Malmstrom AFB UFO Encounter

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A possibly inaccurate summary from chat gpt: 

The Malmstrom Air Force Base UFO encounter is one of the most well-known and intriguing UFO incidents involving a U.S. military installation. It took place in March 1967 at the Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana, which houses intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) as part of the U.S. nuclear defense system. The events surrounding the encounter are significant because they involve the reported shutdown of nuclear missiles during the sighting of an unidentified flying object. Here's a breakdown of what happened:

The Incident:

On the morning of March 24, 1967, Air Force personnel stationed at the base reported witnessing strange, unidentified flying objects in the vicinity. The most notable part of the encounter occurred at Oscar Flight, one of the missile alert facilities within the base, where 10 Minuteman I ICBMs were housed. According to Robert Salas, who was the Deputy Missile Combat Crew Commander on duty that morning, a bright, glowing red object was observed hovering outside the facility.

• Around the same time, Salas received a frantic call from one of the security guards topside, reporting a UFO hovering near the front gate of the base. Shortly after this call, several of the Minuteman I missiles went into a "no-go" status, meaning they were disabled and could not be launched.

• Salas recalls that this occurred without any plausible explanation; no external reason for the missile shutdown could be identified at the time. The Air Force has protocols for missile shutdowns, but the simultaneous disabling of multiple missiles was highly unusual.

In a separate but related event, Captain Eric Carlson and First Lieutenant Walt Figel reported a similar experience earlier that same month at another missile site, where their missiles also went offline during the presence of a UFO.

Witnesses:

The primary witnesses in this incident include Robert Salas, who has spoken extensively about the event, particularly after retiring from the military. He has written about it in his book, "Faded Giant" (co-authored with James Klotz). Other key witnesses include missile maintenance and security personnel stationed at the base at the time, some of whom reported seeing strange lights or craft in the sky.

• Walt Figel, who was also on duty during the event, confirmed that a UFO was reported, but his statements over the years have been somewhat more reserved than Salas’s.
• Eric Carlson, Figel's commanding officer, has been more skeptical about UFOs but confirmed that the missile shutdowns occurred as described.

Investigation:

The Air Force investigated the missile shutdowns, but the incident was officially categorized under the Project Blue Book investigation, which was the U.S. Air Force's effort to analyze UFO reports between 1952 and 1969. However, Project Blue Book was officially closed in 1969, concluding that most UFO sightings could be explained by natural or man-made phenomena.

As far as the Malmstrom incident, the Air Force attributed the missile shutdown to an electronic malfunction, although no specific technical explanation for the system failure was ever provided publicly. UFO researchers, however, argue that the timing of the UFO sighting and the missile malfunctions was more than coincidental.

In later years, declassified documents and testimonies from the event have continued to stir debate within the UFO community and among former military personnel.

Aftermath:

The incident gained more public attention in the late 1990s and 2000s when former personnel like Robert Salas came forward with their accounts, and various documents related to the event were declassified under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

In 2010, Salas and o