Pantex Unidentified Object Incident Report, 2015

This is the complete incident report from the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas, where U.S. nuclear weapons are assembled, maintained and dismantled. It was prepared by the plant’s operator, Consolidated Nuclear Security, and sent to the National Nuclear Security Administration a week later. Two of its pages appeared earlier, more heavily redacted, as DOE-UAP-D001.

What happened

According to the report, at about 0708 on the morning of 1 September 2015 the plant’s ground surveillance radar picked up an unknown object about 1.75 miles southwest of a plant area, moving north at 10 to 15 mph. Guards treated it under the plant’s response plan for drones and secured the gates. A lieutenant and an officer chased it by car but could not get beneath it, so they stopped to watch: they heard no sound and, through binoculars, saw no sign of propulsion. They followed it several miles north until roads ran out; it seemed to speed up and change direction. A sheriff’s deputy who met them saw nothing.

Officers in an armored vehicle tracked it on a weapon-system camera for three to five minutes at 100 to 200 feet up. Witnesses described a “diamond” shape, rounder on top, about 4 feet tall and 2 feet wide, though they disagreed on color: black to some, silver, red and blue to others. Radar-tower video went to Sandia National Laboratories, but distance limited detail.

What the report concludes

The report stresses that the object never appeared threatening or approached sensitive assets, and that all evidence went to the FBI. The cover letter and title page date the event 2 September 2015, while the narrative says 1 September. The response plan it followed was written for drones.