318th Fighter Interceptor Squadron

The 318th Fighter Interceptor Squadron was a United States Air Force unit tasked with defending the US West Coast from aerial threats. Based at McChord Air Force Base in Washington State, the squadron flew F-106 Delta Dart interceptors from the late 1960s until the 1980s, participating in routine Air Defence Command and later Aerospace Defence Command alert operations.

UAP Scrambles

The 318th is documented in UAP records primarily for its scrambles of F-106 interceptors in response to unidentified objects detected over Washington State. These intercepts occurred during a period when West Coast radar coverage routinely tracked unknown aerial contacts, often over Puget Sound and the Hanford nuclear reservation. The squadron's scrambles are logged in declassified US Air Force records and discussed in Leslie Kean's UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record (2010).

Disbandment

The 318th was deactivated in 1989 along with other F-106 units as the interceptor mission shifted to F-15 Eagles under Air Combat Command restructuring. Its UAP-related log entries remain part of the broader US Air Defence archive that is increasingly being examined by modern researchers.