Kirtland Air Force Base
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 📍 Place
Contents 6
| Type | Place |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Kirtland AFB, Kirtland |
| On the Timeline | 7 events, 1980–2016 |
Kirtland Air Force Base is a U.S. Air Force base in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and a centre of nuclear weapons work and military research. Home to the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center and the Air Force Research Laboratory's directed-energy and space-vehicle directorates, it also features in several UFO stories.[1]
History
Construction began in January 1941 and the base opened as Albuquerque Army Air Base; it was renamed Kirtland Army Air Field in February 1942 after Colonel Roy C. Kirtland, an early Army aviator who learned to fly in 1911. It became Kirtland Air Force Base on 13 January 1948 and grew in importance for nuclear weapons work. On 1 July 1971 it merged with its neighbours, Sandia Base and Manzano Base.[1]
Nuclear and research role
The Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, created in 2006, is responsible for acquiring and maintaining nuclear systems. The base's underground munitions storage complex, activated in 1992, has been described as the largest known repository of nuclear weapons in the world. Kirtland also hosts research on high-power microwaves, lasers and space technology.[1]
1957 sighting
On the night of 4 November 1957 two civilian control tower operators reported an egg-shaped object that descended over the runway, hovered and then climbed away, while radar tracked a target for about 20 minutes. Project Blue Book classified it as a possible aircraft, and the Condon Committee concluded it was probably a small private plane that had tried to land at the wrong airport. When physicist James E. McDonald later reinterviewed the controllers, they called these explanations "amusing".[2]
Doty and Bennewitz
Kirtland was the posting of Richard Doty, an agent of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations stationed there from 1979 and the central figure of the documentary Mirage Men about government UFO disinformation. The base is also at the heart of the story of Albuquerque businessman Paul Bennewitz, described in his own article.[3]
On the UAP Timeline
- Weitzel letter (1980) (July 1980) — Air Force counterintelligence officer Richard Doty delivers a forged letter to a civilian UAP group.
- Bennewitz affair (17 November 1980) — Doty gives physicist Paul Bennewitz a forged document to confuse him.
- Sandia uncle crashed saucer story (1982) (29 September 1982) — Puthoff relays a story of a scientist who studied a crashed saucer and copied an antigravity device.
- TRESTLE facility and Ron Blackburn (1990) — A Lockheed engineer tells Vallée he helped build the TRESTLE facility.
- MARAUDER (1 August 1993) — The Air Force tests its MARAUDER plasma railgun in public.
- Chester Lytle's Kirtland sighting (1 January 2008) — A Manhattan Project contractor says he saw a domed disc through a telescope during a nuclear test.
- Greer's underground facilities list (18 April 2016) — Steven Greer names underground facilities he claims are tied to secret programs.
References
- Kirtland Air Force Base — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Kirtland AFB UFO sighting — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Mirage Men — 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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