The Night Our Nukes Went Dark

On March 16, 1967, a UFO appeared over Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana. As it hovered, ten Minuteman nuclear missiles simultaneously went offline. Captain Robert Salas witnessed it all—and was ordered never to speak of it.

The Base

Malmstrom AFB:

• Montana
• Nuclear missile site
• Minuteman ICBMs
• Strategic importance
• Cold War front line

The Night

March 16, 1967:

• Captain Robert Salas
• Deputy Commander
• Oscar Flight facility
• Underground bunker
• Night shift

The Call

First alert:

• Security guard
• Reports lights
• In the sky
• Over front gate
• Bright red object

Salas’s Response

Initial reaction:

• Dismissed it
• Told guard to watch
• Not unusual
• Back to work
• Then second call

Second Call

Guard’s terror:

• Object hovering
• Over front gate
• Guards frightened
• Weapons drawn
• Craft not leaving

The Shutdown

What happened next:

• Missiles went offline
• One by one
• All ten
• No command given
• No explanation

No Guidance Status

Technical reality:

• “No-Go” condition
• Missiles disabled
• Launch impossible
• Multiple warheads
• Strategic disaster

The Investigation

Air Force response:

• Immediate scramble
• Technical teams
• Could not explain
• No equipment failure
• No logical cause

Echo Flight

Same night:

• Another flight
• Ten more missiles
• Also disabled
• Same circumstances
• UFO reported

Twenty Missiles

Total impact:

• Oscar Flight: 10
• Echo Flight: 10
• 20 nuclear missiles
• Simultaneously
• UFO correlation

The Debriefing

What Salas was told:

• Never discuss
• Sign documents
• Classified
• No talking
• Forget it happened

The Classification

Security level:

• Top Secret
• Compartmentalized
• No records found
• Officially didn’t happen
• Standard response

Salas Goes Public

Decades later:

• 1990s disclosure
• Wrote book
• Congressional testimony
• Broke silence
• Confirmed by others

Other Witnesses

Corroboration:

• Multiple officers
• Technical staff
• Security guards
• Same account
• Consistent

The Message

Interpretation:

• UFOs interested in nukes
• Demonstrated capability
• Could disable weapons
• Warning?
• Message sent

Other Nuke Incidents

Not isolated:

• Similar events
• Multiple bases
• Same era
• Same pattern
• Nuclear focus

Significance

UFOs demonstrating ability to disable strategic nuclear weapons at a US Air Force Base.

Legacy

Malmstrom proved UFOs aren’t just lights in the sky—they can interfere with our most powerful weapons, and they wanted us to know it.