U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM)
U.S. unified combatant command responsible for U.S. military operations across the Middle East, Central Asia, and parts of South Asia. Headquartered at MacDill AFB, Florida.
Operation Epic Fury
CENTCOM is the lead command for operation-epic-fury, the February 2026 U.S. campaign against Iran. As of April 2026, three U.S. aircraft carriers operate in the CENTCOM AOR (src-epic-fury-update-2026-04).
Counter-drone surge
jiatf-401 committed ~$350M of counter-uas capability to CENTCOM in just the first ~30 days of Operation Epic Fury, with more flowing under the “fragile” U.S.–Iran ceasefire (src-counter-drone-middle-east-jiatf-2026-04). The April 2026 deployment of the Ukrainian Sky Map platform to prince-sultan-air-base is the most visible C-UAS gap-filler.
CENTCOM UAP records in PURSUE Release 01
pursue Release 01 surfaces several CENTCOM-AOR UAP records:
- November 2023 Syria — “bouncy ball”: USAF personnel observed a UAP “shaped as a bouncy ball” for ~7 minutes; not deemed a threat (src-newsweek-luna-teases-disclosure-2026-05).
- October 2024 Syria FMV — DoW-UAP-D32: 5-second full-motion-video clip showing a “misshapen and uneven ball of white light” with a “light/glare halo effect” at the top of the feed (src-space-com-pursue-video-trove-2026-05).
- An additional 2023 Aegean-Sea-area report describes “multiple 90-degree turns at an estimated 80 mph,” a “super-hot” orb traveling ~20 miles, and 4–5 additional flaring orbs (src-fortune-aldrin-apollo-11-uap-2026-05).