A 1967 weapons failure at a Montana nuclear missile base became linked in ufology to a UFO sighting, later attributed to a classified EMP test.
Key Facts
- Incident date
- March 16, 1967
- Location
- Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana
- Claims made public
- 1996, by retired Air Force personnel
- Skeptic explanation
- UFO likely the planet Mars, unrelated to malfunction
- Military investigation finding
- No connection to any UFO sighting
- 2025 Pentagon finding
- Caused by a classified electromagnetic pulse device test
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
In March 1967, a weapons malfunction occurred at a nuclear missile complex at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana. Separately, reports emerged of a UFO sighting over the base at roughly the same time, which retired Air Force personnel later claimed were connected to the failure.
In 1996, retired Air Force personnel publicly alleged that the 1967 missile weapons failure had been caused by or was connected to a UFO observed over Malmstrom. The incident attracted significant attention in ufology and popular culture, becoming known as the Malmstrom UFO incident. A military investigation found no substantive connection between the malfunction and any UFO.
The incident persisted as a prominent case in ufology for decades. Skeptics attributed the alleged UFO to misidentification of the planet Mars. A 2025 Pentagon report ultimately provided a classified explanation: the malfunction had been caused by a test of an electromagnetic pulse device, resolving the long-standing speculation.