In the extensive list of close encounters that took place between military pilots and unidentified flying objects, there are cases like the one described below, where the fearsome defensive capacity of the latter is more than demonstrated.

Credit: Abdelrahman Nasr

Known as the “Cuban Jet Event of 1967,” the incident has an excellent archival record and multiple government documents obtained through the FOIA process—something that points to its utter truth. But not only that but there is also evidence of a government cover-up to prevent anyone from speaking out about what happened. And it is not for less, because one of the main protagonists of the aerial encounter could not return to tell it.

The short version of the story begins with an anonymous USAF security specialist who leaked the report to investigator Stanton Friedman after he gave a lecture in 1978. The witness had been stationed at the 6947 Security Squadron in the Florida Keys in 1967, part of a Spanish-speaking intelligence unit that monitored Cuban Air Force communications and radar transmitters across the strait during the tense days following the missile crisis Cubans. In March of that year, the unit intercepted Cuban radio traffic reporting a bogey (unidentified aerial target) entering Cuban airspace from the northeast.

Two MIG-21 fighter planes were dispatched to intercept the UFO. Upon arriving at its location, pilots reported seeing “a shiny metallic sphere with no visible markings or appendages” at 33,000 feet traveling at approximately 660 mph.

After an unsuccessful attempt to establish radio contact with the object, Cuban air defense headquarters ordered the flight leader to arm his missiles and destroy the target. The flight leader responded by radio that he had the target in his sights and was ready to attack. Those were the last words heard from the pilot…

Within seconds, his wingman in the second MIG was heard screaming, saying the flight leader’s plane had exploded. Although he later corrected that description to say that the plane had “DISINTEGRATED” in mid-air and debris was raining down into the ocean.

The UFO then accelerated to “incredible speed,” climbed to approximately 98,000 feet and continued southwest in the direction of South America.

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Whether the anomalous object destroyed the Cuban plane after its weapons were aimed at it or this was just a freak coincidence, the encounter obviously ended fatally for the pilot.

The 6947 Security Squadron sent an Intelligence Point Report to the National Security Agency (NSA) headquarters about the event. Within hours they were ordered to send all pertinent tapes, records, and data about the event to the NSA and list the Cuban plane as missing due to “equipment malfunction.”

A MIG-21. Credit: National Museum of the United States Air Force.

Once Friedman had access to this information, he sent it to a reporter, who then passed it on to Robert Todd, director of research for Citizens Against UFO Secrecy (CAUS).

Todd sent requests for information to a variety of military and intelligence agencies over a six-month period in 1978, all to no avail. But in July of that year, he received a visit from two FBI agents at his home. They interviewed him privately and questioned him about his previous contacts with foreign governments. He also read sections of US espionage laws, suggesting that a conviction under those codes could lead to life in prison or even the death penalty. It was also strongly suggested that Todd’s phone had been tapped.

At the time, it appears that no further action was taken, but the message sent to Todd was clear enough. Subsequent requests to the USAF from CAUS about the status of any relevant investigations by the FBI were met with responses saying they could neither confirm nor deny the existence of such documents. But if they did exist, they would be classified and, in any case, unavailable.

On the defensive Cuban Jet Event

The incident remains one of the most intriguing in the history of possible destructive interactions between UFOs and ground-based military aircraft. And there are other similar examples, in fact, according to Friedman himself, at least 6 American pilots would have died chasing UFOs.

However, an apparently common element in these types of cases is that UFOs have never been the initial aggressor. The only times the anomalous ship became confrontational or destructive was after a human pilot initiated the interaction in a potentially aggressive manner.

National security issues aside—so often mentioned in contemporary UAP reports—it may be reasonable to conclude that most UFOs reported by the military were minding their own business until human pilots dared to provoke them.

Source: TheDebrief