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Two USAF
Fighters Encounter UFO
In early March,
UFOData Magazine was
contacted by Chris Rolfe, of UFO Monitors East Kent (UFOMEK), with
regard to an audio file that had come into his possession. The file
apparently recorded the observation of an unidentified object by at
least two United States Air Force (USAF) F-15 fighter jets from RAF
Lakenheath in Suffolk. The actual location of the incident is not
yet known.
Chris had read about the incident in an article
published in Radio User
magazine by Kevin Patterson, an aviation reporter who has also
contributed to UFOData
Magazine. Kevin has a regular column in
Radio User entitled
‘Military Matters’. Chris contacted Kevin and discovered that an
audio record of the event had been made by an anonymous radio
enthusiast. Kevin passed on the recording to Chris, who, in turn,
forwarded it to us. Kevin reported that London Military Air Traffic
Control had picked up the object at between three and four thousand
feet and had requested the jets to investigate. The F-15s, call-sign
‘Gator’ duly manoeuvred and encountered the object.
The audio appears to be a conversation between three
men and they pick up an object on their radar. It is at an altitude
of seventeen thousand feet, rising to seventeen thousand seven
hundred feet, considerably higher than when London Military ATC
first detected it. Its airspeed varied from a dead stop to eighty
knots and the planes made at least two passes of it, flying both
beneath and above the object.
Below is a transcript of the audio recording. It may
not be a hundred percent accurate, given the noise in the file, but
it should be pretty close:
Voice #1: Alright, dude. No kidding. I
just flew over Bullseye zero zero eight for twenty. I had a radar
hit and it was swinging, looked like thirty knots. There was
something there. It looked like, it didn't look like a bird. It
looked like a rock to me. I... CQ negative. I have no idea what it
was, but, er, basically this... heads up, try to stay away from
seventeen thousand feet, keep your nugget on, so I have no idea what
it was. I'm gonna use our radar and see if I can pick this object up
again. I picked it up twice, the first time I picked it up, my radar
broke lock, so I thought it was just, er, some kind of bad lock or
superficial chaff. I'm gonna turn back towards the north a little
bit.
Voice #2: Fuel pick up trail.
Voice #1: Thanks, I'm gonna start coming
back towards the west... I think zero zero four for about twenty...
I got it again. It's at seventeen-seven. Three miles off my nose.
Yeah at seventeen-seven. I'm flying that way now, I'm gonna slow
down. I'm not gonna get below three hundred knots, but, er...
Voice #3: ...back towards you. Something
small. Very small, black object. I had it at seventeen-seven. He
just flew... it just flew right over me.
Voice #2: Confirm the object appears
stationary.
Voice #1: Well, I couldn't tell, because
[unintelligible static].
Voice #2: Nearer eighty knots.
Voice #1: My radar shows at between
thirty and sixty, so I have no idea what it is actually doing. But
it went from seventeen, the first time I saw it, to seventeen-seven.
It's not falling. I don't think it was a bird
Voice #2: [unintelligible]
Voice #1: What's that?
Voice #2: Are you taking a manual lock
or is it a auto-guns lock?
Voice #1: I'm getting a auto-guns every
time. Got it at Bullseye zero zero nine for fifteen. Showing,
basically, no airspeed on it.
Voice #2: [unintelligible] is clean.
Voice #1: Say again.
Voice #2: Two was clean. Two was locked!
Full burn. Zero one two continue to ten thousand.
Voice #1: [unintelligible]... I'm up
[unintelligible] here. I wanna try and look at it, then you follow
in behind me, if you can.
Voice #2: I'm at fifteen thousand.
Voice #1: Dude, I have no idea what that
is. But it has passed over me... I got it at seventeen thousand
feet. Eight miles off my nose. Bullseye zero four nine for twenty.
Seventeen thousand, I wanna get down to sixteen-five. Two point five
miles off my nose right now. Seventeen thousand feet. I'm not even
gonna slow down as much as you are. Maybe you can slow down a little
bit more and get a better look. [interference]... twenty knots, not
manoeuvring.
Voice #2: Have you confirmed the merge
[unintelligible]
Voice #1: I am about to merge right now.
I'm seeing him. Going underneath me now and I'm going to get my
airspeed back before I manoeuvre. Are you locked or clean?
Voice #2: I'm no joy, approaching line
abreast with you, two thousand feet higher, eighteen-five.
Voice #1: Copy that. I'm gonna need your
right hand turn... You said you're at eighteen?
Voice #2: Yeah, contact, I'm at
eighteen-five now. At your six o'clock, er, about thirty miles.
Voice #1: Copy that.
Voice #2: Clear, you're well clear. I
won't descend at this time. [unintelligible] are we clear of this
target?
Voice #1: I'm not sure. It stays between
seventeen and eighteen, so... I believe I'm in the vicinity of it.
I'm not, er, a hundred percent positive. [unintelligible]. I have
visual now. I'm gonna fly underneath him.
Voice #2: Copy. At that time I still
could not make out what it was.
Voice #1: You didn’t see it?
Voice #2: Confirmed.
Voice #1: I'm gonna circle back around.
Voice #3: Follow [unintelligible] see if
we can see it through the HUD.
Voice #2: Have we got somebody else back
here with us?
Voice #3: Yeah, it's him. Dude, did you
see anything?
Voice #2: Negative.
On March 6th, 2007,
UFOData Magazine contacted the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and asked
for any information they had via the Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA). We also contacted RAF Lakenheath, but they have failed to
reply to our correspondences.
The very next day, I received an email from Mrs Sue
Welch, of the Defence Flying Complaints Investigation Team. She
wanted me to phone her so that I could provide her with more
information. I did this and she was very nice and thanked me for the
information. She said that now she had the call-sign of the flight,
she could contact the pilots in question at RAF Lakenheath. A report
would be filed with the MoD and, in the fullness of time, we would
hear back from them (not her).
On March 8th, 2007, I received an email
from Mr Paul Welch, of the MoD Freedom of Information office. His
email said:
Thank you for your e-mail of 7 March
2007 asking for any information or documentation relating to an
alleged incident on 12 January 2007, when London Military Air
Traffic Control tasked two USAF F-15 aircraft to investigate an
unknown object that had been picked up on radar.
We have no record of London Military Air
Traffic Control Centre making such a request.
I immediately sent a reply to Mr Webb, explaining
that, while we appreciated his speedy reply (perhaps the fastest
ever in response to a FOIA request!), he had only referred to the
request from London Military ATC for the jets to intercept the
unknown object. I asked if it was possible for him to look into the
interception incident itself.
In the meantime, various explanations of what the
object might be had been submitted by various researchers, including
weather balloons, vultures, mythical birds or a helium-filled, toy
balloon.
By 19th March, 2007, I had not heard back
from the MoD, so I sent an email to Mr Webb, asking if he had
received my initial reply. The next day, an email arrived confirming
that my reply had been received and two hours and forty-two minutes
later I received the following message from Mr Webb in my email
inbox:
Thank you for your e-mail of 8 March
2007 asking me to look into any records of an alleged sighting of an
unknown object by two USAF F-15 pilots on 12 January 2007. I am
dealing with it under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
The Ministry of Defence have no record
of UK military air traffic control tasking USAF aircraft to
undertake any such investigation on or around 12th January 2007.
However, I understand that two USAF aircraft spotted an object on
their onboard radar whilst on a routine training flight and, on
their own initiative, made a number of passes over it.
They believed the object, no bigger than a football, was
floating with the wind and had probably come from a weather balloon.
I should also like to take the
opportunity to explain that the unless there is corroborating
evidence to suggest that the UK's airspace may have been compromised
by a hostile or unauthorized foreign military aircraft, the MOD does
not investigate or seek to provide a precise explanation for each of
the 200-300 "UFO" reports we receive every year. However, we believe
that rational explanations could be found for most of the sightings
if resources were devoted to so doing, but it is not the function of
the MOD to provide this kind of aerial identification service. It
would be an inappropriate use of defence resources if we were to do
so.
Touchy! So, it wasn’t a bird, after all. What part
of a weather balloon is black, rock-like and can go from three
thousand to nearly eighteen thousand feet and be locked on radar,
despite being no bigger than a football? I asked Mr Webb if he could
send me a hard copy of his findings and he said he would pop it in
the post. All I got, however, was a printout of the email I received
from him. I have asked for hard copies of the information he has
received from his investigation, but have yet to receive a reply to
this request.
Chris Rolfe, in the meantime, had contacted UFO
researcher, Don Berliner, in the States and he made a FOIA request
from over there. The reply he got, from Joanne F Kitchen, of the 48th
Fighter Wing (USAFE), read as follows:
This responds to your Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA) request of March 4, 2007 which you seek
information and copies of all materials related to the January 12
2007 radar/visual observation from and/or attempted intercept by the
crews of two RAF Lakenheath based F-15's of an unidentified object.
Your request was received by this office on March 5, 2007 and
assigned file number 2007-018.
A thorough search by the 48 Operational
Support Squadron did not locate any records responsive to your
request. The FOIA applies to existing Air Force records; the Air
Force need not create a record in order to respond to a request.
‘A thorough search’ did not locate any records? This
clearly contradicts the Ministry of Defence’s assertion that the
pilots did encounter an
object. Is this a case of one hand not knowing what the other is
doing, or are the MoD’s searches more ‘thorough’ than the United
States Air Force’s?
In an effort to ascertain where the incident took
place, Chris Rolfe is trying to find out which region of UK airspace
the frequency of the radio exchange covers. As yet, he has been
unsuccessful. Two frequencies were used, according to the enthusiast
that recorded the transmission, one of which is used by London
Military ATC and the other reserved for the 492nd and 493rd
Fighter Squadrons at RAF Lakenheath. The 492nd use F-15E
Eagles, while the 493rd fly F-15Cs.
According to Kevin Patterson’s original article, on
the same day, there was a report of an aircraft over Norfolk
executing some unusual manoeuvres at high altitude and a report from
Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, of ‘flaming debris’ falling from
the sky. A helicopter from RNAS Gannet was despatched to
investigate, but nothing was found. It is not known, though, if
these incidents are related to what the American F-15 pilots
intercepted.
A member of the Above Top Secret forum
(www.abovetopsecret.com), ‘PW229’, who claims to work in the area of
aircraft communications, has determined that the aircraft in
question were F-15E Eagles, which have a pilot and a weapon systems
officer and utilise APG-70 radar systems. He also stated that the
APG-70 cannot attain an auto-lock on a balloon.
The APG-70 system has a feature that can recognise
many different types of aircraft from a continually-updated
database. The auto-guns mode of the radar locks on the first target
that enters its beam between three thousand feet and fifteen
nautical miles distance. The radar also features a High Resolution
Map mode (HRM) which can resolve objects down to eight and a half
feet across at a distance of up to twenty nautical miles. Smaller
objects can be detected, but they will appear on the scope as being
the minimum resolvable size of eight and a half feet i.e. much
larger than a football.
‘PW229’ has also claimed that one of the voices on
the recording actually came not from one of the F-15s, but from a
NATO-E3 AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) aircraft. He
said: “This aircraft tracked the object for quite some time and saw
2 very unusual manoeuvres. The first was a rapid acceleration from
30 knots indicated to around 150 knots in 6 seconds... Although this
first manoeuvre was nothing outrageous, the second manoeuvre most
certainly was. The target dropped from 155 knots indicated to 10
knots indicated in less than half a second at which point the E-3
lost the target (it was lost in ground clutter)... From here the E-3
telemetry is very hazy on the target... I have received additional
info that there was no IFF transmission from the object.”
Chris Rolfe is attempting to contact ‘PW229’ for
more information. Even though the information provided by the Above
Top Secret members appears interesting and seems to come from those
who know what they are talking about, we accept that such
information presented via internet forums can often be unreliable
and, more often than not, unverifiable.
Another Above Top Secret forum member, ‘USAF1N051’,
who claims to be a member of the Texas Air National Guard, reported
that the terminology used in the audio recording was accurate and
consistent with the way pilots speak to each other over the radio.
On March 27th, 2007, Mr Eric Rush
received a reply from the Meteorological Office in Exeter, Devon,
after making enquiries about whether the object could have been a
weather balloon, as suggested by the MoD:
Dear Mr Rush
Thank you for your email.
As the National Met Service and a world
leading source of information and advice on the weather and natural
environment we are well equipped to deal with your enquiry.
This sighting, if it was one of our
weather balloons ascending then at 17000 feet it would be
considerably larger than a football as at launch the balloon is
approximately four feet in diameter and with the reduction in air
pressure the balloon only gets larger in volume. The balloon is made
is of a tranclucent [sic] latex that is beige in colour. The
parachute is white. The radiosonde is also white and the size of a
paperback book. If the balloon has burst and the radiosonde is
descending and the parachute has deployed then that would be
approximately three to four feet in diameter.
I don't believe that the radiosonde is
large enough to be picked up on radar.
I think that this sighting isn't
anything to do with weather balloons!
If you have any questions or need
additional information please contact the Customer Centre on 0870
9000 100 where one of our advisors will be happy to help you. The
number is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Kind regards,
Richard
Customer Centre, Met Office, FitzRoy
Road, Exeter, Devon, EX1 3PB, United Kingdom.
UFOData Magazine contacted NATS (National Air Traffic Services), the
leading company tasked with providing air traffic control for
fifteen of the UK’s largest airports, as well as ‘en route’ services
for aircraft crossing UK airspace. We spoke to Richard Wright,
Senior Press Officer at the NATS Press Office, and he explained that
our skies are divided into two, distinct sections: controlled
airspace and open airspace.
Open airspace is not covered by air traffic control,
so pilots are responsible for avoiding any other air traffic. Most
flights in open airspace take place during the day, although pilots
with instrument training may be allowed to fly at night or in
low-visibility conditions. When low-visibility is a factor,
restrictions are placed on flights for reasons of safety.
As would be expected, there are more stringent
controls in controlled airspace. These areas cover regions around
airports and air corridors and NATS are paid to keep aircraft safely
separated in these areas in any weather. All aircraft in controlled
airspace are required to carry active transponders to send vital
information to air traffic control about height, speed and the
aircraft’s identification code or call sign. This will be displayed
on the radar screen as a small box of information attached to the
‘blip’ on the ATC screen.
Any metallic object will be detected on radar and
return a ‘blip’ on the screen, but unless the object carries a
transponder, no other information will be displayed.
Hot air balloons generally do not carry
transponders, but they are required to stay well away from
controlled airspace. As a rule, hot air balloons will not be
detected by ATC radar. This is because they usually fly at low
altitudes and, for the most part, are non-metallic
Meteorological balloons also do not carry
transponders for the most part, but they are required to be launched
in areas where they will not drift into controlled airspace. A
metallicised weather balloon will be detected on radar, but, unless
it is carrying a transponder, will only appear as a ‘blip’ on the
radar screen with no altitude data etc.
Mr Wright was familiar with this case and was
sceptical of the claims being made. He found it unlikely that an
object the size of a football would be visible to pilots in jets
flying at several hundred miles per hour.
UFOData Magazine would like to thank NATS and Mr Wright for their
invaluable assistance.
Sheffield Hallam University lecturer, Dr David
Clarke has said that the weather balloon explanation offered by the
pilots satisfies him, although he encouraged us to keep digging for
more information on this case.
UFOData Magazine and UFOMEK are still investigating this case and if
any new information comes to light, we will let our readers know in
the next issue (June/July 2007).
Steve Johnson |
Updated 16th August, 2012