In March 1967, multiple unidentified aerial objects were observed over Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana. As the objects were overhead, 10 Minuteman I intercontinental ballistic missiles in Echo Flight went to NO-GO status — rendered non-operational simultaneously. Captain Robert Salas, the missile combat crew commander on duty, witnessed the event. He testified about it publicly in 2010 in Washington DC. The Air Force has never provided an adequate explanation for how 10 hardened nuclear missiles simultaneously malfunctioned.
The Echo Flight Incident
On the morning of March 16, 1967, security personnel at Malmstrom’s Echo Flight launch control facility reported a glowing red oval-shaped object hovering above the facility’s front gate. Captain Salas — the MCCC on duty — was on the phone with the security guard when the missiles began shutting down. Within seconds, all 10 Minuteman missiles in Echo Flight indicated NO-GO. The missiles could not be launched. No single known malfunction could simultaneously disable 10 separate, hardened, independently powered missile systems.
The Boeing Investigation
Boeing engineers were brought in to investigate. They could not replicate the failure mode. The technical conclusion: the shutdown could not have been caused by any known electrical or mechanical failure. The simultaneous nature of the failure across 10 independent systems is the key data point. The probability of 10 independent systems failing simultaneously through conventional means is astronomically low.
Salas’s Testimony and the Broader Pattern
Robert Salas testified publicly at the National Press Club in September 2010 alongside six other former military personnel who had witnessed UAP near nuclear installations. Multiple similar incidents at US and Soviet nuclear facilities have been documented. The USSR had its own nuclear missile shutdown events at Byelokoroviche in 1982. The pattern across two adversarial nations with different nuclear architectures suggests the phenomenon was not caused by either government’s technology.
Source: Robert Salas, “Faded Giant” (2005). UFO Chronicles documentation. National Press Club testimony, September 27, 2010.