A lengthy 1986 Brazilian Air Force report, now declassified, offers a rare, detailed look at the military’s technical response to persistent UFO activity across the country’s northeastern airspace.
With radar confirmation, visual sightings, and the scrambling of interceptors, the document paints a picture of a defense system overwhelmed by aerial phenomena that outmaneuvered and outran its best pilots.
Marked CONFIDENCIAL and produced by the Comissão de Análise de Fenômenos Aeroespaciais (CAFRA), the report catalogs hundreds of cases, cross-referenced by radar logs, pilot testimony, and civilian alerts.
🗺️ A Region Lit by Anomalies
The document focuses heavily on northeastern states such as:
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Pernambuco
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Ceará
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Rio Grande do Norte
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Paraíba
Military radar installations at Fernando de Noronha, Natal, and Recife recorded dozens of intrusions, with the majority occurring between 1983 and 1986. In many cases, unknown objects:
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Traveled at unprecedented speeds
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Performed impossible maneuvers
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Appeared and disappeared from radar
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Were visible to both pilots and civilians
"The objects executed movements inconsistent with any known aircraft performance."
✈️ Scrambles Without Resolution
CAFRA’s analysis describes multiple military scrambles in response to unidentified radar returns. Interceptors were launched from bases like Natal Air Force Base, but most failed to achieve visual contact. In the few instances where contact was made:
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The UFOs were described as bright orbs or elongated lights
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They often accelerated vertically or simply vanished
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No return fire or hostile engagement was attempted
One pilot described an object that "hovered briefly" then moved "in a zig-zag upward path" before blinking out.
"The object accelerated instantaneously-beyond all known limits of propulsion."
📡 Multi-Station Confirmation
One of the most significant aspects of the report is its emphasis on correlated detections. Events were verified by:
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Primary radar at Natal and Fernando de Noronha
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Visual observers on the ground
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Civilian aircraft reporting anomalies from the air
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Coast Guard stations seeing lights over the Atlantic
The report stresses the reliability of its sensors and notes the equipment was fully operational and calibrated during the incidents.
🔇 Media Silence and Internal Censorship
Despite the scale of the events, the document makes clear that media was not informed. A communications blackout was maintained on orders from the Ministry of Aeronautics.
"Given the potential implications and public sensitivity, the events were not released."
CAFRA’s final conclusion was cautious but unambiguous: the aerial phenomena were real, intelligently controlled, and of unknown origin.
It did not attempt to label them extraterrestrial-but it did confirm they were not domestic aircraft, weather phenomena, or radar anomalies.
