Report highlights Swiss military’s interest in alleged UFO sightings

Keystone / Anthony Anex

Since the 1950s, many countries have been tracking potential unidentified flying object (UFO) cases, even establishing secretive research programmes. Switzerland is no exception; its army has also gathered information on alleged UFOs sightings. Swiss public television, RTS, gained access to the Swiss Air Force’s “flying saucer” files.

The Federal Archives building in the Swiss capital, Bern, stores millions of documents, including official files, administrative reports and federal secrets. Among these are archives relating to alleged UFOs, produced by the army, cantonal police and Swiss embassies worldwide. Most of these records have been digitised and are available online.

Several files from the Swiss Air Force, organised in faded green folders titled “Fliegende Teller” (flying saucer), can be found in the federal archives. One file, with the code name E5465B from 1954, contains Air Force Intelligence Service directives for pilots and officials on how to report UFO sightings in Switzerland. It states: “Directives concerning the compilation of questionnaires on unidentified objects (…) It is not our task to investigate the composition, origin, or destination of these sightings. Our task is rather to record these phenomena systematically.”

Observation report forms in three languages were also developed to accurately record UFO sightings. These included fields such as “position of the UFO / direction / elevation (…) size relative to the lunar disk / apparent propulsion (e.g. smoke) / shape / speed.”

An example of one of the UFO intelligence files. RTS / François Ruchti

RTS contacted former Swiss army pilots, around ten of whom confirmed these forms were used until the 1990s. However, only a few of these documents were archived; most were destroyed.

A mysterious sighting in winter 1971

Among the archived forms are reports from military personnel and defence ministry officials. The most notable case dates back to winter 1971 when the same UFO case was reported in three military documents.

In the first report, two officers on a Mirage III aircraft observed a bright point of light moving unusually over Interlaken, in central Switzerland, during a night flight on February 23. The object’s movement was described as impossible for any military aircraft of the time: “The luminous object moved with an undulating, snake-like motion, then disappeared.”

A second report described another pilot sighting the same suspected UFO over Winterthur hours later. The report included a diagram illustrating the object’s size and movements. The sighting lasted several minutes. Finally, three days later, another Mirage III pilot observed the same object, initially mistaking it for an aircraft with landing lights before realising it was stationary. He described a distinctive contrail and a cone-like light angle before it vanished.

No scientific explanation

Despite these detailed reports, no scientific explanation has been provided. Adding to the mystery, the original documents have disappeared. The library at Guisan Square, formerly the federal military library, holds only a copy; the original cannot be found. It has also been anonymised, with the pilots’ names removed by federal officials.

RTS found Michel Perdrisat, a former Mirage III pilot who was active at that time, who recalled discussions among colleagues. One theory was that the alleged UFO sightings could have been a satellite re-entry, but he noted that the observations were too prolonged for this explanation. “It’s a real mystery, though that doesn’t mean it was a flying saucer,” he said. “We are Cartesian thinkers; there must be a rational explanation.”

Unique but not extraterrestrial

Former commander Ernst Gmünder, another pilot who was involved in the case, remembers the incident but remains sceptical about a possible extraterrestrial origin. Now, over 50 years later, he admits the details have faded from memory, as has the military response to his report.

Some reports are entitled “Fliegende Teller” (flying saucer). RTS / François Ruchti

Officially, the Swiss Armed Forces claims it has never been interested in UFOs. Defence ministry spokesperson Delphine Schwab-Allemand explained: “The [Swiss Armed Forces] does not and has never had a specific mission to collect information on UFOs. After each flight, a debriefing takes place, and various reports were later categorised. It’s in this context that the federal UFO archives should be understood.”

Spy devices or weather balloons?

There are no photos or videos of flying saucers in the archives. Beyond military files, the administration has preserved letters and documents from citizens, including concerns about an alien presence and offers to assist in UFO detection.

In most cases, sightings have a simple explanation. A file titled “Ausländische Luftraumverletzungen,” (Foreign airspace violations) for instance, documents foreign aircraft that unintentionally entered Swiss airspace in 1981, including French, Italian and American military planes. However, in some cases, aircraft origins could not be determined, with suspicions often directed at Russian or American spy planes during the Cold War. In 1975, for instance, a report detailed an American aircraft conducting unauthorised experiments over Switzerland.

This alleged UFO in the sky over Marseille was actually the reflection of the photographer’s kitchen lamp. RTS / François Ruchti

The truth lies elsewhere

The army often responded to public or official UFO sightings, noting in one instance: “We have forwarded your letter concerning the observation of extraterrestrial phenomena to the aviation and anti-aircraft service, which carefully examines all such communications.”

Weather balloons and radiosondes frequently account for these sightings, though many civilian and military UFO reports remain unresolved. Thus, part of the mystery endures within the federal archives, with the possibility that “the truth lies elsewhere.”

Translated from French using DeepL/amva/sb