The Mosul UFO Incident (2016)
The Mosul Orb refers to a single, well-documented incident involving a metallic spherical object captured on April 16, 2016, by a U.S. military MC-12 reconnaissance aircraft operating over Mosul, Iraq, during the campaign against ISIS. The object was filmed for approximately four seconds during an intelligence-gathering mission above the active conflict zone. A still image from the footage was first publicly released in January 2023 by investigative filmmaker Jeremy Corbell and journalist George Knapp through their Weaponized platform. Full-motion video footage was later released publicly in July 2025 after The UAP Register obtained it through litigation connected to a Freedom of Information Act request involving the U.S. Air Force and the National Air and Space Intelligence Center. Although similar metallic sphere footage was later released by AARO from a separate 2022 Middle East case, the Mosul Orb refers specifically to the 2016 MC-12 recording over Mosul.
Full-motion video of the Mosul Orb, released in 2025 after FOIA litigation involving The UAP Register, the U.S. Air Force, and NASIC.
Still image of the Mosul Orb, captured over Mosul, Iraq, in April 2016 and first made public by Jeremy Corbell and George Knapp in 2023.
The object appears as a metallic-looking sphere maintaining altitude and moving laterally alongside the reconnaissance aircraft without visible propulsion or obvious control surfaces. The footage was captured using the MC-12’s Full Motion Video (FMV) system, which blends electro-optical (EO) and infrared (IR) sensors into geospatially tagged intelligence video. The footage was reportedly captured during daytime operations at approximately 9:47 AM UTC, with the orb visible in the frame for roughly one second while moving laterally from south to north. No lights, emissions, explosions, or interactions with the ground were visible in the released material.
Because the object was captured by military surveillance equipment rather than by civilians, the Mosul Orb quickly became one of the more widely discussed metallic orb UAP cases tied to official U.S. government imagery. The case was reportedly included within classified intelligence briefings referenced by the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) in the context of unresolved metallic orb UAP cases.
The Mosul Orb stands out as one of the earliest publicly released examples of U.S. military footage showing a metallic orb-shaped UAP operating in an active war zone. Unlike many UFO reports that rely on eyewitness testimony or low-quality civilian recordings, the imagery originated from a reconnaissance platform operating in a high-threat combat environment. It remains one of the clearest known examples of a metallic orb captured by a U.S. military reconnaissance platform during active combat operations and has reportedly been used internally for UAP reporting awareness and training purposes.
Some internet retellings referenced civilian photographs, Iraqi military encounters, recovered metallic spheres, or alleged local sightings near villages around Mosul. The Mosul Orb remains a notable case within modern UAP discussions. The footage predates the broader public acknowledgment of metallic orb-shaped UAPs by several years.
A separate but frequently compared case is the official 24-second “Middle East Object” video released by the U.S. Department of Defense and presented by AARO during congressional hearings. Captured on July 12, 2022, by an MQ-9 Reaper drone in the Middle East, likely near Deir ez-Zor, Syria, this footage shows a bright metallic sphere crossing the electro-optical sensor’s field of view. Unlike the 2016 Mosul Orb, this clip is longer, was proactively released by AARO, and is hosted directly on official DoD platforms. While both cases feature metallic spherical objects recorded by U.S. military assets, they occurred six years apart, involved different sensor platforms, and represent distinct incidents.
