Incident · March 1967 · Malmstrom AFB, Montana
Malmstrom AFB missile shutdown
Partly explained. The wing history says UFO rumours around Echo Flight were "disproven" and traces the shutdown to a noise pulse in the logic coupler; the Oscar Flight account rests on later testimony. (341st Strategic Missile Wing histories, January 1967 – March 1968 (Echo Flight incident), FOIA release)
In March 1967, two flights of Minuteman nuclear missiles at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana, went into a "no-go" (unlaunchable) condition. On 16 March all ten missiles of Echo Flight shut down. Former Air Force officer Robert Salas says that at Oscar Flight, where he was deputy crew commander, above-ground security guards reported a glowing reddish-orange oval object about 30 feet across hovering over the launch facility gate, and that six to eight of his ten missiles then dropped offline one after another.
Salas has spoken publicly about the event, including at the National Press Club in 2001, and links the shutdowns to UFO activity at nuclear sites.
The 341st Strategic Missile Wing's own histories, released under FOIA, document the Echo Flight shutdown of 16 March but state that rumours of UFOs around Echo Flight "were disproven": a strike team and the base radar squadron reported nothing unusual. Engineering tests traced the fault to a noise pulse reaching the Minuteman I logic coupler. The histories contain no record of the Oscar Flight event; Salas's account of it dates from decades later.
Sources: Disclosure Project press conference (2001) · 341st Strategic Missile Wing histories 1967–68 (FOIA) · Wikipedia
Facts and claims
- documented The 341st Strategic Missile Wing history records that on 16 March 1967 at 0845 all ten launch facilities of Echo Flight lost strategic alert nearly simultaneously, and that "Rumors of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO) around the area of Echo Flight during the time of fault were disproven": a mobile strike team that had checked November Flight's launch facilities that morning reported no unusual activity or sightings, and the base radar squadron reported no related radar or atmospheric interference. The history also records that commercial power switching was ruled out as the cause. Source: 341st Strategic Missile Wing histories, January 1967 – March 1968 (Echo Flight incident), FOIA release
- documented Engineering tests recorded in the later wing histories traced the shutdown to a noise pulse reaching the Minuteman I C-53P logic coupler, judged to be of electromagnetic-pulse or electrostatic nature and peculiar to the Wing I system. The wing histories do not mention the Oscar Flight event Salas describes. Source: 341st Strategic Missile Wing histories, January 1967 – March 1968 (Echo Flight incident), FOIA release
- claimed Above-ground security guards reported a glowing, reddish-orange, oval object about 30 feet across hovering over the launch facility gate. — Robert Salas Source: Disclosure Project press conference, National Press Club (May 9, 2001), full event at 44:15
- claimed Moments later, his Minuteman missiles began dropping into a “no-go” condition one after another: Salas says six to eight of the ten under his crew's control were lost that morning (at nearby Echo Flight, a similar incident took all ten offline). — Robert Salas Source: Disclosure Project press conference, National Press Club (May 9, 2001), full event at 44:49
- claimed The Wall Street Journal reported in 2025 that AARO's investigators traced the shutdowns to a secret Air Force electromagnetic-pulse generator, placed on a platform above the facility, that could glow orange and was used to test whether the missiles would survive a nuclear blast; the launch crews were not told. AARO has not published this finding. Salas, interviewed by the Journal, maintains there is “a gigantic coverup”. Source: WSJ: Pentagon disinformation fueled UFO myths, from doctored Area 51 photos to a fake “Yankee Blue” briefing
Connected files
Books
- Faded Giant: The 1967 Missile/UFO Incidents (subject of)
- Unidentified: The UFO Phenomenon — How World Governments Have Conspired to Conceal Humanity's Biggest Secret (subject of)
- UAPs and the Nuclear Puzzle: Visitations, National Security, and the Need for Transparency (subject of)
- UFOs and Nukes: Extraordinary Encounters at Nuclear Weapons Sites (subject of)
Claims
- A UFO shut down nuclear missiles at Malmstrom Air Force Base in March 1967 (subject of)
- UAP show a recurring interest in nuclear weapons sites, at times interfering with the weapons (subject of)
Concepts
- Government UFO disinformation (example of) — The WSJ reported AARO traced the shutdowns to a secret EMP test the launch crews were not told about
Documents
- 341st Strategic Missile Wing histories, January 1967 – March 1968 (Echo Flight incident), FOIA release (documented in)
Events
- Disclosure Project press conference at the National Press Club (subject of)
- UFOs and Nukes press conference, National Press Club (subject of)
Hearings & briefings
- Citizen Hearing on Disclosure (subject of)
News
- WSJ: Pentagon disinformation fueled UFO myths, from doctored Area 51 photos to a fake “Yankee Blue” briefing (subject of)
People
- Robert Salas (witnesses)
- Karl Nell (cited in) — He counts the Malmstrom ICBM shutdowns among his data
- Robert Hastings (investigated by) — As a teenager at Malmstrom, where his father served, he says he saw the tower's radar track five UFOs near the missile silos in March 1967
- Robert Jamison (response by) — He says his targeting team went out to Oscar Flight and restarted three or four missiles
- Scott Bray (raised by) — He said the task force had no official data on the reported Malmstrom shutdowns
Videos
- UFOs and Nukes press conference, National Press Club (27 September 2010) (discussed in)
- Citizen Hearing 2013: Nuclear Tampering, Part 1 (subject of)
- Citizen Hearing 2013: Nuclear Tampering, Part 2 (discussed in)
- Congressional hearings on military reports of Unexplained Aerial Phenomena (UAP) - May 17th, 2022 (discussed in)
- Restoring Public Trust Through UAP Transparency and Whistleblower Protection (discussed in)
- Disclosure Project press conference, National Press Club (May 9, 2001), full event (discussed in)
- The Biblical Truth of UFOs & Angels (Ft. Karl Nell & Diana Pasulka) (discussed in)
- “This UFO Shut Down 10 Nukes!” - Air Force Officer Robert Salas (subject of)
- Joe Rogan Experience #2314: Hal Puthoff (discussed in)
Mentioned in this file
- The Disclosure Project (Organization)