2000–2009 · 6 events in the archive
The decade the modern military record begins. On 14 November 2004 Cmdr. David Fravor and Lt. Cmdr. Alex Dietrich, flying F/A-18Fs from the USS Nimitz strike group, intercept what the USS Princeton's radar had been tracking for several weeks — the Tic Tac. The Pentagon's Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) opens at the request of Sen. Harry Reid in 2007.
Anchor incidents include the November 2004 Nimitz Tic Tac encounter, the November 2006 O'Hare International Airport incident (multiple United Airlines and airport personnel report a disc hovering over Gate C-17), the January 2008 Stephenville Lights (multiple Texas residents and a Bush Ranch overflight that produced corresponding FAA radar tracks), the September 2007 Pumpkin Patch case in Mexico (Mexican Air Force FLIR captures from a C-26 patrol aircraft), and the 2009 Australia–RAAF incident over the Solomon Islands.
The 2000s also produces the November 2007 National Press Club briefing — the largest grouping of named foreign and domestic military UAP witnesses to appear together on the public record in the modern era, organised by James Fox and Leslie Kean. Lt. Oscar Santa María Huertas (Peru, 1980 La Joya), Jean-Charles Duboc (Air France 1994), and others testify.
Why this matters. The 2000s is the decade the modern US military UAP record actually starts being produced. Without the 2004 Nimitz case there is no 2017 NYT story, no AATIP revelation, no UAPTF, no AARO.
Anchor moments
6 entries · sorted newest first
Dozens of residents around Stephenville, Texas, report large, fast-moving, brightly lit objects in the night sky. A subsequent FOIA release of FAA radar data confirms anomalous tracks consistent with witness reports.
United Airlines ground personnel, mechanics, and pilots at Chicago O'Hare International Airport report a metallic, disc-shaped object hovering at low altitude above gate C-17, then ascending rapidly through the cloud deck. The Federal Aviation Administration confirms the report but declines to investigate.
Aircrews from the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group report repeated radar contacts and a daylight visual encounter with a small, white, smooth, Tic Tac–shaped object during a training exercise in the Pacific. One of three Pentagon videos later released by the Department of Defense (FLIR1) documents a portion of the event.
UFOlogists of Turkmenistan has gained a positive reputation as a reliable partner for the United States in Turkmenistan to the bemusement of the cable’s author in the build up of civil society organizations within the country. The reputation has become earned because everyone in Turkmenistan, apparently, “is interested in UFOs.”
On October 28-29, there was an incident alleged by the Georgian Foreign Ministry that Russian aircraft had violated Georgian airspace and bombed areas of the Kodori Gorge. Russians denied any of the claims and said that it could have been UFOs. Cable authors note that Russians typically engage in the “bold lie” when they wish to conceal actions.
This report summarizes the historical record of launches occurring at Vandenberg Air Force Base between 1958 and 2000.
Other decades