Landmark case · 1989–1990Eupen region, Belgium
Belgian UFO Wave
November 1989 – April 1990
A period of numerous public reports of large, slow-moving triangular objects over Belgium, during which the Belgian Air Force scrambled two F-16 jets after radar contacts.
What is on the record
- Beginning in late November 1989, many people across Belgium reported large, slow, often triangular objects with lights.
- On the night of March 30–31, 1990, the Belgian Air Force scrambled two F-16 fighters in response to radar contacts.
- In July 1990 the Belgian Air Force publicly presented its radar and interception data and stated it could not explain the events, while declining to endorse any extraordinary conclusion.
The ordinary explanation / open question
A widely published photograph of a triangular craft from the wave was admitted to be a hoax by its creator in 2011, and some of the F-16 radar contacts were later attributed to instrument or propagation anomalies.
Investigated and publicly reported on by the Belgian Air ForceView the location on the atlas map →
Sources
A documented event, presented with sources — not a claim about its cause. Where a mundane explanation exists it is noted above; where the record is genuinely open, that is said plainly.