Weaponized: Triangle Formation UAP in the Persian Gulf

Mick West

Administrator
Staff member

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j2_xZG_CTA

External Quote:

Investigative journalists Jeremy Corbell and George Knapp have obtained and are revealing for the first time military-filmed footage of multiple UAP (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena), officially documented and cataloged within Intelligence Community investigations as "orbs" in formation. Official designation of UAP was made by the United States intelligence community and the Department of War. This designation is currently maintained.

DATE / TIME - 23 August 2012 / 18:21 UTC

LOCATION - Persian Gulf (28°27'17.0"N, 50°33'37.0"E)

IMAGING TYPE - Thermographic / Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR)

PLATFORM - MQ-9 Reaper (high-confidence)

EVENT DESCRIPTION - Filmed by a platform operating under the direction of the United States Air Force. Objects were observed and actively tracked. The UAP appeared to demonstrate abrupt directional changes and intelligent control. Absence of traditional propulsion or thermal signatures during performance were noted in documentation. Origin, intent, and capabilities remain unknown.
The camera appears to be looking down towards the water. the objects are being manually tracked and seem like slow-moving targets with lots of parallax. I suspect it's either birds, balloons, or aliens.
 
Those are waves we are seeing in the background? If so, wouldnt they be too small for balloons?
Probably waves, but it's hard to see their scale. They are over the ocean. But good point, an object cannot be bigger than its outline projected onto something behind it, so if those are regular waves then that's some indication of size.
 
I've roughly stabilized it using Sitrec's Auto Tracking (with "Center on Bright"). There are a couple of spots it missed where it goes off screen or behind the timestamp. But enough to get a sense of the motion of the ocean.




I think the MQ-9 is banking right while flying roughly towards it.


SLR goes from ~17,300 to 11773m
GDR goes from 9.71NM to 5.36NM

The elevation angle is hard to read, but it looks like about -20° to -36° (i.e., looking down at a steeper angle).

I think there should be some kind of reconstruction possible from this.
 
This is 50 km from the Iranian coast, well in the range of typical shorebirds. It may also be migrating birds; the wing flap frequency suggests a larger species, like spoonbills which are spending winters there - like numerous other species.

I see birds and can't unsee them.
 
2026-01-30_23-12-35.jpg


Since the system is not locked onto an aerial target, it shows the distance to the ground behind the middle of the screen.

We can convert these numbers to altitude using Pythagoras.
SLR is the hypotenuse, the slant range
GDR is the base of the triangle, the ground range.
ALT would be altitude

SLR^2 = GDR^2 + ALT^2

ALT = SQRT(SLR^2 - GDR^2)
Converting meters and NM to feet:
ALT = sqrt( (15095* 3.28084)^2 - (7.40*6076.12)^2)
ALT = 20759 feet (roughly)

So, probably 20,000 or 21,000 feet pressure altitude.

This seems consistent through the video, the above is in the middle. The start is:
2026-01-30_23-22-59.jpg

sqrt( (17346* 3.28084)^2 - (8.72*6076.12)^2)
= 20770 ft

End is
2026-01-30_23-23-43.jpg

sqrt( (11771* 3.28084)^2 - (5.36*6076.12)^2)
= 20754 ft
 
Last edited:
From the flapping, I'd say they are oriented in NE/SW direction, according to the camera bearing.
Hard to say which direction they are going; if it's NE then they are right on course to the estuaries at the Iranian coast, like at Halieh Bay.
 
View attachment 88181

We can convert these numbers to altitude using Pythagoras.
SLR is the hypotenuse, the slant range
GDR is the base of the triangle, the ground range.
ALT would be altitude

SLR^2 = GDR^2 + ALT^2

ALT = SQRT(SLR^2 - GDR^2)
Converting meters and NM to feet:
ALT = sqrt( (15095* 3.28084)^2 - (7.40*6076.12)^2)
ALT = 20759 feet (roughly)

So, probably 20,000 or 21,000 feet pressure altitude.

Is that the altitude of the drone or the targets?

The coordinates and the elevation appears to be tied to the point behind the crosshair, right?
 
Is that the altitude of the drone or the targets?
The drone (i.e. the camera platform drone). It is not locked onto the target, so it knows nothing about it. Purely visual.

The coordinates and the elevation appears to be tied to the point behind the crosshair, right?
Correct, although that's not that relevant in calculating the altitude above the ocean. Any point would do.
 
2026-01-30_23-31-18.jpg


It does get a lock at this point, but it's on what seems to be a wave (the objects continue off screen). The SLR and GDR don't change when it happens.

The 14M is, I think, the size of the rectangle indicated by the corners. Which makes the "orbs" at least a bit smaller than 1M.
 
This is 50 km from the Iranian coast, well in the range of typical shorebirds. It may also be migrating birds; the wing flap frequency suggests a larger species, like spoonbills which are spending winters there - like numerous other species.

I see birds and can't unsee them.

Having an interest in ecology and biodiversity I just learned that the region in question is a major migration route for birds.

migration.png

Source: https://www.arabnews.com/node/1495416/middle-east

There are some physically big species like crane, stork and flamingoes. The search assist in DuckDuckGo returned this information of migration species in Iran during August;

Screenshot 2026-01-31 at 09.05.20.png
 
Beyong the technical analysis, I'd like to state the obvious.

The video shows 3 objects that are warmer than the sea or cloud surface behind them.

The objects are each only a very small number of pixels with no resolved shape, so it's impossible to tell if they're "orbs". The objects might as well be cubes, or birds, or aircraft.

3 objects always form a triangle, unless they're on a straight line (and a mathematician would still call it a triangle), so the word "triangle" adds nothing to the description. Especially as there are no sides to this triangle.

"Formation" indicates that the 3 objects are moving approximately together. However, they move around amongst themselves, the "triangle" is not stable. This disproves that we're looking at a single triangular object.
However, a formation of aircraft would not engage in this "moving around" either, it creates more work and danger for the pilots.
Birds do that. The motion is exactly how I'd expect a group of birds to fly.

The rest of it is sensationalist language. Here's my edit:
External Quote:
Investigative journalists Jeremy Corbell and George Knapp have obtained and are revealing for the first time military-filmed footage of multiple birds, officially documented and cataloged within Intelligence Community investigations as "orbs" in formation. Official designation of UAP was made by the United States intelligence community and the Department of War. This designation is currently maintained.

EVENT DESCRIPTION - Filmed by a platform operating under the direction of the United States Air Force. Birds were observed and actively tracked. The birds appeared to demonstrate abrupt directional changes and intelligent control. Absence of traditional propulsion or thermal signatures during performance were noted in documentation. Origin, intent, and capabilities remain unknown.
Obviously birds do have "traditional populsion", there simply aren't enough pixels to see it. Also, Mick's stabilized footage reveals no "abrupt directional changes", the motion is rather fluid and organic.

This would be funny if it wasn't the sorry state of UFOlogy these days, i.e. a lot of what gets passed around as UFO UAP footage is no more than a few indefinite pixels too small to be identifiable, talked up to be "intelligent" or "a threat". It does suggest that anything big enough to identify does get identified, and there are no visiting aliens NIHs.
 
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j2_xZG_CTA

External Quote:

Investigative journalists Jeremy Corbell and George Knapp have obtained and are revealing for the first time military-filmed footage of multiple UAP (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena), officially documented and cataloged within Intelligence Community investigations as "orbs" in formation. Official designation of UAP was made by the United States intelligence community and the Department of War. This designation is currently maintained.

DATE / TIME - 23 August 2012 / 18:21 UTC

LOCATION - Persian Gulf (28°27'17.0"N, 50°33'37.0"E)

IMAGING TYPE - Thermographic / Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR)

PLATFORM - MQ-9 Reaper (high-confidence)

EVENT DESCRIPTION - Filmed by a platform operating under the direction of the United States Air Force. Objects were observed and actively tracked. The UAP appeared to demonstrate abrupt directional changes and intelligent control. Absence of traditional propulsion or thermal signatures during performance were noted in documentation. Origin, intent, and capabilities remain unknown.
The camera appears to be looking down towards the water. the objects are being manually tracked and seem like slow-moving targets with lots of parallax. I suspect it's either birds, balloons, or aliens.

I would like to see the source for the "officially documented and cataloged within Intelligence Community investigations as "orbs"" statement. The term orbs was never used back in the day when I was in govt, and a quick search of the AARO website does not show it in use by them except when quoting some external source. Intel community language is very "rigid", as in doesn't change unless it has too, because it makes comparison of old and new reporting more difficult and imprecise. Witness the angst over the UFO to UAP change.

The waves in the video are surprizingly active, the Persian Gulf is not a place to go surfing, so it would appear that very strong winds are blowing. Which might account for the birds weaving flight paths, they are not flying in formation like geese, just sticking together and enjoying the boost to wherever they are going.

The "UAP appeared to demonstrate abrupt directional changes and intelligent control" statement would be just as accurate describing birds and bats in flight as an aircraft (or guided missile) so is really just saying "the object was not drifting in a straight line". It is relevant information, but not the declaration of "it's ALIENS!" that some might make it.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I would like to see the source for the "officially documented and cataloged within Intelligence Community investigations as "orbs"" statement. The term orbs was never used back in the day when I was in govt, and a quick search of the AARO website does not show it in use by them except when quoting some external source.

Aaro does list things as orbs. Now that's probably based on verbal reports rather than what they see on video. But it is essentially an official classification. If the original reporting party called them orbs, theh that's probably what they would stay classed as, unless resolved.

"Dots" would be a MUCH better word for the vast majority of cases. I should campaign for usage change.


https://www.aaro.mil/UAP-Cases/UAP-Reporting-Trends/
2026-01-31_10-13-14.jpg
 
Aaro does list things as orbs. Now that's probably based on verbal reports rather than what they see on video. But it is essentially an official classification. If the original reporting party called them orbs, theh that's probably what they would stay classed as, unless resolved.

"Dots" would be a MUCH better word for the vast majority of cases. I should campaign for usage change.


https://www.aaro.mil/UAP-Cases/UAP-Reporting-Trends/
View attachment 88192

"orb/round/sphere" They are really just preserving the specific terminology from the original reports though.
Which makes sense because those submitting reports will expect to see their terms preserved in any analysis AARO might do.
Problem is that different people observing the same object might well use different terms. Depending on what aspect caught their attention or which they think most important.
Of course ambiguity is par for the course in UFOlogy.
 
Aaro does list things as orbs. Now that's probably based on verbal reports rather than what they see on video. But it is essentially an official classification. If the original reporting party called them orbs, theh that's probably what they would stay classed as, unless resolved.

"Dots" would be a MUCH better word for the vast majority of cases. I should campaign for usage change.


https://www.aaro.mil/UAP-Cases/UAP-Reporting-Trends/
View attachment 88192
On the not unreasonable assumption that a good many if not most of the orbs/dots might refer to "things too small to resolve the shape with any accuracy", those and lights account for 71.9% of the reports, by far the majority of them. If anyone really wants to investigate UAPs seriously, I'd expect to find a study of the remaining 28% (that is, the ones that are not in the LIZ) to be the more productive fraction.

Nope, I'm not really expecting any startling revelations from those either, but at least other shapes are presumably more than a pixel wide on a photo. You could trim it down even further by disregarding triangles (because any three objects, etc) and any report which is a verbal narrative only.
 
If anyone really wants to investigate UAPs seriously, I'd expect to find a study of the remaining 28% (that is, the ones that are not in the LIZ) to be the more productive fraction.
Isn't that what we all want? Where can we find this 28% you speak of?
 
On the not unreasonable assumption that a good many if not most of the orbs/dots might refer to "things too small to resolve the shape with any accuracy", those and lights account for 71.9% of the reports, by far the majority of them. If anyone really wants to investigate UAPs seriously, I'd expect to find a study of the remaining 28% (that is, the ones that are not in the LIZ) to be the more productive fraction.

Nope, I'm not really expecting any startling revelations from those either, but at least other shapes are presumably more than a pixel wide on a photo. You could trim it down even further by disregarding triangles (because any three objects, etc) and any report which is a verbal narrative only.
the government isn't interested in extraterrestrials. They are interested in chinese spy gadgets and technology our enemies might be cooking up. so they are going to continue to take a look at dots and blobs and verbal narratives only.

and in what universe is the government interested in productivity! :) you have to pretend the bird blobs are important and need to be investigated because that's how you get more funding.
 
Some other values:
BRG goes from 261º to 264º (not much change)
FOR goes from 121M to 82M

LAT goes from 28º 27' 17.8" N to 28º 27' 28.6" N
LON goes from 50º 33' 37.4" E to 50º 35' 17.1" E

(in the last frame or so it looks like it may switch from 17.1, but it's hard to say)

That's a target heading of ~83º, ~2735 meters. In 1m14s that is ~83mph.

Screenshot 2026-02-01 at 12.05.11 AM.png

That is target lat/lon though (the points on the water surface the crosshairs are pointed at), not the camera or object lat/lon. Assuming the objects are not directly at the water's surface, but somewhere in between the drone and the surface, and that actually some of that motion of the background is actually just parallax from the drone's motion (which is towards them), they could be moving quite a bit slower than 83mph.

Working backwards you can draw out the distances at the angles given by the bearing numbers to get drone ground positions.
I got about 28°28'48"N, 50°44'31"E to 28°28'02"N, 50°41'20"E. Which according to google earth is 5384m, which in 1m14s is 162mph, perfectly plausible MQ-9 groundspeed.
Screenshot 2026-02-01 at 12.53.43 AM.png


What is the "FOR" on the display? Field of Regard? It goes from 121M to 82M as the drone gets closer.
 
Last edited:

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j2_xZG_CTA

External Quote:

Investigative journalists Jeremy Corbell and George Knapp have obtained and are revealing for the first time military-filmed footage of multiple UAP (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena), officially documented and cataloged within Intelligence Community investigations as "orbs" in formation. Official designation of UAP was made by the United States intelligence community and the Department of War. This designation is currently maintained.

DATE / TIME - 23 August 2012 / 18:21 UTC

LOCATION - Persian Gulf (28°27'17.0"N, 50°33'37.0"E)

IMAGING TYPE - Thermographic / Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR)

PLATFORM - MQ-9 Reaper (high-confidence)

EVENT DESCRIPTION - Filmed by a platform operating under the direction of the United States Air Force. Objects were observed and actively tracked. The UAP appeared to demonstrate abrupt directional changes and intelligent control. Absence of traditional propulsion or thermal signatures during performance were noted in documentation. Origin, intent, and capabilities remain unknown.
The camera appears to be looking down towards the water. the objects are being manually tracked and seem like slow-moving targets with lots of parallax. I suspect it's either birds, balloons, or aliens.

I vote... ducks
 
That's a target heading of ~83º, ~2735 meters. In 1m14s that is ~83mph.
Compare:
Article:
Cruise Control - Most waterfowl fly at speeds of 40 to 60 mph, with many species averaging roughly 50 mph. With a 50 mph tail wind, migrating mallards are capable of traveling 800 miles during an eight-hour flight. Studies of duck energetics show that a mallard needs to feed and rest for three to seven days to replenish the energy expended during this eight-hour journey.

Speed Record - The fastest duck ever recorded was a red-breasted merganser that attained a top airspeed of 100 mph while being pursued by an airplane. This eclipsed the previous speed record held by a canvasback clocked at 72 mph. Blue-winged and green-winged teal, thought by many hunters to be the fastest ducks, are actually among the slowest, having a typically flight speed of only 30 mph.

With a westerly tailwind, 83 mph ground speed could be possible.
 
The fastest duck ever recorded was a red-breasted merganser that attained a top airspeed of 100 mph while being pursued by an airplane.
??? C'mon now, don't drop a phrase like that without further explanation. :)
Turns out that the merganser owed the pilot 50 bucks.

*My Alaska trips have me sharing a river with these guys often...(I thought my cue to post merganser pics would never come!)
2025 06 27 1048 3200 Merganser family.jpeg
2025 07 03 1215 Common merganser.jpeg
2025 07 03 1234 Merganser with 6 or 7 ducklings underneath.jpeg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
What is the "FOR" on the display? Field of Regard? It goes from 121M to 82M as the drone gets closer.
I think it's horizontal FOV, just labeled as FOR. It matches the target area width in relative scale.

I've seen similar things labeled FVW (FOV Width) and TWD (Target Width??). Seems like there has been some evolution in the OSD for MQ9 and similar.

2026-02-01_09-43-35.jpg


2026-02-01_09-44-09.jpg
 
I think it's horizontal FOV, just labeled as FOR. It matches the target area width in relative scale.

I've seen similar things labeled FVW (FOV Width) and TWD (Target Width??). Seems like there has been some evolution in the OSD for MQ9 and similar.

View attachment 88207

View attachment 88208
A FOV value is the only thing that makes sense to me. Just not sure why it's labeled FOR.

It being a FOV value (either vertical or horizontal) works out for a similar ratio relationship between it and SLR at the start and end of the video, meaning it is consistent with being a FOV distance that shrinks with distance to the surface, as you'd expect.
Code:
>>> (17344 / 121) / ( 11771 / 82)
0.9985375179650786

An angular FOV isn't on the screen that I can see, but if FOR is the HFOV distance it'd be a HFOV in degrees of 0.4º.
Python:
hfov = math.degrees(2 * math.atan((82/2)/11771))
 
:) you did. comment #8.
does noone on this forum remember what was said from comment to comment?! <i mean that in a 'it's cute' joking way this time.

ps i dont care about the sqrts, all i needed was the 14meters. <do you remember finding that?
It could be easier to provide clarification if there is a specific question.

Here are a couple diagrams that could be helpful.

Drastically simplified 2D scenario, not to scale, with arbitrary bird flight plane purely for illustration purposes:
Screenshot 2026-02-01 at 11.25.44 PM.png


Field of view also not to scale, purely for illustration purposes:
Screenshot 2026-02-01 at 11.28.17 PM.png


Here are the google earth points I referred to earlier. You can click on the points to see coordinates and click on the lines to see distances and headings.
https://earth.google.com/earth/d/1IEFIIXsPciXN6EbNVw5LLlVrEcqthV6y?usp=sharing
 
It could be easier to provide clarification if there is a specific question.
The embedded timecode in this footage sometimes appears to freeze while the video keeps playing. Is this kind of glitch or discontinuity normal for these systems? I have not noticed anything like this in comparable videos so far, although I also did not really pay attention to it and it has not been a topic of discussion as far as I remember.
 
The embedded timecode in this footage sometimes appears to freeze while the video keeps playing. Is this kind of glitch or discontinuity normal for these systems? I have not noticed anything like this in comparable videos so far, although I also did not really pay attention to it and it has not been a topic of discussion as far as I remember.
The entire video has likely been through several stages of re-recording, maybe on different systems. But the timecode does seem particularly bad.

It goes from 18:21:06 to 18:22:21 (1m 15 sec) over the course of the video, about the right length. But it skips over seconds, displaying 18:21:06 for two seconds, starting where it should display 18:21:05 (and then 06)

This is strange, but the other numbers do seem to be continually changing. It think this timecode is not native to the MQ-9 display, but rather part of some video playback system. Possibly it's replaying using sparse embedded FMV data, refreshing every 1 second, so it's just not sampling the time continuously. So, possibly just poor programming rather than fakery.
 
I vote... ducks

The wing flap frequency that I perceive in the video is roughly 1.5 Hz. This is much slower than we see with ducks or mergansers.

These are larger birds, like egrets, flamingos or spoonbills (all common in the region).
 
Back
Top