The Report on Unidentified Flying ObjectsRuppelt, Edward J.
History
The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects
Ruppelt, Edward J.
Unidentified flying objects
Our final plan called for visual spotting stations to be established
all over northern New Mexico. We'd picked this test location because
northern New Mexico still consistently produced more reports than any
other area in the U.S. These visual spotting stations would be
equipped with a sighting device similar to a gun sight on a bomber.
All the operator would have to do would be to follow the UFO with the
tracking device, and the exact time and the UFO's azimuth and
elevation angles would be automatically recorded. The visual spotting
stations would all be tied together with an interphone system, so
that as soon as the tracker at one station saw something he could
alert the other spotters in the area. If two stations tracked the
same object, we could immediately compute its speed and altitude.
This visual spotting net would be tied into the existing radar
defense net in the Albuquerque-Los Alamos area. At each radar site we
proposed that a long focal-length camera be synchronized to the
turning radar antenna, so that any time the operator saw a target he
could press a button and photograph the portion of the sky exactly
where the radar said a UFO was located. These cameras would actually
be astronomical telescopes, so that even the smallest light or object
could be photographed.
In addition to this photography system we proposed that a number of
sets of instruments be set out around the area. Each set would
contain instruments to measure nuclear radiation, any disturbances in
the earth's magnetic field, and the passage of a body that was giving
off heat. The instruments would continually be sending their
information to a central "UFO command post," which would also get
reports directly from the radars and the visual spotting stations.
This instrumentation plan would cost about $250,000 because we
planned to use as much surplus equipment as possible and tie it into
existing communications systems, where they already existed. After
the setup was established, it would cost about $25,000 a year to
operate. At first glance this seemed like a lot of money, but when we
figured out how much the UFO project had cost the Air Force in the
past and how much it would probably cost in the future, the price
didn't seem too bad--especially if we could solve the UFO problem
once and for all.
The powers-that-be at ATIC O.K.'d the plan in December and it went
to Washington, where it would have to be approved by General Samford
before it went to ADC and then back to the Pentagon for higher Air
Force official blessing. From all indications it looked as if we
would get the necessary blessings.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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