The image was taken during routine intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance operations. The object appears at an altitude assessed as above the operational ceiling of any known drone or aircraft in the theater. The image was among the materials compiled for the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) briefings to Congressional defense committees and is cited in the AARO Historical Record Report as representative of UAP documentation occurring in active military combat theaters. The timing — during the height of the Mosul offensive — made the object's presence operationally significant, as any unidentified aircraft over a combat zone represents both a potential intelligence threat and an air safety risk. The classification of the image and the absence of any matching aircraft in coalition air tasking orders eliminated conventional aerial explanations at the time of capture.