Topic
Encounters reported by pilots, radar crews and base personnel, from the 1950s to today. 141 events, newest first.
Military1999
A French working group of about a dozen specialists led by retired Air Force General Denis Letty issued a report on UFOs and defense and took it to Prime Minister Lionel Jospin. It cautiously raised an extraterrestrial explanation; it was a private effort, not a government study.
Military1 Feb 1994
A meteoroid perhaps 4 to 14 m across exploded over the western Pacific, recorded by Defense Department infrared and Energy Department visible-light sensors in space. It was the brightest such blast those satellites had seen, and was later analyzed in published research.
Military31 Mar 1993
Police and military witnesses, including a patrol at RAF Cosford, made more than 30 reports of bright lights across central England over about six hours. MoD radar replays showed nothing unusual; most sightings were traced to the re-entry of the Russian rocket that launched Cosmos 2238.
Photo: N Chadwick, CC BY-SA 2.0
Military30 Mar 1990
On March 30-31, 1990, two Belgian F-16s were scrambled after ground radar contacts that matched visual reports; pilots saw nothing but recorded brief radar locks. The Air Force said it could not identify the phenomena; skeptics trace the locks to the other F-16 and false echoes.
Photo: Pedro Aragao, CC BY-SA 3.0
Military10 Nov 1988
The Pentagon officially confirmed a squadron of F-117A stealth aircraft based in Nevada and released a single blurry photo. The angular jets had flown for years only at night from the Tonopah Test Range, an example of the secret aircraft often raised as explanations for some sightings.
Photo: USAF Technical Sgt. Marvin Lynchard, Public domain
Military19 May 1986
Air Force radar and civilian and military witnesses reported about 21 unidentified objects over four Brazilian states, and five fighter jets were sent to intercept them. The air minister said days later there was no technical explanation; an Air Force report on the night was released in 2009.
Military1984
Copies of Lt. Col. Charles Halt's audio tape, recorded as he and airmen searched Rendlesham Forest for lights in December 1980, were released to UFO researchers in 1984 by base commander Col. Sam Morgan. Astronomer Ian Ridpath says it reached wide circulation in 1985.
Photo: Taras Young, CC BY-SA 4.0
Military1983
Lt. Col. Charles Halt's January 1981 memo to the UK Ministry of Defence, 'Unexplained Lights', describing lights and landing traces near RAF Woodbridge, was released in the U.S. under FOIA. In October 1983 the News of the World ran it as a front-page UFO landing story.
Photo: Lieutenant Colonel Charles Halt, Public domain
MilitaryDec 1980
U.S. Air Force personnel at RAF Woodbridge reported unexplained lights in Rendlesham Forest on two nights, including an object seen near the base's back gate. Deputy base commander Lt. Col. Charles Halt reported the events to the UK Ministry of Defence in a January 1981 memo.
Photo: Charles Halt, CC0
Military9 May 1980
A U.S. defense attache cable from Lima reported that Peruvian Air Force officers saw a round object hovering near Mariano Melgar air base at La Joya, and that an Su-22 fired on it without effect. Pilot Oscar Santa Maria Huertas later gave his own account. The object was never identified.
Photo: U.S. DoD photo, uploaded by en:User:Victor12, Public domain
Military11 Nov 1979
A TAE Super Caravelle bound for the Canary Islands diverted to Valencia-Manises after its crew reported red lights closing on the aircraft. A Spanish Air Force Mirage F1 later chased lights without success; the declassified file records no radar contact. A deputy raised it in parliament.
Photo: Rob Hodgkins, CC BY-SA 2.0
Military1979
Uruguay created CRIDOVNI, a commission within its Air Force to receive and investigate UFO reports. It was still active decades later, publicly explaining or rejecting viral sighting claims.
Photo: vectored by FOX 52, CC BY-SA 4.0
MilitaryOct 1977
After residents of Colares and nearby Para coastal towns reported lights in the sky, a Brazilian Air Force team from Belem logged sightings and took photographs into 1978. The Air Force says the files went to the National Archives; no explanation covers every report.
Military12 Nov 1976
Three soldiers on guard at the Talavera la Real air base said they heard noises, then saw a glowing figure about three meters tall and fired at it; a search the next day found no casings or bullet marks. A Spanish analyst later blamed hallucination, fear and shared hysteria.
Photo: Franky sp, CC BY-SA 3.0
Military19 Sep 1976
Iranian Air Force F-4 jets were sent after a bright light over Tehran overnight, and crews reported losing instruments and communications as they closed in. A U.S. Defense Attache report on the incident, circulated by the DIA, was later released under FOIA.
Photo: Unknown author, Public domain
Military22 Jun 1976
Crew of the Spanish Navy corvette Atrevida off Fuerteventura, then a doctor, a taxi driver and residents of Gran Canaria, reported a luminous object. A Spanish military file found no explanation; it was later attributed to a U.S. submarine-launched Poseidon missile test.
Photo: Jose Juan Medina Cobacho, CC BY-SA 3.0
Military7 Nov 1975
NORAD logs record Malmstrom AFB missile crews reporting a bright orange object over their sites until sunrise. A Pentagon memo describes height-finder radar returns and two F-106 interceptors scrambled that could not find the object. The objects were never identified.
Photo: U.S. Air Force photo, Public domain
Military30 Oct 1975
Security police at Wurtsmith AFB, Michigan, reported an unlit helicopter-like craft over the nuclear weapons storage area. A returning KC-135 tanker was sent to identify radar targets; a NORAD log says the crew saw and painted one before losing it over Lake Huron. It was never identified.
Photo: United States Geological Survey (USGS), Public domain
Military27 Oct 1975
On the evening of Oct. 27, 1975, a security airman at Loring AFB, Maine, reported a low aircraft with lights circling near the nuclear weapons storage area; tower radar showed an unknown target and the base went on alert. Thought from its flight to be a helicopter, it was never identified.
Photo: Air Force Base Conversion Agency, Public domain
MilitaryOct 1975
Air Force and NORAD records released under FOIA describe unidentified, low-flying objects, often likened to helicopters, over Loring, Wurtsmith and Malmstrom bases in late October and November 1975. Pursuit efforts failed; the Washington Post reported the files in 1979.
Photo: Unknown author (Library of Congress, HABS/HAER), Public domain
