Malmstrom AFB 1967 UFO Incident: Review & Observations

[Ivan Seeking]

I have been doing some review. Here are some thoughts and observations on the case of Malmstrom AFB; 1967.

http://www.nicap.dabsol.co.uk/malmstrom67dir.htm

Firstly, no description of the UFO is found. All we read are description of a glowing red light; possibly saucer shaped.

UFO had a red glow and appeared to be saucer-shaped. I do not recall any other details about its appearance. He repeated that it had been immediately outside the front gate, hovering silently.

Additionally, we have this statement:

He informed me that the guard who had approached the UFO had been injured - not seriously. The guard was being removed by helicopter to the base. I do not recall the nature of the injury or how it was incurred

Also, there appear to have been multiple sightings by multiple witnesses

He said that he and other guards had observed some unidentified flying objects in the vicinity. He said they had overflown the LCF a few times before he phoned. He could only distinguish them as "lights" at that time.”

Finally:

We sent a security patrol to check our LFs after the shutdown, and they reported sighting another UFO during that patrol. They also lost radio contact with our site immediately after reporting the UFO

-- Salas

Then, p38 of the AF files indicate that rumors of UFOs in the area were disproved. So, we have the word of two witnesses against the official record on this point. I am not aware of any other witnesses that have gone public. However, this is not the case of the failure itself.

According the the evaluation of this failure done by Boeing:

The most that could be done was to reproduce the effects by directly introducing a 10 volt pulse onto a data line. One conclusion was that the only way this could be done from outside the shielded system was through an electromagnetic pulse from an unknown source.

One thing that is not made clear here is whether this pulse was this required to disable all missiles, or if this needed to be duplicated on each missile. In fact, these are isolated systems. In the case of ten isolated systems, this lends credence to the claim that some external source caused this event. This alone would seem to vindicate the claim that some kind of unknown energetic phenomenon caused this event. In the case of HEMP [High-Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse Protection] protected systems, we find [classified] intrinsic barriers that produce extreme signal attenuation in the event of intense ambient RF [edit: EM was intended here, not RF] energy. Test parameters [many of which are also classified, but not this one] include signal injections of up to 5000 amps with rise times less than 20 nanoseconds – about 2.5 X 10^11 amps per second. This in turn [the amps per second] determines the EMF [voltages] induced in shielded wires. [See the unclassified DOD Interface Standards: MIL-STD-188-125-2, p32…I have done some work in this area]. With this level of shielding, only an extremely energetic EM phenomenon could induce a 10 volt pulse in an isolated system. In principle, the pulse required would exceed that produced by a high altitude nuclear detonation. By comparison, lightning typically produces a current of about 10,000 amps with a rise time in the order of one millisecond – about ten million amps per second and about 1/10,000 as influential as the injected test currents. This means that a direct lightning strike should have no effect. This makes it difficult to imagine what kind of naturally occurring phenomenon could influence this system. At this point, the burden of proof lies with the skeptics. What can produce this level of energy?

Next, from the official report:

USAF has confirmed that all of Echo flights' missiles shutdown within seconds of each other and that no cause for this could be found. …the event appeared to occur as a controlled shutdown

Error detection normally would cause a controlled shutdown. This is not unusual; what does seem unusual is the timing. Were the event cause by a single pulse, we would expect the simultaneous shutdown of all systems. That we had up to seconds between each shutdown implies that something was affecting specific systems, but not others. So, we are left with some kind of highly energetic phenomenon, one that appears to exceed any known natural EM phenomenon and that can selective disable isolated systems. The burden of proof lies with the skeptics to produce such a phenomenon for comparison..

Next, we have this:

In this case, none of our missiles came back on line. The problem was not lack of power; some signal had been sent to the missiles which caused them to go off alert

– Salas

This could be a function of the error detection mode. This does not strike me as unusual.

However:

After nearly a year of submitting these requests and waiting for responses, USAF declassified an incident which appeared to be the one in which I was involved. I will refer to that as the Echo Flight incident.

– Salas.

Even if we take Salas completely at face value, we can’t be sure that this is the correct incident. Perhaps this is clarified somewhere else in the literature.

Lastly, perhaps something worth mentioning from just a few months later:

On May 5, 1967, the 564th SMS was declared fully operational. Malmstrom's missile field was now the largest in the United States, covering 23,500 square miles. Two years later, the 10th, 12th and 490th SMSs were also upgraded to the Minuteman II missiles, increasing the wing's capabilities to four missile squadrons equipped with a total of 200 Minuteman II missiles.

http://www.malmstrom.af.mil/history.html

From what I have read, we have no further evidence to support any claims made. Does this agree with what you all know about this case? I have not read all of the related literature as yet.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Here is a nice 8.5 minute video about this event. See the middle column, 5th selection from the bottom of the page. Also, you may wish to watch the Gordon Cooper interview; 12 from the top, left column.

http://www.ufocasebook.com/videos.html

 

[R0man]

Based on the information presented, it seems that there were multiple witnesses to the UFO incident at Malmstrom AFB in 1967. The descriptions of the UFO vary, but all witnesses reported a glowing red light, possibly saucer-shaped. The fact that there were multiple sightings by different witnesses lends credibility to the event.

The injury to the guard and the loss of radio contact during the security patrol are also noteworthy. The fact that the official record states that rumors of UFOs in the area were disproved raises questions about the credibility of the official investigation.

The evaluation of the failure by Boeing suggests that an external source, possibly an electromagnetic pulse, could have caused the shutdown of the missiles. This is further supported by the fact that the systems were isolated and shielded, making it difficult for a natural phenomenon like lightning to have an effect. This raises the question of what could have produced such a high level of energy.

The controlled shutdown of the missiles and the fact that they did not come back online also adds to the mystery. While it could be attributed to the error detection mode, the timing of the shutdowns and the fact that it affected specific systems but not others suggests something more unusual.

The fact that the incident was not declassified until almost a year later also raises questions about the transparency of the investigation. And while the incident is referred to as the Echo Flight incident, there is no way to confirm if this is the correct incident.

Overall, there seems to be a lack of concrete evidence to support any claims made about the Malmstrom AFB UFO incident. However, the multiple witnesses and the unusual nature of the event do raise questions and warrant further investigation.