3 small unidentified air contacts on westerly heading — North Arabian Sea, 24 August 2020

A SPEAR Range Fouler Debrief form submitted by an O-3 pilot from HSM-73 documents a sighting of three possible small unidentified air contacts over the North Arabian Sea on 24 August 2020 at 00:04:30Z. The reporting aircrew initially spotted one contact at 21,440 ft which was tracked briefly before it passed behind a cloud; upon regaining visual, two additional contacts appeared to the east of the initial contact's last position. All three maintained a consistent westerly heading, speed, and altitude. No electronic signatures (no ES, radar track, or IFF return) were obtained. Contact latitude and longitude are redacted under 1.4(a).

“"I observed 3x possible unidentified small air contact while conducting routine operations in the North Arabian Sea. Negative ES, radar track, and IFF track. Distance to contact was unknown. Speed of contact was unknown. Precise course of contact was unknown, but appeared to be on a westerly heading."”

SPEAR Range Fouler Debrief form. Date 08/24/20 and time 00:04:30Z are explicitly stated. Altitude 21,440 ft stated. Contact latitude/longitude are redacted (1.4a). Location set to North Arabian Sea theater centroid (22N, 63E) with location_approx: true. No sensor track achieved (negative radar/IFF/ES). Mission description field reads '168122 SSC' (likely a bureau number/side number). The subsequent appearance of 2 additional contacts after losing the first behind a cloud is notable but not necessarily anomalous. Wing/Airframe checkbox is marked. OCR quality moderate with some dropout.