Big, Red UFO Hovered over Vandenberg in 2003, Congressional Witness Testifies

Reports of a huge, hovering red square above Vandenberg Air Force Base in northern Santa Barbara County were shared at a House of Representatives panel’s hearing on unidentified flying objects last Wednesday, July 26. 

For the last five years, the United States has been slowly leaking bits of information about UFOs, or unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) as they call them. The Indy reported in 2019 that there has been an overall “uptick of interaction with aerial phenomenon” since 2014, according to a spokesperson for naval operations. 

The football-field-sized flying object at Vandenberg was spotted in 2003, according to testimony during the hearing held by the House Oversight Committee’s national security subcommittee.

“A large group of Boeing contractors were operating near one of the launch facilities at Vandenberg Air Force Base when they observed a very large, 100-yard-sided red square approach the base from the ocean and hover at low altitude over one of the launch facilities,” said Ryan Graves, a former U.S. Navy fighter jet pilot and founder of a nonprofit focused on UAP sightings. 

“This object remained for about 45 seconds or so before darting off over the mountains,” he continued. 

Graves, the executive director of Americans for Safe Aerospace, said the sighting occurred around 8:45 a.m., followed by a second sighting only hours later. He said witnesses provided him with information about the mysterious incidents, as they had held onto “official documentation and records” from the event over the years.

“Later in the evening, post sunset, there were reports of other sightings on base, including some aggressive behaviors. These objects were approaching some of the security guards at rapid speeds before darting off,” Graves said.

The Vandenberg Air Force Base — renamed the Vandenberg Space Force Base in 2021 — is no stranger to anomalous phenomena. In 1964, a test missile was destroyed shortly after launch at the base. The event was allegedly filmed by Lieutenant Robert Jacobs, who in 1982 came forward saying a space object approached the missile and shot a plasma-type beam at the dummy warhead from four different angles. His superiors had told him to say nothing of the sighting. 

Graves, one of three former military members to testify at the July 26 hearing, based his discussion around “three critical issues,” including claims that UAP are in our airspace but are grossly underreported, stigma around UAPs is powerful and “challenges national security,” and “the government knows more about UAP than shared publicly, and excessive classification practices keep crucial information hidden.” 

The alleged sighting of a giant, flying red square raises eyebrows. The credibility is questionable — how did others miss it? Nevertheless, reports of odd sightings are becoming more public, and are being treated more seriously by government officials on both sides of the political spectrum. 

Last year, the Department of Defense created the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office, or AARO, for handling UAP reports.

The U.S. intelligence community said earlier this year that UFO reporting by U.S. military personnel is increasing, but government officials have emphasized that only a small percentage of those reports could be described as “anomalous.” 

Many representatives at the hearing acknowledged UAPs as a potential threat, which requires government transparency and better understanding of UAPs. That includes efforts to encourage people to come forward with UAP reports, according to Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach). 

The Independent reached out to Congressmember Salud Carbajal’s office, but they had no comment at this time. 

“The more we understand, the safer we will be,” Garcia said.