UFOs at Missile Base: AARO Deputy Director Misstates Facts

Below is an email that I recently sent to former and current members of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO): Title: ICBM Shutdowns at Malmstrom AFB in March 1967 From: ufohastings@aol.com To: [Redacted] Mon, Aug 4 at 8:34 AM

By Robert Hastings The UFO Chronicles 8-6-2025

Due to my extensive research on UFO (UAP) activity at nuclear weapons sites, investigative journalist Marik von Rennenkampff asked me to review his findings regarding two major incidents, presented below, and to direct them to members of AARO, former and current.

—Robert Hastings

[-begin email from Marik von Rennenkampff-]

To Whom It May Concern,

In two recent interviews, former All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) Deputy Director Timothy Phillips stated that AARO will address select reports of incidents involving UFOs and nuclear weapons in a forthcoming historical report. According to Phillips, AARO determined that a “cascading transformer failure” triggered by an “electrical storm”, and not UFO activity, led to the March 1967 shutdown of a 10-missile “flight” of nuclear-armed Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana.

Conversely, a 6 June 2025 Wall Street Journal story, citing AARO officials, states that an unannounced Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) test caused the shutdown.

However, official unit histories of the 341st Strategic Missile Wing (SMW), other U.S. government documents, and witness testimony flatly contradict both explanations.

Phillips also stated that AARO “did not see any evidence of UAP or UFO activity in the journals or logs” of airfields and radar installations in the vicinity of Malmstrom Air Force Base during the incidents in question. This, too, is contradicted by official U.S. government documents, contemporaneous media reporting, and witness testimony.

Of note, there are two incidents in question:

(1) The shutdown of Echo Flight on 16 March 1967

(2) The shutdown of Oscar Flight on 24 March 1967

Significant official documentation exists in the public domain regarding the former, while none exists regarding the latter. This is likely due to the non-disclosure agreements that the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) required missile launch officer 1st Lt. Robert Salas, his then-missile commander, 1st Lt. Frederick Meiwald, and, presumably, other witnesses to the 24 March 1967 incident to sign.

Beyond the March 1967 incidents at Malmstrom AFB, official U.S. government documents, contemporaneous media reporting, and witness testimony suggest that at least one other similar incident occurred at Minot AFB in 1966.

Malmstrom AFB:

Immediately after the 16 March 1967 shutdown of Echo Flight, testing began at Malmstrom to determine the cause of the incident. Official 341st SMW unit histories state that, following initial testing, “the investigation teams at Malmstrom were unable to determine a logical cause for the incident.”

Contrary to Phillips’ statements (and AARO’s apparent findings), the 341st SMW unit history spanning 1 January – 31 March 1967 states that, “After performing the tests, it was decided that commercial power switching operations were not the cause of the Echo shutdown.” (Emphasis added; see appendices for full sourcing).

Following additional testing at contractor facilities throughout mid-1967 and final testing again at Malmstrom, official 341st SMW unit histories, some written nearly a year after the incident, rule out an electrical fault or power issue. Instead, engineers and contractors speculated that an Electromagnetic Pulse may have caused the shutdown.

See:

“Due to the fact that the power tests were essentially negative, it appears that the cause of the Echo Flight problem was of the EMP or electrostatic nature.” (Emphasis added) (1 April – 30 June 1967 341st SMW Unit History; PDF p. 38)

“A primary cause always associated with Echo Flight Incident has been connected with some type of adverse power affect [sic]. Tests have been conducted time and time again to determine this, but have always lead [sic] to a negative result.” (Emphasis added) (1 July – 30 September 1967 341st SMW Unit History; PDF p. 51)

“One of the primary theorys [sic] of the Echo Flight incident was connected with some type of adverse power effect. All test [sic] conducted toward this end proved negative results. (Emphasis added) (1 October – 31 December 1967 341st SMW Unit History; PDF p. 77)

“OOAMA thought that the cause of the incident was of the Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP) noise or electrostatic nature.” (1 July – 30 September 1967 341st SMW Unit History; PDF p. 48)

“The EMP tests at Sierra-39 were considered to be the final series of tests in this area.” (1 October – 31 December 1967 341st SMW Unit History; PDF p. 77)

Additionally, as noted in the 1 January – 31 March 1967 341st SMW unit history, and contrary to Phillips’ assertion, “weather was ruled out as a contributing factor” in the 16 March Echo Flight shutdown. (See also: “Weather condition and Capsule crew have been eliminated as causes of the incident.”)

Similarly, according to the unit history, the Echo Flight shutdown occurred before (at “0845”) any reported transformer malfunctions. The first documented power failure occurred when a “7.2 KV transformer shorted in the line to site E-3 at 1450, 16 March 67.” (Emphasis added)

Beyond official unit histories, former Boeing engineer Robert Kaminski, who served as the Boeing in-house project engineer for the investigation of the Echo Flight shutdown, wrote in a 1 February 1997 letter (attached) to researcher James Klotz that, “After a week in the field the team returned and pooled their data. At the outset the team quickly noticed a lack of anything that would come close to explain why the event occurred. There were no significant failures, engineering data or findings that would explain how ten missiles were knocked off alert.” (Emphasis added)

According to Kaminski, “The use of backup power systems and other technical system circuit operational redundancy strongly suggests that this kind of event is virtually impossible once the system was up and running and on line with other LCF’s and LF’s interconnectivity. The only thing that even came close to a failure was that a transformer on a commercial power pole down the road from one of the sites was in the process of failing. It exhibited a[n] intermittent transient type of failure that could have generated noise spikes on the power line. This in itself could not have caused the problem at E-Flight. The problem was reported to the local power company who took action to replace the transformer. The team met with me to report their findings and it was decided that the final report would have nothing significant in it to explain what happened at E-Flight. In other words there was no technical explanation that could explain the event.” (Emphasis added)

Kaminski continued, “The team went off to do the report. Meanwhile I was contacted by our representative at OOAMA (Don Peterson) and told by him that the incident was reported as being a UFO event – That a UFO was seen by some Airmen over the LCF at the time E-Flight went down. Subsequently, we were notified a few days later, that a stop work order was on the way from OOAMA to stop any further effort on this project. We stopped. We were also told that we were not to submit the final engineering report. This was most unusual since all of our work required review by the customer and the submittal of a final Engineering report to OOAMA.” (Emphasis added)

Beyond Kaminski’s account, Robert Hastings, author of UFOs & Nukes, has documented witness accounts from missile launch control and targeting officers, as well as other persons involved in both the 16 March and 24 March incidents. These include Col Walt Figel (Echo Flight, missile launch deputy commander), T/Sgt N. Henry “Hank” Barlow (Echo Flight, electro-mechanical team), Col Frederick Meiwald (Oscar Flight, missile commander), Capt Robert Jamison (Oscar Flight, missile targeting officer), LtCol Dwynne Arneson (Officer-in-Charge, Malmstrom AFB communications center), and 1st Lt Robert Salas (Oscar Flight, missile launch deputy commander). All of them attest to UFO activity coincident with both the Echo and Oscar missile flight shutdowns. (Robert Hastings)

Moreover, contrary to Phillips’ claim that no UFO activity was reported during the incidents, extensive Project Blue Book files document such activity on 24 March 1967. A Telex from Malmstrom AFB to Wright-Patterson AFB and various Air Force offices in Washington, D.C., for example, states that “Between the hours of 2100 and 0400 MST numerous reports were received by Malmstrom AFB agencies of UFO sightings in the Great Falls, Montana area. Reports of a UFO landing near Belt, Montana were received from several sources including deputies of Cascade County Sheriff’s Office.” (National Archives)

Contemporaneous news reporting also contradicts Phillips’ assertion that no UFO activity was recorded at local airfields or radar stations. A 26 March 1967 Great Falls Tribune article on the reported UFO landing near Belt, MT, titled “UFO Breaks Monotony of Run,” states that “Airmen at Malmstrom Air Force Base reported sighting a UFO about 5 to 10 miles northeast of the base at 3:30 a.m. Saturday. FAA radar picked up the object at 3:42 a.m. to the northwest and reported it was off the radar at 4:26 a.m.” (Emphasis added) (Newspapers.com)

For additional details, see: “Malmstrom Air Force Base Picks Up UFO on Radar; Sabotage Alert Team Located Another UFO Directly Over The Base,” 25 March 1967, Great Falls Leader (The UFO Chronicles)

In short, a significant amount of official U.S. government documentation, contemporaneous media reporting, and witness testimony directly contradicts Phillips’ statements (and, apparently, AARO’s conclusions) regarding the 1967 Malmstrom AFB incidents.

Minot Air Force Base 1966:

Recommend AARO review the following:

19 August 1966: U.S. Border Patrol Officer Donald Flickinger observes a disk-shaped UFO at close range along the western edge of Minot AFB’s Mike missile flight. Flickinger draws detailed sketches (See: National Archives). Note, also, static interference with Flickinger’s radio. (National Archives; Saturday Evening Post; Minot Daily News)

25 August 1966: Minot Air Force Base tracks two UFOs over Mike missile flight. Per official U.S. government documentation, missile commander “on duty at Missile Site (MIKE Flt)… indicated that radio transmission was being interrupted by static, this static was accompanied by the UFO coming close to the missile site (MIKE Flt). When UFO climbed, static stopped.”

Additionally: “Strike team reported UFO descending, checked with Radar Site they also verified this. The UFO then began to swoop and dive. It then appeared to land 10 to 15 miles South of MIKE 6. ‘MIKE 6’ missile site control sent a strike team to check. When the team was about 10 miles from the landing sight [sic], static disrupted radio contact with them [emphasis original]… Another UFO was visually sighted and confirmed by radar. The one that was first sighted passed beneath the second. Radar also confirmed this.” (Saturday Evening Post; Minot Daily News; Robert Hastings)

25 September 1966: Former Minot Air Force Base missile launch control officer Capt. David Schindele arrives at November Flight (adjacent to Mike Flight) Launch Control Facility to see that all 10 November Flight missiles are off-alert status following a close-range UFO incident the previous night. Per Schindele, Air Force OSI instructed him to never speak of the incident. (Schindele testimony)

Sincerely,

Marik von Rennenkampff

Appendix A: Tim Phillips Comments

“There was some work done with the national labs dealing with a cascading transformer failure at one of the missile ranges [Malmstrom]… The missile silos were actually connected to the commercial grid for power. They did have their critical power, they had their own generators but for cost-savings they were connected to the commercial grid; dual-power feeds. There was an electrical disturbance, there were some storms, and the filtering, the capacitors that would have shielded the critical systems in the missile silos from an energy surge coming through the commercial grid failed and actually took some of the missile silos down.” (Interview with Mick West, 17 June 2025)

“There’s been new stories about an EMP test that I was not privy to when I was still in the government. What I knew about was a report of a cascading transformer failure where there was [an] electrical storm and the silos were actually connected to the commercial power grid, however they did have their own generators and critical power and they would switch off to their own generators so power would not be interrupted. There was some electrical disturbance that actually defeated those filters, and the silos themselves were taken offline by a cascading transformer failure.” (Interview with John Michael Godier, 2 July 2025)

“There were also some reports of security personnel who were up above who, in some of the stories, they saw UFOs or things that they could not understand. We were able to get logs at the various towers and we did not see any evidence of UAP or UFO activity in the journals and logs that AARO actually got to investigate.” (Interview with John Michael Godier, 2 July 2025)

Appendix B: Excerpts from 341st Strategic Missile Wing Unit Histories

1 January – 31 March 1967:

“On 16 March 1967 at 0845, all sites in Echo (E) Flight, Malmstrom AFB, shutdown with No-Go Indication of Channels 9 and 12 on Voice Reporting Signal Assemble (VRSA). (PDF p. 7)

“The initial time of the incident, decided by the crew, could be no more than two or three minutes earlier than the official log of 0845.” (PDF p. 11)

“Weather was ruled out as a contributing factor in the incident.” (PDF p. 14)

“Rumors of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO) around the area of Echo Flight during the time of the fault were disproven.” (PDF p. 14)

“The power outage that affected E-1 at 1453 on 16 March 67, occurred on the 7.2/12.5 kilo volts (KV) transmission line from Winifred Substation.” (PDF p. 16)

“Weather condition and Capsule crew have been eliminated as causes of the incident.” (PDF p. 16)

“A 7.2 KV transformer shorted in the line to site E-3 at 1450, 16 March 67.” (PDF p. 20)

“On 28 March 67, the 341st SMW in conjunction with the Montana Power Company conducted a switching test on the 50 KV high voltage line between the Harlowton and Glengarry substations. The test was performed at the request of OOAMA/OONE as a part of the initial Echo Flight incident investigation performed at Malmstrom. The intent of the test was to verify correlation, if possible, between high voltage switching and launch facility shutdown or other launch facility faults.” (PDF p. 20)

“After performing the tests, it was decided that commercial power switching operations were not the cause of the Echo shutdown.” (PDF p. 21)

“The investigation teams at Malmstrom, were unable to determine a logical cause for the incident.” (PDF p. 21)

1 April – 30 June 1967:

“A test plan was reviewed to accomplish the transformer failure simulation tests at Malmstrom. Boeing had co-ordinated with the power company, and had received their approval for the tests.” (PDF p. 35)

“The power tests were accomplished at Malmstrom AFB during the week of 15 May 67… Information on the Sensitive Information Network lines and on the commercial primary power lines showed no significant noise propagation as a result of simulating the transformer failure.” (PDF p. 36)

“Due to the fact that the power tests were essentially negative, it appears that the cause of the Echo Flight problem was of the EMP or electrostatic nature.” (PDF p. 38)

1 July – 30 September 1967:

“OOAMA thought that the cause of the incident was of the Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP) noise or electrostatic nature.” (PDF p. 48)

“A primary cause always associated with Echo Flight Incident has been connected with some type of adverse power affect [sic]. Tests have been conducted time and time again to determine this, but have always lead [sic] to a negative result.” (PDF p. 51)

“On 28 September 1967, Sierra 39, 564th SMS, was depostured and turned over to Boeing for EMP tests.” (PDF p. 51)

1 October – 31 December 1967:

“In direct relation to the Echo Flight incident as covered in the April – June 1967 History of the 341st SMW was the Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP) testing conducted throughout the quarter.” (PDF p. 76)

“One of the primary theorys [sic] of the Echo Flight incident was connected with some type of adverse power effect. All test [sic] conducted toward this end proved negative results. The EMP tests at Sierra-39 were considered to be the final series of tests in this area.” (PDF p. 77)

Appendix C: Power Distribution to Echo, Delta, Mike, Oscar Flights

Launch Facilities (LFs) E-2-6, E-9-11 Supplied by Different Substations than E-7, E-8

(PDF p. 17)

Kaminski To Klotz Letter 2-1-1997

See Also:

	Malmstrom Air Force Base Picks Up UFO on Radar; "Sabotage Alert Team Located Another UFO Directly Over The Base"
	The UFOs-Nukes Connection Press Conference: Witness Affidavits and Declassified Documents
	VIDCAST: Former Boeing Engineer, Robert Kaminski Confirms UFO Activity at Echo Flight Missile Launch Control Facility in 1967

REPORT YOUR UFO EXPERIENCE

1967 Malmstrom AFB UFO Incident Botched by David Duchovny

I recently watched the first episode of Declassified Secrets with David Duchovny, now airing on the History Channel on Friday nights. As the name indicates, it’s the former The X Files star’s latest series. One segment dealt with the once-hidden but now-famous UFO-related ICBM-shutdown incident at Malmstrom AFB, Montana in 1967, first exposed in 1996 by one of the Minuteman missile launch officers who was on duty when it occurred, former USAF Captain Robert Salas. Given Hollywood’s checkered track record on accurately reporting UFO encounters at the US Air Force’s ICBM sites, in a variety of programs on several different television networks over the years, I

By Robert Hastings The UFO Chronicles 4-11-25

was not optimistic that the Duchovny show would get all of the facts straight. But I certainly never expected that its treatment of Salas’ incident would be so thoroughly error-filled and basically incompetent.

In my book, UFOs and Nukes: Extraordinary Encounters at Nuclear Weapons Sites, I discuss the intriguing event at length. Actually, there were at least two UFO-related mass-missile shutdowns at Malmstrom, on March 16th and 24th 1967, and I was responsible for getting a number of former USAF personnel with knowledge of the highly-dramatic, still-classified incidents to go on the record for the first time.

The book’s entire chapter regarding those events is available here.

While some readers may conclude that I am overreacting to the Duchovny show’s treatment of the ten missile-shutdown on March 24th, and that my criticisms mostly concern trivialities, I will disagree. The importance of the reality of UFOs repeatedly interfering with our nuclear missiles at several Air Force bases over the years—as confirmed by scores of USAF veterans who I’ve interviewed—is self-evident. Any public discussion of the situation should strive to be accurately presented.

So, whenever I read or watch an attempted review of those developments that is deeply flawed—due to skeptical ignorance, inept research efforts, or disinformational spin—I just have to respond.

Tellingly, despite the series title, Declassified Secrets with David Duchovny, the Oscar Flight incident remains classified to this day! Given that the show’s producers missed that fact, I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised at the very faulty summary of it that they foisted on all of us. While I counted more than a dozen factual misstatements in the carelessly constructed six-minute segment, I’ll only address three here:

First, it claims, “Salas [was] in his command headquarters and suddenly he [got] a call from the gate personnel at the entrance to Malmstrom, about some sort of strange light that is flying, moving in a strange pattern over the base itself.” In reality, Salas—and his missile commander Captain Frederick Meiwald, who was with him but is never even mentioned in the program segment—were some 125 road-miles east of Malmstrom in their underground Launch Control Center at Oscar Flight, a group of ten Minuteman-I missiles located near Roy, Montana.

Only later in the segment is there an acknowledgement of Salas’ presence in a Launch Control Capsule far from the base, thereby contradicting earlier statements that the incident occurred on Malmstrom itself.

Following this confusion, the segment then says that the head Security Policeman on-site, who had notified Salas about the mysterious aerial light, then called a second time and, screaming into the phone, said that a glowing, orange-colored “orb” was now silently hovering directly over the gate of the fence surrounding the above-ground Oscar Launch Control Facility building. Actually, as Salas has repeatedly stated in various interviews, the hovering object was reported by the Security Policemen confronting it to be disc-shaped and at least 40-feet in diameter—it was not a small, spherical orb.

More importantly, the segment claims that following the incident the Air Force sent “a team from an ongoing secret investigation, known as Project Blue Book, [to investigate it.]” In reality, although Salas and Meiwald were forcefully interrogated about the incident and told to sign national security non-disclosure statements, Blue Book never investigated the alarming incursion and, significantly, the Air Force continues to officially deny that there has ever been UFO interference with any of our nuclear missiles’ functionality, at any base, over the past seven decades!

Nevertheless, despite the false claim of Blue Book’s involvement in the Oscar Flight case, the segment stubbornly doubles-down and has journalist and wannabe-UFO expert Garrett Graff saying on camera, “Investigators from Project Blue Book look into this incident at Malstrom [sic], and they don’t think that it’s an alien spacecraft but they also can’t find any other logical explanation.” This is simply untrue. No such Blue Book report ever existed.

Later in the segment, Graff opines, “I think the US government knows more about some of these UFO sightings than it lets on, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re alien spacecraft. A mystery is in some ways just as challenging as an actual secret. Still today, the government is just as likely to classify its ignorance as it is its knowledge.”

While this last sentiment—regarding government ignorance often being unacknowledged—is undoubtedly true, the exhaustive research conducted by myself and other researchers conclusively establishes that the Air Force knows tremendously more about UFOs—and the nuclear weapons-related cases in particular—than Graff’s vague, arguably apologist statement suggests. His empty platitude completely ignores the wealth of specific, detailed, formerly-classified material about UAP now in the public domain. It appears that he is either uninformed or too negatively biased to understand its importance.

Indeed, in various skeptical public statements he has made, Graff has doubted the existence of Non-Human Intelligence on Earth, saying, “UFOs could be weird physics [we don’t yet understand] rather than aliens from Alpha Centauri buzzing the USS Nimitz.” He has also endorsed the long-ago discredited CIA claim that “half” of all UFO sightings in the US during the 1950s were due to flights of the still-secret U-2 spy plane.

After noting several of those off-base and generally dismissive claims by Graff during several interviews, I decided that I wouldn’t waste my time reading his 500-page book, UFO: The inside Story of the US Government’s Search for Alien Life Here—and Out There.

However, one person who did read the book reviewed it at Amazon, saying,

... There is no “inside story” to be found anywhere in the book. Instead, we find many of the familiar stories that include Roswell, Foo Fighters, projects Sign, Grudge, Blue Book, Capt. Mantel, the fraud George Adamski and his blond friend “Orthon” from Venus, the Robertson Panel, the Socorro Incident, swamp gas, ball lightning, the Condon Report, Tehran F-4s, MJ-12, crop circles, cattle mutilations, Phoenix Lights, Skinwalker Ranch, Tic Tac UFO, etc., etc., etc.

[...]

... And yet, many more relevant or intriguing UFO tales are completely missing. Where are Dr. Robert Sarbacher, Admiral Wilson’s near-sacking, Wilbert Smith’s famous quote, Gulf Breeze, Bentwaters, the Trent photos, the Zimbabwe school children, UFO and nuclear ICBM interactions, Illinois police triangles, and many more? Not there!

So, in his 518-page book claiming to be “the inside story” of the US government’s response to UFOs, Garrett Graff apparently fails to even mention UFO activity at nuclear missile sites, let alone discuss it at length—and yet this was the guy chosen by Duchovny’s producers to hold forth on the tremendously important incident at Malmstrom’s Oscar Flight in March 1967.

As for Duchovny himself, despite his UFO-sleuth role on The X Files, the actor is a well-known skeptic on The Phenomenon. Indeed, during the 1990s, when the show was a runaway hit, Duchovny gave several interviews in which he disappointed fans by pooh-poohing UFOs and the notion of a government cover-up of them. “It’s just a show!” he repeatedly exclaimed. I have tried to find examples of those interviews—which I clearly remember—to link to here, but have so far been unsuccessful. (And, candidly, I’m not going to waste any more time trying to locate them online.)

In any case, the producers of Duchovny’s new show need to do much better research for their UAP-related segments in the future, and begin utilizing better informed, less biased talking-heads.

Visit Robert's Site ►

READ ROBERT'S BOOK

UFOs & Nukes: Extraordinary Encounters at Nuclear Weapons Sites
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See Also:

	The Echo Flight ICBM Incident: Retired USAF Officer Confirms Receiving A UFO Report Just as the Missiles Failed
	UFOs Initiated Nuclear Missile Launch Countdowns Say Former U.S. Air Force Officers
	My Evidence: The Account of Minute-Man Missiles Being Disabled, While UFOs Hovered Over The Launch Facilities

REPORT YOUR UFO EXPERIENCE

30 Nuclear Missiles Disabled by UFOs, Says Former USAF Captain

"'Within a span of six months, we lost 30 nuclear missiles to UFOs,' said Salas, who provided an air force document declassified in 1996 regarding the March 16 incident at Malmstrom, east of Great Falls."

On the night of March 24, 1967, Robert Salas was a 26-year-old U.S. Air Force lieutenant cocooned 20 metres below the Montana prairie overseeing weaponry that could obliterate millions.

By Bill Kaufmann calgaryherald.com 3-26-2023

Instead, without any warning, Salas said his menacing cluster of 10 Minutemen 1 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) burrowed beneath the Malmstrom Air Force base a five-hour drive southeast of Calgary seemed to be prey.

[...]

Just moments before the systems failure, a non-commissioned security officer on the surface made a series of increasingly frenzied phone calls to Salas, describing an oval-shaped form within pulsating, glowing orange-red lights hovering over the installation.

[...]

Continue Reading ►

See Also:

The Air Force Cover-Up:
"Deception, Distortion, and Lying to The Public About the Reality of the UFO Phenomenon"

Malmstrom Air Force Base Picks Up UFO on Radar; "Sabotage Alert Team Located Another UFO Directly Over The Base"

UFO Lands Near Minuteman Missile Base; Affects Radio Transmissions - Defensive Measures Taken!

UFO Over Hanford Atomic Plant Triggers 'Alert Condition'; Fighter Jets Scrambled!

REPORT YOUR UFO EXPERIENCE

UFO Sighting Over Nuclear Missile Silo Still Resonates



It’s been nearly 50 years since Robert Salas was a young missileer stationed at Malmstrom Air Force Base and, on a mid-March night in a silo near Roy, became an unwitting witness to history.

By Scott Mansch Great Falls Tribune 2-26-17

[...]

“They told me about strange lights in the sky,” Robert says. “I thought they were pulling my leg.”

About 10 minutes later the phone rang again.

“This time he was clearly frightened, extremely frightened,” Robert says. “He was looking right at the thing, a glowing red object, oval-shaped and some 40 feet in diameter, and it was hovering above the front gate.”

[...]

Continue Reading ►

See Also:

The Echo and Oscar Flight Incidents: UFOs Disabled American ICBMs

My Evidence: The Account of Minute-Man Missiles Being Disabled, While UFOs Hovered Over The Launch Facilities

UFOs Did Shutdown Minuteman Missiles at Echo Flight and Oscar Flight at Malmstrom AFB in March 1967

REPORT YOUR UFO EXPERIENCE

UFOs Initiated Nuclear Missile Launch Countdowns Say Former U.S. Air Force Officers

By Robert Hastings www.ufohastings.com 12-15-14

     Since 1973, I have interviewed more than 150 U.S. military personnel regarding their UFO experiences at nuclear weapons sites. CNN streamed my September 27, 2010 press conference, at which seven of those veterans appeared, and the video may be viewed below:

As noted in my last article, dramatic testimony recently provided to me by a former U.S. Air Force Minuteman missile launch officer, who wishes to remain anonymous, reveals that UFO activity at ICBM sites is not confined to the temporary shutting down of the missiles but also, in his case, the unauthorized activation of the launch-countdown sequence in them—an ominous and terrifying prospect.

But this was not the first time I had been told, by a former nuclear missile launch officer, that a UFO had initiated the launch sequence in one or more ICBMs. The following material is excerpted from my 2008 book UFOs and Nukes: Extraordinary Encounters at Nuclear Weapons Sites:

Of all the tape-recorded interviews I’ve conducted with former or retired ICBM launch officers over the past three decades, this was perhaps the most disturbing. According to the source, former U.S. Air Force Captain David H. Schuur, a UFO once activated the launch sequence in most of his Minuteman missiles.

In August 2007, Schuur told me, “I saw your request for information in the [June 2007] Association of Air Force Missileers Newsletter. I was involved in a UFO incident at Minot AFB in the mid-1960s. I had read your earlier article [in the September 2002 AAFM Newsletter] but was hesitant to respond.” I asked Schuur why he had been hesitant. He replied, “Well, we were basically told, way back when, that it was classified information and, you know, it didn’t happen and don’t discuss it. I guess I was still operating on that idea when I saw your first article.”

Schuur had obviously had a change of heart. He continued, “Anyway, I was a Minuteman missile crewmember in the 455th/91st Strategic Missile Wing at Minot from December 1963 through November 1967. I was a 1st Lieutenant during that period and the deputy commander that night. Since the incident occurred some 40 years ago, my memories are a bit foggy but, based on who my commander was at the time, I would say it occurred between July 1965 and July 1967.”

“As far as the incident, here’s my best recollection of it: Alpha capsule, which was east of us, reported on PAS—the Primary Alerting System—that their security personnel were observing a large, bright object hovering over some of their missile sites. It was moving from missile to missile. I think the Alpha missile crew also reported that they were receiving ‘spurious indicators’ on their missile control console, but I’m not certain about that. I do know that a few minutes later our own capsule had spurious indicators—anomalous readings—from some of our missiles.”

Schuur continued, “But it wasn’t just Alpha and Echo. Over the next hour or so—I don’t recall exactly how long it was—all of the flights reported that their [Security Alert Teams] were observing a UFO near their facilities. The path of the object could be followed as it passed over each flight area by the reports on the PAS. The object moved over the entire wing from the southeast to the northwest, following the layout of the wing.”

“As far as our flight, Echo, a few minutes after hearing the report from Alpha, I received a call from topside security that a large bright light—actually, a large, bright object would be more accurate—was in the sky, to the east of the launch control facility. When the guard called down, he may have used the term ‘UFO’ but I don’t recall. He didn’t describe its shape or altitude because it was too far away. It never got close enough to the LCF to see any detail. At its closest, it was two, three, maybe four miles away from us, near one of the missile sites.”

Schuur continued, “However, when the object passed over our flight, we started receiving many spurious indications on our console. The object was apparently sending some kind of signals into each missile. Not every missile got checked [out] by the object, but there were several that did. Maybe six, seven, or eight. Maybe all ten got checked, but I don’t think so. As this thing was passing over each missile site, we would start getting erratic indications on that particular missile. After a few seconds, everything reset back to normal.”

“But then the next missile showed spurious indicators so the object had apparently moved on to that one and did the same thing to it. Then on to the next one, and so on. It was as if the object was scanning each missile, one by one. The Inner Security and Outer Security [alarms were triggered] but we got those all the time, for one reason or another. However, on this particular night, we had to activate the ‘Inhibit’ switch because we got ‘Launch in Progress’ indicators! After a few minutes, the UFO passed to the northwest of us and all indicators reset to normal.”

I wanted to be certain about what I had just been told. I asked Schuur, “So, if you get a ‘Launch in Progress’ indicator, does that mean the launch sequence has been triggered—that the missile is preparing to launch?” Schuur replied, “That means the missile has received a launch signal. When that happens, we get an indication in the capsule that a launch command has been received by that missile. If that happens, without proper authority, you flip what’s called an ‘Inhibit’ switch, to delay the launch for a given period of time. If an Inhibit command comes in from another launch capsule, that shuts down the launch totally. But if that second command doesn’t come in, the missile will wait for a specified period of time and then launch automatically at the end of that expired period—theoretically. Of course, that night, we had all kinds of other indicators coming on from each missile so, in that situation, the launch probably would have aborted itself. I honestly don’t know.”

I asked Schuur if the “Launch in Progress” indicator had ever been triggered on any other occasion, either before or after the UFO incident, while he was on alert duty. He replied, “No, never.”

I asked Schuur if he had heard about missile maintenance teams having to replace components or whole systems in the affected missiles—the ones that generated the spurious readings. He replied, “No, if that happened, I never heard about it.”

Schuur said, “Upon returning to the base the next day, my commander and I were met by the operations officer. He just said, ‘Nothing happened, nothing to discuss, goodbye.’ Our logs and tapes were turned in. Every capsule had a 24-hour tape that, as I recall, recorded the communications that went over the PAS system, so all the reports would have been on that tape. But we were essentially told that nothing had happened that night and to discuss it no further. It was a non-event. We were never debriefed by OSI or anyone else. We just went home. Most of the returning missile crews drove back to the base from their facilities, so they all arrived at different times. There was no group debriefing that I know of. I never heard another thing about the incident.”

I asked Schuur, “I know that you were given no feedback from your superiors, but what is your personal assessment of the event?” He replied, “Oh, I think something was up there, uh, scanning the missiles, seeing what was going on. Some kind of a scanning process.” I asked Schuur whether he thought the launch activation had been incidental or deliberate. He seemed surprised by my question and said, “I think that the scanning just set it off. It set all kinds of things off, we were getting all sorts of indicators. There were some kind of signals being sent [from the UFO] to the missile that inadvertently triggered the launch activation, but I don’t think it was deliberate. I hope not! That would have been—.” Schuur didn’t finish this sentence. His voice broke and he heaved a deep sigh. Apparently, the thought that those aboard the UFO might have deliberately attempted to launch his nuclear missiles that night had caused him to pause—and probably shudder—over 40 years later.

I obviously accept Schuur’s report as credible, but am of course attempting to locate other former members of his squadron who are willing to corroborate it. As Schuur candidly admitted, after reading my first article in the September 2002 AAFM newsletter, he waited some five years before approaching me. It was only after my second published request for information from former/retired USAF missileers that he decided to unburden himself. This hesitant response is not atypical. Many of my former missile launch officer sources have not readily or easily divulged their UFO experiences to me, for one reason or another.

More UFOs At Minot AFB in 1967-68

In 2005, I posted a series of messages on the Yahoo missile_talk group’s bulletin board, summarizing the testimony of former and retired USAF sources who had reported their UFO-related experiences at various nuclear missile sites over the years. My hope was that some of the group’s members, largely made up of U.S. Air Force missileers, would be encouraged to come forth and discuss their own experiences. A few of them, including Larry Manross, did just that. He wrote:

Robert, you are right on. As a launch crew commander at Minot AFB from 1966-1970, I will tell you that there were UFO incidents. In one [during which I was present] the security team upstairs went into a defensive posture with lights turned out. They had called in a UFO sighting to the base and radar was tracking it. All of a sudden it buzzed the launch control center and that was when they cut the lights and took a defensive position.

The details are fairly slim on the incident [but it occurred sometime during] 1967 or ’68. It was treated by the Air Force as a non-incident. In other words, no report was asked for from the missile crew. I am not certain if the security team made a report, but the whole thing made you feel somewhat uneasy. But base ops did confirm that they were tracking an unidentified object on radar.

I asked Manross to elaborate on these statements. He responded:

I was in the 742nd [Strategic Missile Squadron]. The capsules we manned were Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, and Oscar. I was primarily assigned to Kilo or Lima. I do not remember the name of the senior officer during that [alert] assignment; he was not the usual commander I was assigned with. He was several years older than I and was a career officer, I believe. I was never assigned with him again and don't remember much about him. He may have been in a different squadron. Sometimes they mixed and matched us when they were having scheduling problems.

The year was ’67 or ’68, before I moved up to the commander role. I was attempting to sleep while the commander was dealing with security upstairs and the base headquarters regarding some unidentified [flying] object. It was when his [missile status console] lit-up like a Christmas tree for a moment that he got scared and asked for back-up. The lit-up board had signaled that the missiles had launched. It was a false signal but correlated with the incident taking place upstairs. It all happened quite fast. Then things returned to normal.

[Anyway,] that was when I became engaged. The commander was rattled and so was the security team upstairs. They reported that something had buzzed the LCF and that they had gone into a defensive posture, turning out the lights and drawing their weapons. They indicated it was very bright and traveling at a high rate of speed. They did not describe any shape, etc., other than it was bright. [Then] base headquarters reported that the unidentified object was no longer on radar and that was the last we heard of it.

There was no debriefing—nada. Just another day pulling an alert at Minot. I do remember the senior officer saying something about how I should not talk about the incident without getting authorization. [In spite of that,] all the officers talked about UFOs and what was going on. As you can imagine, there was quite a range of opinions. The common assumption among many [launch officers] was that the objects were somehow drawing power from the missile warheads.

The number of UFO incidents at the time, during 1966-’70, were so frequent that in the summer the security team sometimes would put chairs in front of the building, or on the roof of the building, to watch for UFOs. Can you believe it?

Regarding this last statement, I told Manross that I had heard nearly identical stories from other former or retired USAF personnel who had been stationed at Ellsworth, F.E. Warren, and Malmstrom AFBs during that era. This particular side show is almost humorous: Nuclear missile security guards sitting outside Minuteman Launch Control Facilities at night looking for UFOs because the objects appeared above the missile field so frequently! If only the American media had been given that story at the time. But, of course, like everything else relating to these classified incidents, almost no information leaked out to the press or public.

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See Also:

UFO Activated One of his ICBMs—Twice, Says Former U.S. Air Force Missile Launch Officer

UPDATE/REBUTTAL To D'Antonio: UFO Activated One of his ICBMs—Twice, Says Former U.S. Air Force Missile Launch Officer

Malmstrom Air Force Base Picks Up UFO on Radar; "Sabotage Alert Team Located Another UFO Directly Over The Base"

UFO Buzzes ICBM Launch Capsule at Minot AFB

My Evidence: The Account of Minute-Man Missiles Being Disabled, While UFOs Hovered Over The Launch Facilities

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The Echo Flight UFO Incident: James Carlson is Still Wrong After All These Years

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By Robert Hastings www.ufohastings.com 11-3-13

     Saying that the moon is made of green cheese doesn’t make it true, even if one repeats that claim over and over, hundreds of times, or finds a small band of like-minded believers who parrot the claim.

It’s not entirely clear why James Carlson continues to post countless comments online, denying the existence of UFO reports during the Echo Flight missile shutdown incident at Malmstrom AFB, Montana, on March 16, 1967, in the face of witness testimony to the contrary—including from one of the missile launch officers present that day.

Carlson knows about the tape recorded conversation (see below) between myself and now-retired Col. Walter Figel, the deputy missile commander at Echo during the incident, in which he told me that he had indeed received a radio call from a security guard at one of the Echo missile silos, saying that he was observing “a large, round object” hovering “directly over the site.”

Robert Hastings/Walt Figel Audio Interview Clip (2008)

Figel also confirmed that he had, in response to the call, sent out two Security Alert Teams to investigate the report and that at least one of them confirmed seeing the object hovering over the missile silo. Figel also said that he and James’ father, Captain Eric Carlson, had been debriefed back at Malmstrom and told not to talk about the incident.

While my recorded conversations with Col. Figel took place between 2008 and 2010, he had made nearly identical statements in another taped phone conversation,(see below) with former Minuteman missile launch officer Bob Salas, in 1996.

Robert Salas/Walt Figel Audio Interview Clip (1996)

There are other U.S. Air Force veterans who have also gone on the record about a UFO involvement in the Echo Flight incident, as well as a Boeing Corporation engineer, Robert Kaminski, whose job it was to find out why the missiles malfunctioned.

In 1997, in a letter to researcher Jim Klotz, Kaminski wrote that, “There were no significant failures, engineering data or findings that would explain how ten missiles were knocked off alert. In other words there was no technical explanation that could explain the event.”

Kaminski also wrote, “Meanwhile I was contacted by our representative at OOAMA [Office, Ogden Air Material Area], Don Peterson, and told by him that the incident was reported as being a UFO event—that a UFO was seen by some airmen over the Launch Control Facility at the time E-Flight went down.”

Actually, the large round object sighted by the missile guard and reported to launch officer Lt. Walter Figel, had been hovering over one of the Echo missile silos, not the launch control facility itself. Nevertheless, Boeing engineer Kaminski’s revealing testimony essentially confirms Figel’s account of a UFO-presence during the incident.

Of course, if James Carlson were ever to admit that Kaminski’s letter is important, or that Figel’s tape recorded statements to me and Bob Salas do indeed contradict his father’s now-discredited claim that there were no UFOs reported at Echo Flight, he would in effect be admitting that he has been making a complete fool of himself online for the past several years, by championing his dad’s untenable position and, in doing so, viciously insulting the other veterans and researchers who dare challenge it.

This is one reason why Carlson will never, in his many online rants about Echo Flight, provide a link to the tape recorded admissions by Col. Figel that are available online.

After all, one can hear Figel tell me that, while he was skeptical of the UFO report he received from the security guard, it nevertheless did indeed occur. Figel also says, clearly on the tape, that while he thought the guard might be joking, that individual’s demeanor was calm and businesslike. “He seemed to be serious and I wasn’t taking him seriously,” Figel told me.

When I posted the transcript of this conversation-excerpt in 2008, James Carlson doubted it’s accuracy and chided me to post the actual tape recording. When I eventually did, Carlson then claimed that I had doctored it to make it prove my points. All challenges by me, to have a team of audio experts examine the tape—to verify that it is pristine and unaltered—have been ignored by Carlson and his supporters. Of course, they would have to pay for that expensive analysis so, it seems, they are not prepared to put some money where their skeptical mouths are.

Another reason James Carlson does not want others to listen to my tape recorded conversations with Col. Figel is because he refutes Carlson’s claims, calling them “off-base”. Figel also says that Carlson “has an ax to grind,” something that James certainly does not want others to hear—given that Carlson incessantly cites Figel as someone who supports his own position. Regardless, James’ relentless hate campaign is quite obvious to anyone who reads his breathless tirades against me and Bob Salas.

Even Carlson’s handful of supporters have urged him to tone it down, given the manic, often hysterical tone of his blog comment postings in which he wildly attacks anyone who supports the notion of a UFO presence at Echo Flight during the shutdown incident. Other, unaffiliated readers of his rants—who have no strong opinion about the case, one way or the other—have called him a “nut”, “wacko”, “fruitcake” and the like.

Years ago I myself accused James Carlson of “foaming at the mouth”. However, that was before I learned that he had been medically discharged from the U.S. Navy due to a diagnosis of epilepsy. One symptom sometimes exhibited during epileptic “fits” is indeed a frothing at the lips during the seizures. Once I had James’ medical situation brought to my attention, I never again used that unkind characterization of his online outbursts.

Nevertheless, James’ usually bizarre, over-the-top tirades against me and Bob Salas—he has called us “liars and frauds” countless times—raises the issue of his state of mind. When I spoke with his father Eric, in October 2008, he continued denying that UFOs had been reported at Echo Flight, however, when I asked why his son was so out of control in his online posts, Eric responded, “James has some problems.”

That same month, in a phone conversation with an associate of mine, Eric told him that he was concerned that James would “have a nervous breakdown.” (I am willing to testify under oath in a court of law that the elder Carlson’s comment to me was exactly as I have portrayed here, and that I have accurately related the other conversation as it was presented to me.)

So, does James Carlson incessantly lie about the facts relating to the UFO events at Malmstrom Air Force Base because he is psychologically unbalanced, or is it just due to his complete lack of ethics? Or both?

Regardless, the questions remain: Why is James Carlson so unwilling (or perhaps unable) to accept the fact that his father misled him when he said that there were no UFO reports at Echo Flight at the time of the mysterious, full-flight missile shutdown? Why does James continue to deny or, in some posts, twist Col. Figel’s candid, taped remarks to me and Bob Salas?

Similarly, why does Carlson repeatedly lie about Salas’ former missile commander, Col. Frederick Meiwald, who has made emphatic remarks supportive of Salas? In 2011, Meiwald told me during a taped conversation (see below) that UFOs were indeed present at a different flight—Oscar—when those missiles malfunctioned eight days after the Echo incident.

Robert Hastings’ Call to Col. Frederick C. Meiwald

Although Meiwald had been on a rest break in the launch capsule when the ICBMs began “dropping off alert status”, once awoken by Salas, he witnessed most if not all of the missiles malfunctioning.

Meiwald also confirmed that moments later, in response to triggered alarms at one of the silos, Salas had dispatched a two-man Security Alert Team to the site. Those men, said Meiwald, saw “a bright, flying object at low-level.” near the missile silo and immediately fled back to the Oscar Launch Control Facility. One man was so distraught that he had to be transported to the base hospital before completing his shift.

James Carlson has for years loudly proclaimed that Salas was lying when he said that he had witnessed a UFO-related missile shutdown at Malmstrom in 1967. True, until Salas located Meiwald in 1996, he couldn’t remember the designation of the flight and thought that he might have been at Echo or November.

Nevertheless, by the time Carlson started his public vendetta against Salas in the late 1990s, Col. Meiwald had already discussed the UFO-related events at Oscar Flight with Salas during a taped telephone conversation (see below). Meiwald later wrote him a follow-up letter (see below) containing more details.

Bob Salas’ 1996 Telephone Call to Col. Frederick Meiwald

Meiwald Letter 10-1-1996
-click on image(s) to enlarge -

Fortunately, James Carlson has a relatively small audience, even though he has posted hundreds of comments about these topics at various websites over time. Unfortunately, his hard core supporters, whose strong anti-UFO biases apparently allow them to endorse a delusional (or, perhaps, merely dishonest) person’s baseless charges, keep egging him on, rather than urging him to seek the help he obviously needs.

Now, in the wake of Bob Salas’ recent revelation about having had an apparent UFO abduction experience in 1985, the usual critics are gleefully sharpening their knives. Given their blanket rejection of anything UFO-related, Carlson and his crew can be expected to go after Salas with renewed viciousness.

Importantly, six other former U.S. Air Force personnel have provided similar accounts to me in recent years. Those individuals had previously been involved in a nuts-and-bolts UFO incident in one of the nuclear missile fields operated by various Strategic Air Command bases. Then, weeks, months or years later, they allegedly had an experience comparable to the one now being revealed by Bob Salas. In short, his account is not unique.

I will have more to say on this last subject at some point in the future. At the moment, I am still gathering data. While the number of military veterans who have told me of their strange follow-up experiences is quite small, compared with the number who make no such claim, their accounts obviously deserve serious, unbiased investigation.

Visit Robert's Site . . .

See Also:



James Carlson Gets it Wrong Again

Cutting to the Chase: Robert Hastings Exposes James Carlson’s Chief Falsehood Regarding The Echo Flight UFO Incident

UFOs & NUKES | James Carlson’s Desperate Question: “Who Are You Going to Believe, Me or Your Lying Ears?!”

The Echo Flight ICBM Incident: Retired USAF Officer Confirms Receiving A UFO Report Just as the Missiles Failed

The Echo/Oscar Witch Hunt

My Evidence: The Account of Minute-Man Missiles Being Disabled, While UFOs Hovered Over The Launch Facilities

Telephonic Interview with Colonel Walter Figel (USAF Ret) of March 8, 2010 (Link 1)

Telephonic Interview with Colonel Walter Figel (USAF Ret) of January 8, 2009 (Link 2)

Telephonic Interview with Colonel Walter Figel (USAF Ret) of October 20, 2008 (Link 3)

VIDCAST: Former Boeing Engineer, Robert Kaminski Confirms UFO Activity at Echo Flight Missile Launch Control Facility in 1967

Malmstrom Air Force Base Picks Up UFO on Radar; "Sabotage Alert Team Located Another UFO Directly Over The Base"

UFO Lands Near Minuteman Missile Base; Affects Radio Transmissions - Defensive Measures Taken!

UFO Sightings at ICBM Sites and Nuclear Weapons Storage Areas

Air Force Staff Message: Malmstrom AFB Receives Multiple Reports of UFOs in The Great Falls, Montana Area

UFOS & NUKES | U.S. Air Force Fighters Chased UFOs at Malmstrom AFB in the 1960s and ‘70s

Whatever It Is The Air Force Must-Hunt For The Flying Saucer

UFOs & NUKES | Missile Shut Down at Malmstrom Confirmed By (Civilian) Veteran of Minuteman Program

UFOs & NUKES | UFOs Have Penetrated Restricted Air Space Over Nuclear Missile Sites; Jammed Vital Electronic Equipment & Eluded Fighter Aircraft

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