Expediente — Avistamiento en EVA-5 Aitana, Alicante (24 April 1986)

Brief

The file compiles radar and visual UAP contacts attributed to EVA-5, Spain's fifth Aerial Surveillance Squadron, covering primary incidents on 24 April 1986 — stationary unknowns manually tracked between 100 and 120 degrees bearing at 8,000+ feet with no position change — and 26 April 1986, when an unknown at 180 degrees, 40 NM, and 39,000 feet triggered a two-Mirage scramble from Manises alongside a second simultaneous contact at 150 degrees, 84 NM. The dossier was assembled in July 1994 after the Mando Aéreo de Combate directed units to document publicly disclosed UAP encounters, explicitly to counter media accusations that the Air Force was suppressing such information. An MACOM intelligence officer at Torrejón proposed declassification on 01 May 1998, finding no grounds to maintain classified status.

Metadata

Agency

Ejército del Aire / Ministerio de Defensa

Release

1986-04-24

Type

PDF • .pdf

Length

8 pages

Classification

DESCLASIFICADO (originally CONFIDENCIAL)

Programs

EVA-5, EVA-3, EVA-9, Pegaso, JACAR AITANA

Tags

radar echo, stationary object, high altitude, low-altitude overflight, EVA-5, Aitana, Alicante, 1986, Manises scramble, radio interference, triangle formation, EVA network

Key points

• On 24 April 1986 at 00:22Z, EVA-5 activated manual tracking for unknown objects between 100 and 120 degrees bearing at altitudes beginning at 8,000 feet (upper limit corrupted in source text), with no position change recorded.p.8
• On 26 April 1986 at 19:30Z, EVA-5 tracked an unknown at 180 degrees, 40 NM, altitude 39,000 feet; two Mirages were scrambled from Manises. A second unknown was simultaneously tracked at 150 degrees, 84 NM.p.8
• The dossier was compiled in July 1994 after CJMOA issued MSGID 707-C directing subordinate units to report UAP detections that had appeared in public media.p.2
• The driving motivation for the 1994 compilation was explicitly to rebut the public conviction that the Air Force was concealing UFO information — the message characterizes that accusation as 'infundado' (unfounded).p.4
• An MACOM intelligence officer at Torrejón proposed DESCLASIFICADO status on 01 May 1998, finding no aspect warranting continued classification.p.3
• In July 1975, an object overflew the EVA-5 radar installation at Aitana at low altitude, observed by several NCOs; a stationary radar echo over the sea was recorded immediately beforehand.p.5
• On 13 March 1979, EVA-5 and Pegaso radar detected an unknown echo heading toward the peninsula, triggering a Mirage III scramble from Manises that achieved no visual contact.p.5
• In April 1972 at Talavera la Real air base, F-5 aircraft landing suffered radio interference when passing beneath a stationary luminous object observed by controllers from the tower.p.6
• A Mirage F-1 scrambled from Los Llanos in November 1979 after EVA-9 detected an unknown echo over the Sea of Alboran; the pilot encountered three lights forming a triangle over Granada province.p.5
• The expediente spans contacts from 1965 through 1986 across EVA-3, EVA-5, EVA-9, and air bases at Morón, Talavera la Real, Jerez, Tablada, and San Javier — functioning as an internal history of Spanish military UAP contact across two decades.p.4

Verbatim

• No se aprecian aspectos que hagan aconsejable mantener la condici6n de "MATERIA CLASIFICADA" .

  p.3

• EXHIBIDA PUBLICAMENTE POR PERIODISTAS EN MEDIOS DE COMUNICACION, REFORZANDO CONVICCION QUE E.A. OCULTA INFORMACION OVNI.

  p.4

• EVA-5 y Pegaso detectan eco desconocido con rumba a la peninsula . Scramb e Mirage III desde Manises. Sin contacto visual.

  p.5

• 1986 - 26 de Abril . 18:00 Desde EVA-5 se observa objeto cayendo a l mar frente a Benidorm , se notific a a la Guardia Civil.

  p.5

• Varios F-5 aterrizando sufrieran interferencias radio a1 pasar per debaja de la luz.

  p.6

Most interesting

• MSGID 707-C explicitly named countering press accusations of Air Force UFO concealment as one of its two stated purposes — an unusual admission of defensive institutional motivation embedded in an intelligence tasking order.
• The April 26, 1986 unknown was tracked at 39,000 feet — commercial cruising altitude — with no corresponding flight plan mentioned; a second contact at 84 NM range was tracked simultaneously.
• The April 24, 1986 unknowns held a stationary bearing throughout the manual tracking period, behavior inconsistent with conventional aircraft.
• EVA-5 at Aitana appears in incident logs across 1975, 1979, and 1986, each involving either low-altitude overflight of the radar installation or scrambles launched from Manises — making it a recurring node in the Spanish Air Force's UAP contact record.
• The Talavera la Real case (April 1972) is one of the few entries in the dossier where the phenomenon is described as actively interfering with military equipment: radio disruption in multiple F-5 aircraft on approach.
• On 29 September 1986, a light followed a C-130 Hercules during takeoff from Tablada aerodrome, observed by both officers and soldiers on guard duty — one of two 1986 entries beyond the primary EVA-5 contacts.
• MSGID 1384 from JACAR AITANA (Document 0005) survives as the only raw operational tracking log in the file, transmitted 13 July 1994 and containing the bearing, range, and altitude data for both April 1986 contacts.