State Department UAP Cable 001, Papua New Guinea, January 28, 1985

A January 28, 1985 cable from the US Embassy Port Moresby to USCINCPAC relaying an inquiry from Papua New Guinea's National Intelligence Organization (NIO) about reports of high-altitude, high-speed aircraft over PNG on the evening of January 24, which frightened local residents in Wewak and prompted a public meeting attended by the Prime Minister. The most credible report cited by the NIO came from an Air Niugini pilot whose onboard radar picked up an aircraft flying south to north at high altitude/speed near Angoram; separate visual sightings of contrails were reported from various points, describing one aircraft moving north to south at 1900 local and six to eight aircraft traveling south to north at 2200 local. The Embassy told the NIO it knew of no B-52 overflights or US aircraft in PNG airspace that night and asked USCINCPAC to confirm and shed light on the reports, characterizing the information as 'very sketchy.'

Why this rating A single aircraft-radar contact plus scattered secondhand visual contrail reports, explicitly characterized by the reporting cable itself as 'very sketchy' with sources 'unsure of the directions,' and with a plausible conventional explanation (military overflight by an unidentified nation, given the Cold War 1985 context) left open rather than ruled out.

• DocumentState Department UAP Cable 001Release 1

  State Department UAP Cable 001, Papua New Guinea, January 28, 1985

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  An Air Niugini pilot's onboard radar picked up an aircraft flying south to north at high altitude and high speed near Angoram.