Case file · Sighting
Bardenas Reales range objects
On 2 January 1975 five servicemen at the Bardenas Reales bombing range (Navarre) saw a red light rise and move, then a sergeant saw a bright 'inverted cup' as big as a truck.
1975 CE · 42.20, -1.47 · status: unexplained
The researched reading
Soldiers at a bombing range saw a red light and a bright cup-shaped object at night. Military aircraft are likely, though some details fit poorly.
| Explanation | Weight | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Something known, misidentified | 40% | An intense red light at a range used by Spanish and US aircraft fits a helicopter or aircraft with a red anti-collision beacon, whose distance and climb are very hard to judge at night over a flat, dark plain. |
| Secret human technology | 24% | Night exercises, flares and helicopter operations at a bombing range are routine and not always notified to guards. |
| Genuinely anomalous | 15% | Five servicemen and a sergeant with binoculars describe a shaped object moving toward a tower, which an aircraft light explains only loosely. |
| Perception, memory or mind | 10% | Night guards seeing a single light in a featureless landscape misjudge distance (2–5 km) and size ("as big as a truck"). |
| A known natural phenomenon | 5% | A bright star low over the plain, reddened and twinkling, can seem to rise and move. |
| A poorly understood natural phenomenon | 4% | Ground lights on the arid plain are not otherwise reported. |
| A hoax or fabrication | 2% | An official military report. |
Official position: The Spanish Air Force file records the sighting; no explanation was given.