Kirtland AFB Nuclear Weapons Storage Intrusions

Beginning on August 8, 1980, USAF security police at Kirtland Air Force Base and Sandia National Laboratories personnel observed multiple unidentified aerial objects in the restricted airspace directly above the Manzano Weapons Storage Area — an underground nuclear warhead storage facility. The incidents continued through October 1980. Security personnel observed bright disc-shaped or spherical craft at low altitude that disappeared at high speed when approached. Official reports were filed with the USAF Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI). Special Agent Richard Doty of AFOSI documented the incidents and filed a formal report that was transmitted up the chain of command. The classified intelligence report was later released to researchers Lawrence Fawcett and Barry Greenwood through a FOIA request, and was published in their 1984 book 'Clear Intent.' The released document confirms AFOSI formally investigated the intrusions over Kirtland's nuclear storage area. Congressional staff members were briefed. The Kirtland incidents parallel the 1967 Malmstrom Air Force Base events (in which Minuteman ICBM launchers were disabled during UAP overflights) and the 1975 Loring AFB intrusions, forming a documented pattern of UAP incursions over US nuclear weapons facilities spanning 1967–1980.