"OPREP-3" - A Classified US Military Reporting
Channel For UFO Incidents?
Part 4
Recently, in Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of this series, I have highlighted the use of the US military’s OPREP–3 system to
report apparent UFO events near military installations during the 1970’s. As stated
in a Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) Instruction, titled “Joint Reporting Structure Event and
Incident Reports”, it is establishes that:
“The
OPREP–3 reporting system… …is used by military units at any level of command to
report significant events and incidents to the highest levels of command.”.
To summarise, during late 1975, a series
of OPREP–3 reports were urgently submitted from both Loring and Wurtsmith Air
Force Base’s to the National Military Command Center (NMCC), the Strategic Air
Command Headquarters (SAC HQ), the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJS),
and as host of other top echelon agencies and commands. Contained in those
reports were alarming airspace incursions by objects variously described as “unidentified
helicopters”, “unknown helicopters”, “unidentified flying objects”, “unknown
objects” and “UFOs”. Other bases, USAF bases, including Malmstrom AFB, Minot
AFB, and Canada’s Falconbridge Air Station, were also intruded on by unidentified
aircraft, or, at least, some sort of unusual phenomena. Three years later, in May,
1978, the United States Navy’s (USN) Jacksonville Naval Air Station (NAS
Jacksonville) submitted an OPREP–3 report to the USN’s Commander–in–Chief,
Atlantic Fleet (CINCLANFLT), which detailed an UFO visually radar near ) the
USN’s Pinecastle Electronic Warfare Range.
Hence, it is established that the
OPREP–3 system is not only suitable to report UFO events, but also been actually
utilised for such. Having stated that, it is important to note that OPREP–3 reports
can, and do, cover a wide range of “significant incidents” and “significant
events”. There have been no categories, or specific formats, of OPREP–3’s that
are explicitly designed for the reporting of unknown aerial objects,
unidentified aircraft, or “UFOs”.
Or, so we thought...
In the 1970’s, researcher Robert Todd submitted
hundreds of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests for UFO–related documents to the
North American Aerospace Defence Command. (NORAD). Todd dealt directly with NORAD’s
Headquarters at Ent Air Force Base, Colorado, as well as, the seven NORAD
Regional ’Headquarters dotted around North America. One such FOI request, sent
on the 9th of December, 1977, to the 20th NORAD Region (20th NR), asked for any
operational instructions, manuals, regulations or forms that contained procedures
for dealing specifically with “Unidentified
Flying Objects”. Possibly unsure of what could be released, the 20th NR apparently
referred Todd’s letter to NORAD’s Director of Administration, Headquarters, Ent
AFB. On December the 21st, 1977, NORAD’s Deputy Director of Administration, Lt.
Col. Robert N. Meredith, replied to Todd, and stated that the 20th NR held
classified doctrinal publications which were within the scope of Todd’s
request. Those publications were listed as, “20th
NORAD Region Regulation, Operations, 55–7 Unknown Track / Unknown Object
Reporting”, “20th NORAD Region Operating
Instuction, Operations, 55–8 Possible Unknowns, Unknowns, Special Tracks and
Unknown Objects Actions”, “NORAD/ADCOM
Manual 55–19, Vol. VII, Aerospace Reporting System”, “NORAD Form 61 Unknown Track Report” and “NORAD/DO Form 17 Unknown Track Report”.
Todd had already obtained
copies, during much earlier FOI work, of three of the listed publications, but
the other two were unknown to him. On January the 14th 1978, Todd submitted asked
for copies of the two publications he hadn’t seen,
which were “NORAD/ADCOM Manual 55–19,
Vol. VII, Aerospace Reporting System” and “NORAD/DO Form 17 Unknown Track Report”. On the 8th of February,
1978, Lt. Col. Robert N. Meredith, supplied Todd with copies of the two
requested records, and, in his covering letter, Lt. Col. Meredith stated:
“1.
In response to your letter of 14 January, 1978, a copy of NORAD/DO Form 17,
‘NORAD Unknown Track Report’ (For Official Use Only when completed), and the
portion of ‘NORAD Manual 55–19, Vol. VII’ Aerospace Reporting System’,
pertaining to unknown tracks, are releasable.”
With the release of these two records,
Todd was in possession of no less than five
different NORAD, or joint NORAD/ADCOM, doctrinal records related, in some way,
to UFO’s. Some of these publications dealt mutually with general unidentified
aircraft too, but all contained
sections or chapters specifically
relating to UFO’s, and often very overtly. It is important to note here that
NORAD has, for decades, been responsible, in conjunction with other
organisations, for real–time air sovereignty, air defence, airspace early
warning, and space surveilance across, and beyond, the United States and
Canada. Alternatively, Aerospace Defence Command (ADCOM), was responsible, until
its deactivation in 1980, for the internal air defence and military air coordination
within the continental United States. Often, the doctrine and functionality of
both NORAD and ADCOM was combined, as in the case of the above highlighted
release to Robert Todd.
Contained in “NORAD/ADCOM Manual 55–19, Vol. VII, Aerospace Reporting System”,
is a section which specifically instructed NORAD Regional Control Centers to
use the OPREP–3 system when dealing with unknown radar track reports, including
“Unidentified Flying Objects – UFOs”. Published on the 25th of November, 1977,
and shortened to “N/AM 55–19 Volume VII”, the manual is divided into specific
sections that related to different aspects of aerospace warning, air
sovereignty, airspace management and the command–and–control of NORAD vectored
US Air Force (USAF) combat jets. Section 15 lays out instructions for the
“Identification Of Air Traffic”, and a special sub–section is also annoted as
“Figure 15–4. OPREP–3 Unknown Track Report”. Point 1 states:
“1
(U) Subject and Purpose. This report provides the NCOC with additional data
concerning each track classified as unknown (to include unidentified flying objects
– UFOs)”
Thus, it is established that NORAD
Regional Commanders are to provide the NCOC with information concerning “unidentified
flying objects – UFOs”. The term “NCOC” refers to the NORAD Combat Operations Center in Colorado, which was tasked with centralised aerospace
management, command and control for North America. In regards to the above
passage of text, the reference to “unidentified flying objects – UFOs” comes second
to general unknown radar tracks. In other words, the instructions are not
laying out special procedures solely for “UFO” reporting. It is still rather
extraordinary, however, that the phrase “unidentified flying objects – UFOs” is
mentioned distinctly. The rest of the page details the urgency of reporting,
method of transmission, and under what conditions reports must be made. Most
importantly, these instructions appear to act as a template for OPREP–3
reporting. At the bottom of the page, in bold font, is a line of text reading “Figure
15–4. OPREP–3 Unknown Track Report”.
The next page indeed confirms that an
OPREP–3 report is utilized to report unknowns. Point 8 reads:
“8.
(U) Report Content. The following format will be used:
The
Regional, Date and Track Number are common requirements for all reports.
a.
Part I – Immediate OPREP–3 Report.
(1)
Time declared unknown
(2)
Course.
(3)
Speed.
(4)
Altitude.
(5)
Number of objects.
(6)
Reason unknown…”
A number of further data entry
requirements are listed. Further on, we again see confirmation that these
specific fields make up the contents of an OPREP–3 report:
“c.
Part III – Final Action OPREP–3.
(20)
Interceptor airborne time.
(21)
Course.
(22)
Speed…”
These are the only two pages of Section
15, “Identification Of Air Traffic”, that mention unknown tracks, unidentified
flying objects, UFOs, or OPREP–3 reporting. In fact, Robert Todd was only
offered a three pages from the entire
“NORAD/ADCOM Manual 55–19, Vol. VII, Aerospace Reporting System”
publication. The two pages I have detailed are imaged below.
The fact that NORAD and ADCOM specified
OPREP–3 reporting of “unidentified flying objects – UFOs”, along with, and
distinct from, routine unknown radar plots, departs radically from what the
public have been told by the US Department of Defence. On occasion, researchers
have questioned NORAD directly, nothing whatsoever about UFO reporting, via the
OPREP–3 channel or otherwise, has been admitted. For example, in a reply letter
dated 10th November, 1975, Colonel Terrence C. James, NORAD Headquarters, Ent
Air Force Base, to researcher Robert Todd, it was stated:
“…this
command has no present activity in investigating UFOs, nor does any area of the
United States government that I’m aware of.”
Ten years later, in an April 25th, 1988
reply letter to researcher Dr. Armen Victorian, NORAD’s Chief of Operations
Branch, Directorate of Public Affairs, Lt. Col. Roger I. Pinnell, stated:
“Thank
you for your recent letter requesting information on Unidentified Flying
Objects. Unfortunately, we have not recently released any information
concerning UFO’s, nor do we keep any such information on file…”
Clearly, these statements are absolute
nonsense.
On the first page of the document I have
highlighted above, it is also interesting to note a passage of text contained
within Point 7:
“7.
(U) Specific Reporting Instructions. The regions GIUK submit this report by
voice to the NCOC Surveillance Section as a RED report (see paragraph 1–3).
NORAD Form 61, Unknown Track Report, will be used to record report. This report
will be submitted sequentially with reference to the appropriate part and item
number of the format in paragraph 8, below…”
When an OPREP–3 reportable event is, or
at least was in the late 1970’s, submitted to the NCOC, the NORAD Regional
Control Center who submitted the OPREP–3 also keeps the details of the event
on a “Form 61, Unknown Track Report”. So, effectively, this form acts as a
repository for, at minimum, unknown or unidentifiable aircraft that have been
tracked by NORAD systems, as well as “UFO’s”, which, again, is a term that no
one in the US military was supposed to be using. A “Form 61, Unknown Track Report”
contains blocks of questions that must be filled in by NORAD Region air defence
personnel. Specific blocks include “Time Unknown”, “Course”, “Speed”,
“Altitude”, “No. Of Objects”, “Reason Unknown”, “Possible Identification” and
other pertinent details regarding aerial interception, identification of the
offending unknown, and administrative action. A copy of “Form 61, Unknown Track
Report” is imaged below.
The concept of USAF combat jets being
scrambled by NORAD to identify general unknown tracks, which we have been
repeatedly told represent stray, unidentifiable civilian aircraft, or, foreign
military aircraft that are tasked with testing US and Canadian aerospace
boundaries, is perfectly acceptable. The sovereignty of the both America and
Canada would be in a sorry state indeed if this task wasn’t being performed.
But to specifically have “unidentified flying objects – UFOs” explicitly listed for OPREP–3 reporting,
as well as the potential need for airborne interception, completely flies in
the face of what the US military would have the public believe. Project Blue
Book, the long–running and ultimately flawed USAF study of the UFO phenomenon, ended with the release of a “Fact Sheet” titled “Unidentified Flying Objects And Air Force
Project Blue Book: Fact Sheet”. Though there are different versions of the
publication, one notable section in a 1993 version of this short publication stated:
“Since
the termination of Project Blue Book, nothing has occurred that would support a
resumption of UFO investigations by the Air Force…”
We have already established that a
number of provocative UFO cases have occurred, and created significant and
classified documentation, long after the
conclusion of Project Blue Book, so the above statement is hogwash. Furthermore,
we now see specific doctrine that recognises the UFO matter, and, treats it as
an air defence issue. As I stated at the opening of this entry, researcher
Robert Todd, by 1978, was in possession of no less than five NORAD and/or ADCOM
publications that referred, at least in part, to “unidentified flying objects”,
“unknown objects” and “UFOs”. I will be highlighting more of these items in
future entries of my ongoing series “NORAD And The UFO Smokescreen”. Furthermore,
these don’t even include the well–known “Joint Army Navy
Air Force Publication 146” (JANAP 146) publication. JANAP 146 laid out a series
of “Communications Instructions for Reporting Vital Intelligence Sightings”
(CIRVIS) instructions, as well as a series of “Merchant Ship Intelligence”
(MERINT) reporting procedures. Both systems were for use by US and Canadian
forces to report, amongst other things, “Unidentified Flying Objects”. One of
the addressees on completed CIRVIS and MERINT reports was none other than
NORAD’s Commander–in–Chief, as well as NORAD’s Air Defence Operations Center
(ADOC). So, really, by 1978 or so, Todd, and a handful of other dedicated researchers, knew of seven doctrinal publications relating to UFO’s.
Currently, I am using the FOI Act to have the NORAD History Office locate and potentially release any records that were created as a result of the above mentioned doctrine. Of obvious interest are any OPREP–3 reports of UFO’s, plus, any discussion papers, commanders briefs and intelligence estimates which were authored as a result of such events. NORAD, however, are technically exempt from FOI Act, which is very convenient for them. In regards to the OPREP–3 reported UFO
events at Loring and Wurtsmith Air Force Bases, plus similar events at ten other USAF bases throughout 1975 and
1976, the obvious question one must raise is that of the subsequent investigation,
evaluation and analysis which was indeed performed by US military commands. In
my Part 5 in this series, I will highlight the investigations that were performed
by Strategic Air Command Headquarters (SAC HQ), 8th Air Force Headquarters (8AF
HQ), Air Force Global Weather Central (AFGWC), the Air Force Office of Special
Investigations (AFOSI), the National Military Command Center (NMCC), and a host
of other others.
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