File 42751 · July 2, 2008
Harare Airport Disc
Harare International Airport, Zimbabwe
Opened 9/12/2026
Ledger illustration of the file — not a photograph of the object. Ledger illustration of the report. — Night Ledger illustration of the file
Standing
Unidentified
On the public record, and still open. A claim, paper, or film — not a finding that it was ours, and not a finding that it was not.
CIA cable notes disc shape, hollow center, rotating lights, beams, and internal debate on 'extraterrestrial origins' vs. foreign recon device.
What was claimed
A disc-shaped object with a hollow center and rotating underside lights hovered over the airport. It emitted beams before ascending rapidly. A CIA report debated whether it was foreign reconnaissance or extraterrestrial.
What is on the record
This file is a working record — a report, not a verdict. Official paper, if any, is linked where we have it.
On the afternoon of July 2, 2008, observers at Harare International Airport in Zimbabwe reported a disc-like object with a hollow center hovering at high altitude directly over the facility. The object featured a series of rotating lights on its underside and was observed to emit beams. After a period of stationary hovering, the lights shifted colors and the craft rapidly ascended out of visual range. The incident was documented in a CIA cable (later released in 2026 as part of U.S. PURSUE files) that was circulated to senior U.S. government and military officials, including the White House Situation Room. The report explicitly records internal debate among informed parties on whether the object represented advanced foreign reconnaissance technology or was an unidentified flying object of extraterrestrial origin. The sighting prompted placement of certain U.S. assets in Zimbabwe on heightened alert. No conventional aircraft or known technology matched the description.
Could this have been ours?
The known sky, that night.
The station was flying. Starlink was not. A string of orbs in this year is usually not a train.
Always
Aircraft, balloons, meteors
Landing lights, flares, lanterns, reentries, fireballs. They are on the known sky. They do not close a file by themselves — they are what a serious look has to hold the claim against.
Orbit · Space — the desks for lights that are already named.
Sources
Related files
Same craft, same place, same years. A neighbor in the catalogue — not a conclusion.
Same craft · Same place · Same year · July 2008
Harare International Airport
Harare International Airport · Zimbabwe
Unidentified
A CIA file considered a disc-like object over Harare’s airport as either foreign reconnaissance or an unidentified flying object. It did not decide.
Same craft · Same years · 7 November 2006
Chicago O’Hare disk
O’Hare International Airport, Chicago · United States
Unidentified
United Airlines ramp workers and pilots saw a dark disk hovering under an overcast, then shooting up through the cloud and leaving a hole.
Same craft · 14 August 2026
Car-sized object over Shagawa Lake, Ely
Ely, Minnesota · United States
Unidentified
An adult and three children at Semers Beach independently described a car-sized object with two round lights over the lake.
Same craft · August 6, 2026, evening
Disk shoots across sky leaving trail, photographed
Poway, California · USA
Unidentified
While photographing an unusual storm, the witness and family saw a disk zoom across the sky at hypersonic speed with no sound. The long-exposure photo captured the metallic disk with a visible trail and possible greenish cloud/wormhole above it.
Same craft · May 2026 (circulated September 2026)
Glowing disc over a bowling-alley lot, Argentina
Argentina · Argentina
Unidentified
Young people outside a bowling alley later found a luminous disc in their night video; Argentine researchers circulated the clip in September.
Same craft · January 21, 2015
GIMBAL
Off the East Coast (Atlantic Ocean) · United States
Unidentified
U.S. Navy F/A-18 ATFLIR footage showing a rotating unidentified object tracked during operations from the USS Theodore Roosevelt. Cockpit audio captures pilot reactions to the object's apparent rotation and flight characteristics.