UNCLASSIFIED // PUBLIC RELEASERELEASE 07 · OCTOBER 23, 2026
PENTAGON UFO FILE · DOCUMENT · DOW-UAP-D160Air Intelligence Information Report, Morocco, 1953
This three-page Air Intelligence Information Report from the 316th Air Division (Defense) is dated 23 December 1953 and rated A-1, the highest grade. Maj. Edward O. Wittmer, director of intelligence, prepared it, a lieutenant colonel signed as director of operations, and an information copy went to the Air Technical Intelligence Center. It follows a teletype, TWX 12-177, and was written in the AFR 200-2 format.
The radar sighting
At 1754Z on 16 December 1953, at night, operators of Detachment 2 of the 737th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron saw unusual returns on a TPS-1D search radar. The observers are listed by role: an air surveillance operator, the detachment commander and a controller. The returns formed a series of V, W and M shapes, between one and twelve per sweep, strung in a straight line on an azimuth of 250° at 20 to 40 miles, about two or three degrees wide. They were nearly stationary, changed shape often and faded after several minutes. The height finder was out of service, so no elevation was taken. The weather was overcast with nine-tenths cloud and five miles visibility.
The division’s explanation
Maintenance men at the site offered no cause, but electronics specialists at the division suggested anomalous propagation, ship-borne radar jamming of the detachment’s radar, or flocks of geese or storks, and the summary calls one of these the logical cause. The report asks that it be passed to USAFE and the Seventeenth Air Force. Nothing was seen visually, and the file contains no follow-up confirming which explanation applied.
The official description
From war.gov/UFO, released October 23, 2026, quoted in full
This document is an Air Intelligence Information Report (AIIR), a standardized U.S. Air Force reporting form used to record raw information of potential intelligence value for later analysis. The form served as a primary vehicle for U.S. Air Force field intelligence collection throughout the early Cold War, until defense-wide reporting standards were established in the early 1960s.
This AIIR records a December 16, 1953, incident in northern French Morocco and the Mediterranean Sea area in which personnel of Detachment 2, 737th AC&W Squadron reported an unidentified radar return. The report states that the return varied in shape between “V,” “W,” and “M” configurations and faded after several minutes of observation. It further states that electronics personnel in the 316th Air Division believed the return might have been caused by anomalous propagation, ship-borne radar jamming, or geese or storks in flight, and concludes that one of those possibilities was the most likely explanation for the return.
All descriptive and estimative language contained in this report reflects the reporter’s subjective interpretation at the time of the event. Such characterizations should not be interpreted as a conclusive indication of the presence or absence of any intrinsic object features or performance characteristics.
AARO Comment: The 737th AC&W Squadron was a U.S. Air Force radar unit stationed in Saidia, Morocco, where it supported airborne early warning and air defense surveillance in coordination with French military forces.