Project Blue Book Case #6663. On February 27, 1960, an unidentified object was observed over Rome, New York — home to Griffiss Air Force Base and the Rome Air Development Center (RADC), one of the Air Force's most important electronics and surveillance technology research facilities. RADC developed the radar, communications, and electronic warfare systems that formed the backbone of America's air defense and intelligence networks.
The researchers at RADC were among the most knowledgeable surveillance technology experts in the world. They designed the systems that were supposed to detect and identify everything in the sky. Their inability to identify this object with the very technology they were developing was professionally ironic and deeply significant.
Griffiss also served as a SAC bomber base, with B-52s and KC-135 tankers operating alongside the research mission. The combination of cutting-edge surveillance research and nuclear-armed bombers made Rome one of the most sensitive locations in the Air Force.
The case was classified "Unknown."