First Confirmed Image Captures Unidentified Aerial Object Breaching Texas Nuclear Weapons Site Amid Ongoing Unexplained Incidents at Critical Energy Facilities
A new image obtained from the Department of Energy reveals an incursion by a mysterious object at a nuclear weapons facility in 2015. Another sighting has since occurred at a separate facility.
By Dustin Slaughter (@DustinSlaughter)
The UAP Register has obtained the first known image of an unidentified object that breached a highly sensitive Department of Energy-owned nuclear weapons facility in Texas in 2015.
The release of the image comes at a time when incursions by unidentified drones and perhaps more anomalous objects—including near critical infrastructure and military sites—are ramping up throughout American airspace and leaving authorities baffled.
The image, obtained by The Register after a lengthy legal struggle through the Freedom of Information Act, stems from an incident that occurred on September 2, 2015, at the DOE’s Pantex nuclear weapons plant, located near Amarillo, Texas.
According to an official report exclusively obtained by The Register last year, a “diamond-shaped” object, described as “unidentified”, violated the plant’s perimeter. The report further states that Pantex security personnel pursued the object for several miles after it traveled beyond the facility’s perimeter. A large portion of the report remains redacted from the public.
A History of ‘Diamond’ Shaped Objects at Pantex
The 2015 incursion may not have been the first time that ‘diamond'-shaped objects were witnessed near the Pantex facility.
According to reports submitted to the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC) by alleged former employees at the facility, these incidents were equally dramatic.
“The sightings were over a span of years. I do not know if it was the same craft or a number of them,” wrote one witness. “They were over Pantex Ordinance plant. At the time we still had an active air base and fighters were scrambled a number of times. We lived three miles from the plant so we had a ring side seat. The craft were diamond shaped [emphasis added] and changed color, when the fighters got near it would go straight up at high speed, we knew when the planes landed because the craft reappeared. They would sometimes play tag for hours.”
Another witness wrote:
“From the late 1950's to the mid 1960's UFO's were seen over Pantex Ordnance Plant near Amarillo TX. I lived three miles away to the east at the time. During this period there were about 100 sightings, but those of us that remember [sic] don't talk about it much.
”The Airbase was still open and they would scramble Fighters to intercept. But it was always the same. When the jets closed to 2 miles the object would go up at high speed. The jets would circle a while [sic] then land. Then sometimes it would come back down to its spot.
”This was repeated on many nights. Always the same type of object [emphasis added], that changed colors.”
A November 8, 1957 newspaper account from the Amarillo-Globe Times contains more details about one incident.
“Bright, flashing objects hovered for half an hour over the Pantex Atomic Energy Commission ordnance plant, 15 miles east of Amarillo, Thursday night, according to plant guards.
“The brilliant objects were reported to the State Highway Patrol office by plant guards at 7:46 p.m. A patrolman dispatched to the plant arrived at 8:15 p.m. and reported that he, too, saw ‘a strange light.’
“The patrolman said guards were ‘all shook up.’ Guards said three objects had been floating over the plant 50 feet above the ground ‘for some time.’
"‘When I got there.’ the patrolman said, ‘the guards said one of the objects had landed on Farin Road 2373, three miles north of Highway 60. We drove to the area but nothing was there. But I'm convinced that the guards saw something land.’
“‘The patrolman said guards told him they had tried to slip up on the objects by turning off their lights ‘but the things would just slip away from them when they got near.’”
You can read the full newspaper report here, which includes a prosaic explanation for some sightings.
Senior Engineer Sees Unidentified Object “Skipping, Jumping” with “Beautiful, Golden Hue” Over Electrical Control Center
A more recent incident occurred at another facility in December 2018, according to one first-hand witness, a senior engineer, who is speaking out for the first time. The Register is granting them anonymity out of concern for professional repercussions due to various non-disclosure agreements they’ve signed. Their employment at the location of the incident, an electrical transmission control center, has been verified.
Electrical transmission control centers, also known as regional transmission organizations, are overseen by the Department of Energy in coordination with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), a quasi-independent entity within the DOE. These agencies are responsible for energy regulation, including the transmission of electricity and other power sources across state lines.
The witness had just finished their late-night shift and was walking through the parking lot to their vehicle when something in the night sky caught their eye.
“At first, it looked like a falling star,” they said. But then it began “skipping and jumping” and was “incredibly fast-moving.” Within seconds, the object was directly above the center’s “lay-down yard”—where tools, equipment, vehicles, and other materials associated with a construction site are stored. It was during this time that the witness noticed more details about the object.
“It was approximately twice the length of a Ford F-150 with a lenticular shape, smooth metallic surface, and no rivets.” The object had an “overpoweringly beautiful, golden hue.” The light emitted from the object did not illuminate its surroundings, they added.
They also noted that the object was “wobbling” and that it made no noise as it remained stationary. The object was close enough that they “could have thrown a baseball and hit it.”
After approximately 10 minutes, the object suddenly shot straight up and was immediately gone.
The witness returned to the facility and headed directly to the on-duty security officer; they later determined that the security guard had seen the object too. The witness believes the surveillance footage of the incident was destroyed by the security guard.
“The stigma in the energy sector is such that, to this day, legitimate UAP get reported as drones or, more often, not at all,” they continued. “At the end of the day, I think this is a very concerning national security issue.”
Sightings Persist with No Answers from Officials
On May 23, 2024, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm was grilled by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R, FL-13) during a House Government Oversight Committee hearing.
“There have been documented sightings of metallic spheres over DOE facilities—if you want to call them drones in this instance—such as one report on April 20th, 2019, over LLNL [Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories],” Rep. Luna asked. “What investigations have been conducted in regards to these sightings, and what conclusions do you guys have about the nature and origin of these objects?”
“I’m happy to follow up with you on that,” Sec. Granholm replied.
The Register contacted Representative Luna’s office and Energy’s press office on multiple occasions to determine if the agency responded to Luna’s inquiry and, if so, whether a conclusion was shared with her office. Neither responded. The Register has since filed a FOIA request with the DOE seeking answers (Congress is immune to the FOIA).
Unlike the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which implemented a policy in May 2023 requiring all U.S. combatant commands to report UAP incidents due to flight safety and other national security concerns posed by unidentified anomalous phenomena, the DOE has no mandatory reporting mechanism for UAP.