6.8 Military Chase Over Iran - 1976

Two UFOS are reported near the flight line at Cannon AFB, New Mexico. Security Police observing them reported the UFOs to be 25 yards in diameter, gold or silver in color with blue light on top, hole in the middle and red light on bottom. Air Force is checking with radar. Additionally, checking weather inversion data.

Maryland

The National Military Command Center issued another report72, dated 30 July 1976, detailing several reports of UFOs around Fort Ritchie, Maryland in the wee hours of July 30th. After civilians called in sightings reports, two separate military police patrols described observing three reddish, oblong cylinders hovering very low (100-200 feet) over an ammunitions storage site. Independently, an Army police sergeant reported seeing a UFO over the same site while he was driving to work approximately 50 minutes after the report by the two patrols. Interestingly, the final paragraph of this report attempted to explain away the sightings as moisture-saturated temperature inversions.

Taken as a whole, the myriad of reports detailed here make an irrefutable case for United States military involvement in reporting UFOs. It is apparent from these reports, which are certainly not all-inclusive, that the U.S. military did indeed have an interest in UFOs and certainly investigated sightings well after the conclusion of Project Blue Book in 1969, which supposedly closed the door on the military’s interest in the subject of extraterrestrials and their space craft.

6.8 Military Chase Over Iran - 1976

The distinction for the best government documentation of a UFO event falls to the remarkable events that occurred in and above Tehran, Iran in September of 1976. The official U.S. government documents73 following this narrative were distributed at the time of its writing by the Defense Attaché at the United States Embassy in Tehran to the Defense Intelligence Agency, the White House, the CIA, the National Security Agency, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Secretary of the Air Force, the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of State.74

At half-past midnight on September 19, 1976, the Imperial Iranian Air Force received telephone calls from residents in the Shemiran area of Tehran. The citizens reported "strange objects in the sky," some calling them bird-like and others referring to them as lighted helicopters. The command post knew there were no airborne helicopters at the time and told the citizens they were seeing stars in the sky. The command post checked with Memrabad Tower. Then, looking for himself, observed a large, bright star-like object. At 1:30 a.m., an F-4 jet was scrambled from Shahrokhi Air Force Base and sent up to investigate.

F-4s are Scrambled: The pilot reported that the object was so bright, it was easily visible from 70 miles away, which would place it approximately 40 miles north of Tehran. The IIAF pilot pursued the unusual craft. At 25 nautical miles from the unknown object, the pilot suddenly lost all UHF and intercom communications and instrumentation. When the pilot turned back towards Shahrokhi AFB, away from the UFO, he just as suddenly regained communication

72 See original report in Appendix I. (Document A1.9) 73 Note two versions of the report showing different degrees of censorship when the documents were released. Appendix I. (Documents A1.10) 74 This event was later summarized in a confidential document by Captain H. Shields. Appendix I. (Document A1.11)

capabilities. Due to the strangeness of the unfolding events, a second F-4 was dispatched. The backseat pilot obtained radar lock-on with the UFO at 27 nautical miles distance. When the F-4 got within 25 miles of the object, the UFO increased its speed and moved away, pacing itself to maintain a sustained 25-mile distance from the jet.

Colored Lights Observed on the UFO: The official government reports follow this narrative. Written by Col. Frank B. McKenzie, United States Air Force, it states that the F-4 pilots compared the size of the object on radar to a 707 tanker, stating that a visual size estimate was difficult to the extreme brilliance of the UFO. However, the pilots were able to describe flashing, rectangular strobe lights in blue, green, red and orange. The sequence of the strobing lights was so rapid that all four colors could be seen at once, according to the report.

Objects Within Objects: The incident grew even more strange as it continued. As the F-4 pursued the UFO south of Tehran, a second object ejected from the primary target. It was brilliantly lit and was estimated to be one-half to one-third the size of the moon. The second object zoomed towards the F-4. At this point, the F-4 pilot attempted to fire an AIM-9 missile at the UFO. Instantly, his weapons control panel lost all power, and communication capabilities were down once more. The pilot made an extreme evasive negative G dive to escape the UFO. As he did so, the UFO trailed the F-4 at an estimated distance of three to four nautical miles. As the pilot turned the jet, the secondary object appeared on the inside of his turn. It then returned to the primary UFO, rejoining perfectly with it. Almost immediately thereafter, another object ejected out the opposite side of the primary UFO. It fell towards the ground at a tremendous rate of speed. By now, the F-4’s communications and weapons systems were once again functioning normally.

The UFO Lands: The F-4 crew watched the nose-diving UFO in anticipation of seeing a huge crash and explosion. Much to their astonishment, the UFO appeared to come to rest gently on the ground with no impact whatsoever. Moreover, it cast an extremely bright light extending over a two to three kilometer range (well over one mile).

More Radio Interference: The Iranian F-4 began to descend, while the crew continued to observe the landed UFO and mark its location. It took several attempts before they could land the fighter jet. Each time they passed through a certain magnetic bearing, the aircraft lost communications and the on-board instrumentation fluctuated dramatically. Moreover, a civilian aircraft in the vicinity also reported communication failure but reported no visual contact with the UFO. During the F-4’s final approach into Shahrokhi, the IIAF crew observed another object - this one cylindrical with bright steady lights on either end and a flashing light in the center. The control tower reported no other known air traffic in the area. The tower was able to get a visual lock-on when the pilots told them in which area to look as the cylinder-like UFO passed over the F-4.

Follow-up Investigation: The following day, the F-4 crew was taken by helicopter to the area where they had tracked the landed UFO. The spot turned out to be a dry lakebed. Instrumentation aboard the helicopter registered a strong beeping signal over and around the lakebed. The strongest signal came from the area of a small house. The helicopter landed and the residents were questioned by military personnel about events of the previous night. The family members said they heard a loud noise and saw a very bright light, similar to lightning. Further investigation was apparently done to determine possible radiation residue. We have found no documentation of the results of the radiation testing and other post-event investigation, although it should be noted that this event was confirmed by satellite. The satellite tracking numbers can be obtained from Mr. Tony Craddock of the Disclosure Project.