2001 · Anápolis air base, Goiás, Brazil

Anápolis: a Mirage scrambled on a radar plot

On the record

Strength B · 7/10 · 1 independent

Evidence 2/4 · Witnesses 3/3 · Backing 2/3

An alert fighter launched on a ground-radar plot, with four named officers in an Air Force report; no tapes survive in the file.

Plausibility High

Score 12 · 7 factors for, 0 against

An alert Mirage launched on a ground-radar plot and four named officers reported a light that vanished as the jet approached.

See the factors ↓

Unexplained

Part ofOrdered to fire

Primary document. Page 1 of the 'Relatório descritivo da visualização de um objeto não identificado em Anápolis' (ARX.0.0.603): 23 Mar 2001, the alert pilot's and duty officer's accounts of the Mirage scramble on a radar plot. · Arquivo Nacional (Brazil), fund BR DFANBSB ARX

When23 March 2001, 14:45–16:30 local

WhereAnápolis air base, Goiás, Brazil

Backing1 independent

Evidenceofficial records

On 23 March 2001 the radar at Brazil's main fighter base lost a probable unidentified aircraft, then approach radar held a plot 25 NM south. The tower and the duty officer watched a silver-pink stationary light for about seven minutes, and civilians in nearby towns phoned in. A Mirage F-103 on alert launched, and its pilot saw something bright ahead before losing it; tower and approach saw the object disappear as the jet approached. Four officers are named in the Air Force's report.

Evidence, in date order (1)

23 Mar 2001Brazilian Air Force (Anápolis)official
descriptive report of the sighting and scramble, with four named officers ARX.0.0.603

How plausible · High

An alert Mirage launched on a ground-radar plot and four named officers reported a light that vanished as the jet approached.

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Access Radar, tower and pilot.
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No gain sought Air Force report.
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Character record Named officers.
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Independent convergence Radar, tower, two pilots and civilians.
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Checkable details check out Air Force report.
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Restraint "Something bright."

Plausibility weighs how well an account fits where secrecy hides the documents by design, so missing records never count against it. Strength measures what is documented. Assessed 2026-10-23.

Claims

Approach radar 'possuía seu plote no radar' at radial 165, 25 NM; the tower and duty officer watched a silver-pink stationary light for about 7 minutes; civilians in Ipameri and Catalão phoned in.firsthandOn the recordBrazilian Air Force report, ARX.0.0.603

The alert Mirage F-103 launched at 15:50 heading 165; the pilot saw 'algo brilhante' 30° right at about 20 NM, lost it, and searched up to FL200.firsthandOn the recordCap.-Av. Leonardo (alert pilot)

The object 'desapareceu com a aproximação da aeronave'.firsthandOn the recordCap.-Av. Alfredo Martins Filho (SAR pilot), fax of 3 Apr 2001

Where

Anápolis air base, Goiás, Brazil

16.2°S 49.0°W

In The picture

On the recordThe firmest layer is the one trained observers and instruments wrote down. Belgian gendarmes watched silent lit triangles in 1989-90 and ground radars tracked the wave; the Air Force sent F-16s and released its own data, though a radar study it released in 2025 puts the fighters' lock-ons down to their tracking softw…

Anápolis: a Mirage scrambled on a radar plot

Evidence, in date order (1)

How plausible · High

Claims

Where

In The picture

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