Ghost ships still puzzle experts at missile base

This document, a newspaper article from the July 17, 1974 edition of The Star-Phoenix, details an unexplained aerial phenomenon reported during a ballistic missile test in August 1973. According to Major Dallas van Hoose, an Army spokesman at Redstone Arsenal, a Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base toward the Kwajalein missile range. During the descent of the missile's nose cone at an altitude of 400,000 feet, radar scanners at Kwajalein and Meck Islands detected an unidentified object. The object was described as an inverted saucer-shaped craft, measuring approximately 10 feet in height and 40 feet in length. Radar operators observed the object positioned to the right and above the nose cone; it subsequently passed in front of the warhead while maintaining its speed, moving below and to the left before disappearing. Experts at the missile base, who are familiar with advanced radar systems used for tracking warheads, were unable to provide a conventional explanation for the event, explicitly rejecting the possibility of freak weather conditions or radar echoes. The article also notes that Ufologist Barry Greenwood attempted to obtain further information through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) inquiries, but was informed by Vandenberg officials that the relevant records had been destroyed and were unavailable.