Incident · 19 November 2023 · Bir Tikendrajit International Airport, Imphal, Manipur, India
Imphal airport closed over an unidentified object; Rafales scrambled (India, 2023)
Also known as Imphal 2023, Imphal UFO, Imphal airport UFO, Manipur UFO 2023
On the afternoon of 19 November 2023, the CISF security force at Imphal's Bir Tikendrajit International Airport, in Manipur, reported a small white object hovering above the control tower. Air traffic control suspended landings and take-offs for nearly three hours: two inbound IndiGo flights were diverted and three departures held. The object was visible to people on the ground until about 16:05, shortly before sunset, and then disappeared.
The Indian Air Force's Eastern Command said it had activated its air-defence response on the basis of the airport's visual reports, and that the object was not seen afterwards. According to defence sources quoted by ANI, two Rafale fighters searched the area in turn and found nothing.
What the object was has never been officially stated. The government's answer in Parliament gives the timeline and the disruption but no identification, and no radar or sensor data have been released, so nothing on record supports unusual performance. The press reported a drone as the likely explanation, but only from unnamed sources, so the case stays open.
Sources: Lok Sabha, Unstarred Question No. 2024 (14 December 2023) · Airport director's statement (PTI, via ETV Bharat, 19 November 2023) · IAF Eastern Command on X (via ANI/The Tribune, 20 November 2023)
Facts and claims
- documented The Ministry of Civil Aviation told the Lok Sabha that at 14:30 IST on 19 November 2023 the CISF reported an unidentified flying object just above the Imphal ATC tower; the white object moved south above the tower, stayed stationary for some time and remained visible until 16:05, about twenty minutes before sunset, then disappeared. Source: Lok Sabha unstarred question 2024: the unidentified object over Imphal airport (answered 14 December 2023)
- documented Landings and take-offs were suspended for nearly three hours under a NOTAM; two inbound IndiGo flights were diverted, to Guwahati and Kolkata, and three departures were held on the ground. Source: Lok Sabha unstarred question 2024: the unidentified object over Imphal airport (answered 14 December 2023)
- documented The airport director, Chipemmi Keishing, said in a statement on the day: "Due to sighting of an unidentified flying object within Imphal controlled airspace, two flights have been diverted and three departing flights have been delayed." Source: etvbharat.com (archived)
- documented The Indian Air Force's Eastern Command posted on X: "IAF activated its Air Defence response mechanism based on visual inputs from Imphal airport. The small object was not seen thereafter." Source: tribuneindia.com (archived)
- claimed Defence sources told ANI that a Rafale from a nearby airbase was scrambled and flew low over the area with its sensors but found nothing, and that a second Rafale sent after it returned did not see the object either; they said the agencies were trying to establish what it was, as there were videos of it over the airport. Source: tribuneindia.com (archived)
- documented No identification has been published. The government's parliamentary answer of 14 December 2023 describes the object only as white and stationary at times, and calls it a danger to aircraft because of its unpredictable movements; suggestions in the press that it was a drone came from unnamed sources and commentators. Source: Lok Sabha unstarred question 2024: the unidentified object over Imphal airport (answered 14 December 2023)
Connected files
Documents
- Lok Sabha unstarred question 2024: the unidentified object over Imphal airport (answered 14 December 2023) (documented in)