US: Classified report on Belgian UFO wave

A classified US DoD document from March 1990 acknowledges numerous credible UFO sightings in Belgium since November 1989. Belgian Col. De Brouwer inquired about US stealth aircraft, which USAF denied operating in the Ardennes.

Date

March 1, 1990

Location

Ardennes, Belgium🇧🇪

Type

Document

Country

🇺🇸 United States

Map

Read-only context

Source context

No explicit primary-source marker in current data

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Attached sources

Background

A US Department of Defense classified report, Joint Staff Information Report #5049 titled "Belgium and the UFO Issue," was issued in March 1990. It documented multiple UFO observations across Belgium starting from November 1989, highlighting the reliability of several reporting individuals.

Key Details

The Belgian Air Force (BAF) maintained an ongoing investigation into these incidents. Col. Wilfried De Brouwer contacted US authorities to determine if the sighted objects matched American B-2 or F-117 stealth planes, despite noting that the descriptions did not align with known characteristics of these aircraft. The US Air Force assured Belgian officials and their Ministry of Defense that no such stealth operations occurred in the Ardennes region at that time.

Significance

This exchange underscores international military cooperation amid the prominent Belgian UFO wave of 1989-1990, which involved thousands of witnesses, radar tracks, and F-16 pursuits. The US denial ruled out covert American technology, fueling debates on the nature of these unidentified aerial phenomena.

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Primary source (Public Domain): [DIA IIR 6 807 0136 90 — Belgium and the UFO Issue (PDF, 5 pages)](/documents/us-dia-iir-6-807-0136-90-belgium-ufo.pdf)

U.S. Department of Defense, Joint Staff Washington DC, March 30, 1990. Unclassified (FOIA-released). Explicitly mentions Colonel Wilfried De Brouwer and Prof. Léon Brenig.