On April 11, 1980, Lieutenant Óscar Santa María Huertas was ordered by his commander to intercept and shoot down an unidentified object hovering at 1,800 feet over La Joya Air Force Base in Arequipa. He fired 64 rounds from his Sukhoi-22 in four passes; the object appeared to absorb or deflect the rounds, then shadowed his aircraft to 63,000 feet before departing. Approximately 1,800 base personnel witnessed the chase.

The object was described as approximately 10 meters wide, cream-colored, with a metallic silver base and no visible engine or propulsion. It remained stationary over the base for two hours after Huertas returned. A June 1980 U.S. Department of Defense document titled 'UFO sighting in Peru' described the incident and classified the object's origin as unknown. Peru's OIFAA later formally investigated the case, and Santa María testified before the Citizens Hearing on Disclosure in Washington D.C. in 2013.