Every Source,
Explained

The US Air Force's official UFO investigation program, active from 1947 to 1969. Blue Book investigated over 12,000 reports across 22 years; 6,636 have been digitised into structured records for this database. Cases range from radar tracking by Air Force officers to civilian sightings investigated by military personnel. The final report classified 701 cases as officially "unidentified" — never explained. Source: US National Archives, digitised by Fold3.

Declassified intelligence documents from the CIA's FOIA reading room — cables from overseas stations, internal analyses of foreign UAP incidents, and assessments of Soviet-era sighting waves. The Dalnegorsk crash (USSR, 1989) — the strongest physical evidence record in the entire database — comes from this collection. 800+ individual PDF documents processed to yield 525 structured records.

The current US DoD office for UAP investigation, established by Congress in 2022. AARO's publicly released case files are the most recent government records in the database — including Go Fast (2015), Puerto Rico UAP (2013), and ORNL metallic specimen analysis. These are the most carefully documented cases in the dataset, each having undergone modern multi-sensor analysis. Plus 8 official case resolution reports (Go Fast, Puerto Rico, Al Taqaddum, Mt. Etna, Eglin, and more) — highest credibility records in the database.

Declassified UAP case files from the UK Ministry of Defence, released to the National Archives between 2008 and 2013. Files cover a century of British military and civilian reports investigated by the Air Force department. Includes Rendlesham Forest (1980) — one of the best-documented UAP incidents in history — and multiple radar-confirmed contacts over UK airspace. Released under Open Government Licence v3.0.

Eighty declassified expedientes (case files) from Spain's Air Force UAP commission, released between 1992 and 1999. 1,900 pages of sighting records spanning 1962–1995. CEFAE is one of the most substantial government UAP disclosures outside the United States. Includes the Manises Incident (1979) — a military pilot forced to land due to UAP proximity — and multiple radar-confirmed contacts. Source: Biblioteca Virtual de Defensa. CC BY 4.0.

Aviation safety UAP incident reports from the FAA's SKYWATCH reporting system, transferred to the National Archives under the 2024 NDAA. Filed by pilots and air traffic controllers — professional aviation observers with precise position data from flight instruments. NARA-FAA is the dominant source in cross-source corroboration: 1,526 of the 17,126 verified links involve NARA-FAA records matching NUFORC civilian sightings at the same location. Record Group 237.

Declassified FBI field office reports, teletype messages, and investigation memos covering UFO sightings from 1947 to 1954. Released via FOIA through the FBI Vault in 16 parts (1,632 scanned pages). Covers the most active early years of the modern UFO era including the 1947 wave, Roswell, Kenneth Arnold sighting, and hundreds of civilian and military witness reports from across the United States. Extracted using Claude vision AI from scanned documents. Source: vault.fbi.gov/UFO — Public Domain.

Declassified NSA signals intelligence records relating to UAP, transferred to NARA under the 2024 NDAA. Intercepts and analysis reports that reference UAP-related contacts. Among the most restricted records ever made publicly available — signals intelligence materials previously withheld under the most sensitive classification levels. NARA Record Group 457.

Diplomatic cables from US embassies reporting UAP incidents in host countries. Sources include Bridgetown (Barbados), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Islamabad (Pakistan), Kuwait, Lomé (Togo), and State Department response cables. These represent foreign government UAP incidents that crossed the US diplomatic reporting threshold — an extremely high bar for inclusion. Record Group 059.

DIA (67 records): Defense Intelligence Agency UAP reports spanning 50 years, including foreign military UAP assessments. NARA RG-615.

Army Intelligence (9 records): US Army UAP records 1947–1997.

DoD analytical (13 records): High-value AARO documents including Go Fast analysis, Puerto Rico radar case, and ORNL metallic specimen study.

Sign/Grudge (5 records): Pre-Blue Book programs (1947–1951). Project Sign produced the classified "Estimate of the Situation" (1948) concluding some UAPs were interplanetary.

France's official UAP investigation unit, operated by the CNES national space agency since 1977 (previously GEPAN, then SEPRA). GEIPAN is unique among government programs in publishing its full case database online in real time with its own A/B/C/D classification — A being cases with no explanation found after full investigation. The only currently active government UAP program that publishes openly in real time.

The National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena collects UAP reports exclusively from aviation professionals — pilots, air traffic controllers, and flight crew. Cases are reviewed by expert investigators before publication. NARCAP's analyst rating system (A–E) feeds directly into credibility scoring. Aviation cases have GPS-precise coordinates from flight data recorders. Full dataset integration pending formal data agreement.

Landmark Brazilian UAP cases drawn from Operation Sky Open — the Brazilian Air Force's 1977 declassification of UAP files — and verified historical records. Brazil has been among the most forthcoming governments on UAP disclosure. Cases include the Trindade Island photographs (1958) and multi-witness military events with radar confirmation. 15 landmark cases, not a comprehensive catalog.

Larry Hatch's *U* UFO Database — a lifetime's work by an expert researcher who compiled, geolocated, and credibility-rated 18,000+ UAP events from primary sources worldwide. Each record carries Hatch's own credibility (0–9) and strangeness (0–9) ratings, plus a rich attribute code system identifying observer type, evidence category, and shape. Family has verbally permitted use. Accessed via the richgel999/ufo_data GitHub repository (Apache 2.0).

The largest single source in the database — 134,979 records spanning 108 years. NUFORC has operated a public UAP reporting hotline since 1974, with historical records extending to 1906. Reports are self-submitted witnesses ranging from brief phone calls to detailed written accounts. As Tier 3, individual NUFORC records score low in isolation. But the 1,526 NARA-FAA ↔ NUFORC cross-source links are the platform's primary research finding — civilian phone reports and professional aviation reports, independently documenting the same events.

The National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena — the most methodologically rigorous US civilian UAP research organisation (1956–1980), recognised by astronomer J. Allen Hynek as one of the two best civilian groups of its era. NICAP's Sighting Information Database (NSID) applies a systematic categorisation system across 11 evidence categories: radar, photographic, EM effects, physical trace, animal effects, and more. Organisation defunct since 1980 — data is public domain. Accessed via richgel999/ufo_data (Apache 2.0).

The Mutual UFO Network's Case Management System — one of the longest-running civilian UAP organisations with 150,000+ cases globally. MUFON differs from NUFORC in that field investigators follow up on significant reports, providing a secondary review layer. Investigator disposition codes (Unknown UAV, Hoax, IFO, etc.) feed directly into credibility scoring. Currently 3 sample records; full dataset integration pending formal data licensing agreement.