Documents / FOIA release
This is a Foreign Broadcast Information Service item from the Central Intelligence Agency, dated 14 December 1992. It reproduces a Guardian report by Simon Tisdal. Shetland police, the coastguard and the Lerwick Observatory recorded 17 sightings of a large, white object travelling low and very fast off the Shetland Islands at about 9pm on a Saturday. The article connects the sightings to US reports that a secret Mach 8 successor to the SR-71 spy plane had begun testing, and notes that the Pentagon declined to comment.
“The Pentagon”1 page
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*** Document 373 of 54 .. : FBIS *** DOCN 000188526 CLAS UNCLAS 7XX/LD WE WARN WARNING: FOLO -- DUE TO COPYRIGHT OR OTHER RESTRICTIONS, THE FOLLOWING ITEM IS INTENDED FOR USE ONLY BY U.S. GOVERNMENT CONSUMERS. SERI SERIAL: PM1412155092 COUN COUNTRY: UK SUBJ*SUBJ: SHETLAND UFO SIGHTING PROMPTS SPY PLANE SPECULATION SOUR SOURCE: LONDON THE GUARDIAN IN ENGLISH 14 DEC 92 P 1 TEXT TEXT: TEXT TEXT: * //((SIMON TISDAL REPORT: "FAST-MOVING UFO SPIED AS 5,500 MPH SECRET TAKES OFF")) ((TEXT)) WASHINGTON -- THE MYSTERIOUS APPEARANCE OF A FAST-MOVING *UFO OFF THE SHETLAND ISLANDS AT THE WEEKEND, WHICH PROMPTED SEASONAL SPECULATION ABOUT THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST, H AS COINCIDED WITH REPORTS IN THE US THAT AN ULTRA-TOP-SECRET AMERICAN PLANE HAS GONE OPERATIONAL WITH A TOP SPEED OF 5,500 MPH. SHETLAND POLICE, THE COASTGUARD AND THE LERWICK OBSERVATORY RECORDED 17 SIGHTINGS OF A "LARGE, WHITE OBJECT TRAVELLING LOW AND VERY FAST" AT ABOUT 9PM ON SATURDAY. "WE JUST HAVEN'T A CLUE WHAT IT COULD BE," A PUZZLED LERWICK *OBSERVATORY SCIENTIST WHO REPORTED THAT THE UFO HAD BEEN MOVING SO FAST THAT HE HAD MISSED IT COULD ONLY SAY: "I HOPE IT COMES ROUND AGAIN." IT MAY DO JUST THAT. ACCORDING TO REPORTS IN WASHINGTON, DEFENCE INDUSTRY SPECIALISTS AND WRITERS ARE GOING INTO EXCITEMENT OVERDRIVE ON REPORTS THAT THE US MILITARY HAS BEGUN TESTING THE SUCCESSOR TO THE SR-71 BLACKBIRD SPY PLANE. THE PLANE WITH NO NAME IS SAID TO HAVE A TOP SPEED OF MACH 8, OR EIGHT TIMES THE SPEED OF SOUND. IT IS SO FAST THAT IT COULD REACH ANYWHERE ON THE GLOBE WITHIN THREE HOURS. FOR THIS VERY REASON, TESTS CANNOT BE RESTRICTED TO US AIRSPACE. BY THE TIME THE PLANE HAS WARMED UP, IT COULD BE OVER, FOR EXAMPLE, SCOTLAND. IT WOULD ALSO TAKE SEVERAL COUNTRIES TO COME TO A STOP. THE PENTAGON, PREDICTABLY, IMPOSED A NO-COMMENT ZONE OVER THE PLANE YESTERDAY. (ENDALL) 14 DEC 14/1946Z DEC BT #7006 NNNN NNNN EOD Approved for Release Date MAY 2000 (6) (3)
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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 1 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.