PNG Asked the U.S. Embassy About Fast Objects Overhead. The Cable Says Not Ours - Case S-1

On 28 January 1985 the U.S. Embassy in Port Moresby cabled U.S. Pacific Command: Papua New Guinea's National Intelligence Organization had informally asked about reported sightings of high-altitude, high-speed aircraft over the country on the evening of 24 January. Residents around Wewak had been frightened enough that the provincial premier called a public meeting - attended by the Prime Minister, who was weekending in his electoral district.

The NIO described various reports of "unidentified aerial phenomena" that night: fast-moving objects with lights, contrails, and noise. The report it gave some credence to came from an Air Niugini pilot who had just taken off from Wewak for Port Moresby and whose radar picked up aircraft flying south to north at high altitude and speed while he was over Angoram (about 4 S, 144 E). Observers elsewhere reported contrails from one aircraft moving north to south at 1900 local and from six to eight aircraft moving south to north at 2200 local.

After checking its records and phoning the 43rd Strategic Wing at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, the embassy told the NIO it knew of no B-52 overflights and no U.S. aircraft in PNG airspace on 24 January - and asked Pacific Command to confirm that and to shed any light it could, noting the information was "very sketchy" and witnesses were unsure of directions.

The cable was released in full by the State Department in 2026, with nothing redacted. Below is the document itself, followed by the narration transcript and the reported radar-contact area.