Malmstrom AFB ICBM Shutdown Incidents
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Evidence quality · 6 components
Behavioral anomalousness · 4 components
TL;DR
All ten Minuteman I ICBMs at Echo Flight went offline simultaneously on March 16, 1967 - a confirmed event in declassified USAF unit history - with Echo Flight deputy commander Walter Figel consistently stating a security guard reported a UAP overhead at the time of the shutdown, though both Echo Flight commanders deny a UAP connection.
Confirmed
- ✓Echo Flight's ten Minuteman I ICBMs went to 'No-Go' status on March 16, 1967 (documented in 341st SMW Command History, declassified via FOIA)
- ✓USAF and Boeing investigation concluded no mechanical cause for the Echo shutdown was determined
- ✓Robert Salas testified at the National Press Club on September 27, 2010 and submitted formal testimony to AARO in 2023
- ✓AARO's historical review produced no evidence confirming a UAP connection to the shutdowns
Unresolved
- ?Whether the UAP reported by security guards was causally connected to the missile shutdowns or coincidental
- ?Whether the Oscar Flight shutdown (March 24) involved a UAP sighting as Salas claims, or not as other Oscar officers assert
- ?What actually caused the simultaneous sequential shutdown of ten independent missiles if not an internal fault
- ?Extent of classified records beyond the FOIA-released unit history
Strongest mundane explanation
A FOIA-released Air Force document attributes Echo Flight's shutdown to 'a voltage surge in the logic coupler,' and cascade electrical failures in complex underground systems are possible under extreme Montana winter conditions - but Boeing engineers stated they could not reproduce or confirm an internal cause, and the simultaneous sequential shutdown of ten independent missiles has never been demonstrated to result from a known internal fault.
On March 16 and March 24, 1967, ten Minuteman I ICBM missiles went offline simultaneously at two separate launch control facilities (Echo Flight and Oscar Flight) at Malmstrom AFB, Montana. Former USAF officers Robert Salas (Oscar Flight) and Walter Figel (Echo Flight) have made public statements linking the shutdowns to UFO sightings by security guards at the facilities. The official USAF investigation attributed Echo Flight's failure to an electronic noise pulse entering the logic coupler. Echo Flight crew commanders Eric Carlson and Walter Figel have both denied that UFO sightings were connected to the shutdown. FOIA-released 341st SMW unit history confirms the Echo Flight outage but makes no mention of UFO involvement. Robert Salas has testified publicly at the 2010 National Press Club and submitted testimony to AARO in 2023.
Key Facts
- ›Echo Flight incident: March 16, 1967 at approximately 08:45 local time - all 10 Minuteman I ICBMs at Echo Flight went to 'No-Go' status
- ›Echo Flight crew: Captain Eric Carlson (Commander) and 1st Lieutenant Walter Figel (Deputy) - both have denied UFO connection to the shutdown
- ›Oscar Flight incident: March 24, 1967 - all 10 Minuteman I ICBMs at Oscar Flight went offline
- ›Oscar Flight crew: 1st Lieutenant Robert Salas (Deputy Crew Commander, then aged 26) - has publicly stated a guard reported a glowing red UFO hovering over the gate shortly before the shutdown
- ›USAF official investigation attributed Echo Flight shutdown to an electronic noise pulse entering the logic coupler in the Launch Control Center
- ›The declassified 341st Strategic Missile Wing Command History (1967) documents the Echo Flight shutdown but makes no mention of UFO reports
- ›FOIA requests filed in 1995 by researcher Jim Klotz on Salas's behalf produced the declassified unit history records
- ›Robert Salas testified at the September 27, 2010 National Press Club alongside other former USAF officers
- ›Robert Salas submitted testimony to AARO in February 2023
- ›James Carlson (son of Eric Carlson) has written extensively disputing Salas's account, providing email exchanges with Walter Figel in which Figel denied any UFO-nuclear connection