Department of War PURSUE File
State Department UAP Cable 1, Papua New Guinea, January 28, 1985
Papua New Guinea·1/24/85
Editorial summary
On the evening of January 24, 1985, residents of Papua New Guinea reported sightings of high-altitude, high-speed aircraft over their airspace. The reports were significant enough that they prompted Papua New Guinea's provincial premier to call a public meeting on the subject, which was attended by the prime minister. The Papua New Guinea National Intelligence Organization (NIO) brought the matter to the attention of the U.S. Embassy in Port Moresby four days later, on January 28, 1985.
According to the file, the NIO reported various accounts of unidentified aerial phenomena from the night of January 24, including fast-moving objects with lights, contrails, and noise. The most credible account, in the NIO's assessment, came from an Air Niugini pilot who had just departed Wewak en route to Port Moresby. The pilot reported that his radar had detected aircraft flying south to north at high altitude and high speed while he was over Angoram. Additional visual sightings of contrails were reported from multiple locations across Papua New Guinea, with witnesses describing one aircraft moving north to south at approximately 7:00 p.m. local time and six to eight aircraft traveling south to north at approximately 10:00 p.m. local time.
The U.S. Embassy consulted its own records and contacted the 43rd Strategic Wing at Anderson Air Force Base in Guam to determine whether any U.S. military aircraft had been operating in Papua New Guinean airspace on January 24. Finding no evidence of such operations, the embassy informed the NIO that the United States was aware of no B-52 overflights and no U.S. aircraft in PNG airspace on that date. The cable notes, however, that the information provided by the NIO was "very sketchy" and that sources were uncertain about the directions in which the aircraft were flying.
The embassy requested confirmation of its statement that no U.S. aircraft were present and asked for any additional information that might clarify the reports. This declassified cable is now part of the public record.
Editorial summary written by govweird from the declassified document text. The official government description follows below.
Government description
This document is a U.S. Department of State diplomatic cable from the U.S. Embassy in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea to USCINCPAC (United States Indo-Pacific Command) at Honolulu, HI on January 28, 1985. The cable reports that the U.S. Embassy to Papua New Guinea received an inquiry from the host nation’s intelligence services regarding reports of high-altitude, high-speed aircraft in Papua New Guinean airspace on the evening of January 24, 1985. The cable refers to a representative of the local intelligence services as “NIO,” or National Intelligence Officer, throughout. The NIO relayed to U.S. diplomatic personnel that residents had been “frightened by overflights, which led to the provincial premier’s calling of a public meeting on the subject.” The NIO also stated there had been “various reports of unidentified aerial phenomena the night of January 24, including fast-moving objects with lights, contrails, and noise.” The NIO assessed these reports as credible based upon the testimony of an Air Niugini pilot who said that their radar had “picked up aircraft flying south to north at high altitude and high speed.” The cable concludes by characterizing the information provided by the NIO as “very sketchy.” It also sought clarification from U.S. INDOPACOM on the presence or absence of U.S. military aircraft within Papua New Guinean airspace on the night in question.
Caption issued by the U.S. Department of War on war.gov/ufo. Verbatim, unedited.
Originating agency
Department of State
Record type
Incident date
1/24/85
Incident location
Papua New Guinea
Release tranche
Release 01 (May 8, 2026)
Distribution
Cleared for public release