The Tehran incident
The account
A glowing object knocked out the instruments and weapons of the fighter jets that tried to approach it.
What investigators found
The case was recorded in a U.S. military intelligence report. Proposed explanations include equipment failures and confusion with bright celestial bodies.
The story
Shortly after midnight on September 19, 1976, residents of Tehran phoned the air base to report a bright light in the sky. The Iranian Air Force sent an F-4 fighter to investigate. As it approached, the pilot lost his instruments and communications, which came back when he pulled away.
A second fighter, flown by Parviz Jafari, saw a smaller object break away from the main one and head toward him. When he tried to fire, the weapons system failed. The episode was described in a report by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency and distributed to several government agencies. It is still cited as one of the best-documented military cases.