Topic
Encounters reported by pilots, radar crews and base personnel, from the 1950s to today. 141 events, newest first.
Military12 May 2020
The Naval Safety Center released eight aviation hazard reports to The War Zone under FOIA. Seven described 2013-2014 encounters between Super Hornets and unidentified objects in training airspace off Virginia and North Carolina; one 2019 report concerned a balloon.
Photo: U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 2nd Class Daniel J. McLain, Public domain
Military28 Apr 2020
Asked about the Pentagon release of Navy UFO videos, Japanese Defense Minister Taro Kono said no SDF pilot had met a UFO and that he did not really believe in them, but that encounter procedures would be set and Japan would seek the US analysis.
Photo: Prime Minister's Official Residence, CC BY 4.0
Military19 Dec 2019
Chad Underwood, the Navy F/A-18 pilot who recorded the 2004 FLIR1 'Tic Tac' video off southern California, gave his first public interview to New York Magazine. He described locking the object on radar and infrared after a warning from David Fravor and said it did not behave like known aircraft.
Photo: United States Navy, Public domain
Military14 Jul 2019
Deck logs obtained under FOIA show USS Kidd, Rafael Peralta and other destroyers recording unidentified drones around them near San Clemente Island over several nights from July 14, 2019. In 2021 the Chief of Naval Operations said the aircraft had not been identified.
Photo: San Diego Webcam, CC BY-SA 4.0
Military23 Apr 2019
The Navy told Politico it was drafting a formal process for pilots and other personnel to report unidentified aircraft entering military ranges. It cited a rise in unauthorized or unidentified aircraft and did not suggest the objects were alien.
Photo: U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class James R. Evans, Public domain
Military4 Dec 2018
The U.S. Patent Office granted a Navy-assigned patent naming Salvatore Pais for a 'craft using an inertial mass reduction device'. A patent grant does not show a device works; the patent later lapsed for unpaid fees.
Photo: Salvatore Cezar Pais, Public domain
Military18 Dec 2017
Two days after the New York Times revealed AATIP, retired Navy Cmdr. David Fravor told ABC News about chasing a wingless, roughly 40-foot white object off California in 2004, saying he thought it 'was not from this world.' He later repeated his account under oath to Congress in 2023.
Photo: U.S. House Committee On Oversight and Accountability, Public domain
Military21 Sep 2017
A U.S. Army UH-60M Black Hawk on a UN General Assembly security patrol struck a DJI Phantom 4 near Staten Island, taking minor damage. The NTSB found the drone pilot flew beyond visual line of sight; the FAA called it the first confirmed drone collision with an aircraft.
Photo: The National Guard Spc. Andrew Valenza/New York National Guard, Public domain
Military7 Nov 2015
On the evening of Nov. 7, 2015, a bright, spreading light was seen and filmed from California to Nevada and Arizona, prompting UFO speculation online. The Navy and Pentagon said it was a scheduled, unarmed Trident II (D5) test missile fired from the submarine USS Kentucky off the coast.
Photo: U.S. Navy, Public domain
Military26 Jan 2015
Drones were detected over Ile Longue near Brest, home of France's ballistic-missile submarines, on the night of 26-27 January 2015, and the maritime prefecture sought to confirm it. A deputy raised it in Parliament amid months of drone overflights of French nuclear sites.
Photo: Rundvald, CC BY-SA 4.0
MilitaryJan 2015
Navy F/A-18 crews training off the U.S. East Coast recorded the infrared videos later known as Gimbal and GoFast. Pilots in the squadron, including Ryan Graves, have said they saw unidentified objects repeatedly in 2014 and 2015.
Photo: United States Navy, Public domain
Military2015
Former airman John Burroughs, a witness to the 1980 Rendlesham Forest incident, said through his attorney that the VA granted him full medical disability for injuries he links to that night. The VA's reasoning was not published; the UFO link is his and his lawyer's view.
Photo: Simon Leatherdale, CC BY-SA 2.0
Military11 Nov 2014
A Chilean Navy helicopter crew on coastal patrol west of Santiago filmed an object with an infrared camera for about 10 minutes. Chile's CEFAA studied the footage for two years and called it unidentified; skeptics later argued it was an airliner leaving contrails.
MilitaryOct 2014
A small object launched with Russian military satellites in May 2014, first catalogued by U.S. trackers as debris, was later seen changing orbit. A British analyst identified it as Kosmos 2499 and speculated it might be an inspector satellite; the report carried no Russian explanation.
Military2014
Former Navy pilot Ryan Graves testified that two VFA-11 F/A-18Fs took evasive action when a pilot saw a dark gray cube inside a clear sphere hovering at the entry point to training area W-72 off Virginia Beach. He said the squadron filed a safety report but got no official response.
Photo: U.S. Navy photo by Lt. Cmdr. Josh Hammond, Public domain
Military2012
Indian army border troops in Ladakh reported about 100 sightings of yellowish glowing objects drifting from the Chinese side over several months in 2012. Astronomers later sent by the army reportedly identified many as Jupiter and Venus, though earlier cases had been blamed on Chinese lanterns.
Photo: Stanzin1945, CC BY-SA 4.0
Military4 Nov 2010
Images and video from a Chilean Air Force change-of-command ceremony at El Bosque base showed a small object near the aerobatic team. In 2012 retired general Ricardo Bermudez of the air force's CEFAA committee said experts ruled out birds, aircraft and meteors; skeptics suggested an insect.
Photo: Unknown photographer, Public domain
MilitaryNov 2004
Navy F/A-18F crews from the USS Nimitz strike group, cued by the cruiser USS Princeton's radar, reported intercepting a smooth white object they could not identify. Another crew recorded the infrared video the Pentagon later released as FLIR1.
Photo: United States Navy, Public domain
Military5 Mar 2004
A Mexican Air Force surveillance plane on a drug patrol recorded up to 11 lights visible only in infrared over Campeche. The Defense Ministry gave the video to a UFO researcher, and it aired in May 2004; a later analysis argued the lights were distant oil-platform flares.
Photo: Zahpo75, Public domain
Military6 Jun 2002
U.S. early-warning satellites saw a small asteroid explode over the Mediterranean with an estimated 20 to 30 kilotons of energy. Brig. Gen. Simon Worden later told a House subcommittee that a similar blast over India or Pakistan, then in a nuclear standoff, could have been mistaken for an attack.
Photo: US Air Force, Public domain
