Edgar Fouché and the TR-3B
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 7
| Date | 1998 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Military encounters (topic), Secrecy & cover-up (topic), Government programs (topic) |
| People | Edgar Fouché |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 132 |
| Year | 1998 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1998 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 10 |
Edgar Fouché said he had worked for many years on classified U.S. Air Force programs, including at Area 51. In a talk at the 1998 International UFO Congress in Laughlin, Nevada, he described an underground facility at Groom Lake and a secret triangular aircraft called the TR-3B, which became a staple of online UFO culture.[1][2]
Fouché's claims
Fouché said the TR-3B was a nuclear-powered triangular craft that used a "magnetic field disrupter" to reduce its weight, and described other classified work at Groom Lake. He co-wrote the novel-like Alien Rapture with Brad Steiger, and provided some documents about his service, including a request for assignment that he said related to Area 51.[2][3]
The TR-3A origins
The TR-3B claim built on an earlier legend. In 1991 Aviation Week and Popular Mechanics reported a stealthy, black triangular aircraft called the TR-3A "Black Manta", said to have been designed by Northrop in the late 1970s as a tactical high-altitude penetrator and to have flown with F-117s over Baghdad in the 1991 Gulf War to designate targets. Those reports relied heavily on journalist William Scott and unnamed sources. The "TR-3" name may come from a misheard reference to the "Tier 3" drone program, which led to the DarkStar reconnaissance drone.[1]
Assessment
No evidence for the TR-3A, the TR-3B or Fouché's specific assignments has surfaced, and researchers have found problems with his story. The TR-3B is often invoked to explain sightings of black triangles. The testimony also notes, separately, that the Advanced Research Projects Agency did fund advanced aerospace work, and that quasicrystals, once dismissed, were later recognised with a Nobel Prize in 2011; neither fact supports Fouché's claims directly.[1][3][4]
People and topics
- U.S. Air Force — The U.S. military service that ran the official UFO projects from 1947 to 1969.
- Area 51 — The secret Nevada test site where spy planes and stealth aircraft were developed.
- Edgar Fouché — Man who claimed to have worked on the TR-3B and other secret aircraft.
- Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
- Black triangle — A large, dark, triangular craft often reported since the 1980s.
On the Timeline
- Nick Cook's Skunk Works chart (Late 1990s) — Author Nick Cook claims he glimpsed a chart of secret Skunk Works projects.
- Collins Elite (11 March 1998) — Nick Redfern's source says a group of officials believed UAP were demonic.
See every 1998 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- "Exploring the claims that America's TR-3A 'UFO' fought in Desert Storm", Sandboxx · sandboxx.us · archived copy
- "What is the legendary black triangle UFO?", Sandboxx · sandboxx.us · archived copy
- Patrick Gross, on the "TR-3B" claims (French), UFOs at close sight · ufologie.patrickgross.org · archived copy
- Area 51 — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- checktheevidencecom.ipage.com · checktheevidencecom.ipage.com · archived copy
- archive.org · archive.org · archived copy
- archive.org · archive.org · archived copy
- checktheevidencecom.ipage.com · checktheevidencecom.ipage.com · archived copy
- documents2.theblackvault.com · documents2.theblackvault.com · archived copy
- nobelprize.org · nobelprize.org · archived copy
Further reading
- Area 51 — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Skunk Works — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- UFO documents — CIA Reading Room · cia.gov · archived copy
- UFO documents — NSA · nsa.gov · archived copy
- Sandia National Laboratories — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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