DOW-UAP-D170: BAASS April 2009 field investigations
BAASS’s April 2009 report covers staffing, Earthtech papers, MUFON dispatch operations and preliminary investigations in Kansas, Arkansas and Maryland. The case narratives preserve witness estimates alongside unresolved alternatives, negative inquiries and a vehicle-compass comparison that weakened one proposed anomaly. A separate Northern Tier analysis outlines historical base incidents and plans for witness interviews and record requests.
- File
- Document · Release 07
- Date
- Apr 1, 2009
- Location
- Las Vegas, Nevada
- Extent
- 50 pages
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Probed Assessment
The report documents ongoing investigations, including counterevidence and unresolved alternatives, rather than completed identifications.
Key takeaways
- MUFON’s reported deployment count reflects triage, historical cases and limited case volume.
- The three included field narratives are expressly preliminary.
- The Scammon lantern explanation remained disputed and incompletely followed up.
- A comparison vehicle weakened the interpretation of the Arkansas compass result.
Why it matters
The packet exposes how cases were selected, investigated and qualified, allowing operational progress to be distinguished from evidentiary conclusions.
Corroboration
Witness estimates, investigator opinions, negative interviews and historical summaries are separate evidence layers. No raw calibrated data establishing extraordinary performance are supplied in these narratives.
Open questions
- • What did final case reports conclude?
- • Were the lantern witness, battery failure and power-line records independently checked?
- • Which historical witnesses and records were recovered under the Northern Tier plan?
Probed separates this editorial assessment from the source claims below. It summarizes what the released artifact supports; it is not independent verification.
Official Description from War.gov
This document is an administrative, programmatic, or contractor-produced record related to the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP), a Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)-administered program active from 2008 to 2012. AAWSAP’s official scope of work identified 12 technical research areas relating to potential aerospace threats over a time horizon of more than 40 years. As part of the broader program record, the file documents how AAWSAP was scoped, organized, tasked, funded, executed, or described at a particular point in time. This April 2009 Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS) progress report summarizes contractor activities for the period April 1–30, 2009. The report addresses staffing and clearance processing, progress on contracted technical papers, BAASS’s purchase of unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) information from the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), work on “Project Northern Tier,” and review of UAP-related materials released by several foreign governments. It also describes BAASS’s development of investigative and laboratory support capabilities, including a small deployable field investigation team and arrangements for potential future forensic and scientific analyses of materials obtained through MUFON reporting. Overall, the file documents ongoing program activity, particularly in UAP case acquisition, field investigation, and archival research.
Preserved verbatim as source metadata. This wording is separate from Probed’s file-specific description and assessment.
File Context
Related entities
Tracker findings
MUFON triage produced few deployment-level cases
MUFON reports 319 U.S. cases in April: nine category-two cases, no category-three cases and 310 category-one cases; three deployments occurred in April and one followed in May.
Scammon witnesses gave different shape descriptions
In Scammon, a mother and son described an orange light or craft, with differing views of its shape; they reported no sound, smell or electromagnetic effects.
Lantern explanation and unresolved assessment conflicted
The Scammon investigation records a sheriff’s three-lantern explanation, missing follow-up names and an investigator who disagreed with that explanation and left the object unknown.
A second vehicle challenged the compass-anomaly claim
The Arkansas investigators observed compass deflection near another Hyundai vehicle, which they said called their initial vehicle finding into question.
Low radiation reading did not establish an unusual cause
The Arkansas notes attribute curled weeds to weed killer, describe low ground radiation, and say a magnet check found nothing abnormal near the witness’s sinus area.
Pasadena follow-up found no corroborating witnesses
Pasadena follow-up records a public-works denial of street sweeping at that hour and two shop employees who reported hearing or seeing nothing unusual; other inquiries had no replies.
Wurtsmith records included radar and KC-135 observations
The Wurtsmith summary describes reported ground sightings, radar and a KC-135 pursuit over Lake Huron, and judges the case worthy of further attention.
Northern Tier strategy acknowledged decades-old memories
The Northern Tier plan says its strategy is provisional and that locating witnesses after roughly thirty years prevents definitive predictions about investigation outcomes.
Release provenance
- Release
- Release 07
- Official ID
- release-07-file-022-dow-uap-d170-baass-monthly-report-april-2009
- Cleared
- Oct 23, 2026
Referenced Timeline
Wurtsmith incident reviewed retrospectively
The BAASS report summarizes a historical incident from October 30, 1975; this is not a contemporary 2009 sighting.
LinkedWurtsmith Air Force BaseBAASS April reporting period
The report covers April 1–30 and includes a MUFON report dated May 6.
MUFON dispatch operations begin
MUFON reports beginning sixteen-hour daily coverage on April 1.
LinkedMUFONScammon encounter reported
The case heading dates the reported event April 4; some follow-up inquiries refer to April 5.
LinkedScammon, KansasPasadena encounter reported
The narrative dates the reported humming and visual observation April 16 at approximately 03:15.
LinkedPasadena, MarylandDardanelle encounter reported
The witness account is dated April 20 at approximately 05:20 local time.
LinkedDardanelle, Arkansas
Source Claims
Claims are attributed to the released source and remain distinct from Probed’s assessment and tracker findings.
The MUFON account says dispatch and field deployment operations began April 1 after staffing, training and web-based coordination were established.
initiate Dispatch and Field Deployment operations on April 1, 2009.
In Scammon, a mother and son described an orange light or craft, with differing views of its shape; they reported no sound, smell or electromagnetic effects.
there was no electromagnetic effects.
The Scammon investigation records a sheriff’s three-lantern explanation, missing follow-up names and an investigator who disagreed with that explanation and left the object unknown.
Conclusion: UAV unknown
The Dardanelle witness described a triangular object, lights, a flash and phone trouble; the investigator’s narrative records these as her account.
she could see three silverish, metallic blue rotating lights
The Arkansas investigators observed compass deflection near another Hyundai vehicle, which they said called their initial vehicle finding into question.
we felt this brought our findings on the experiencer's vehicle into question.
The Arkansas notes attribute curled weeds to weed killer, describe low ground radiation, and say a magnet check found nothing abnormal near the witness’s sinus area.
The weeds in the pasture were curled but this was explained by the fact that they had
The Arkansas investigator reports a blown internal battery fuse but offers several speculative explanations for the flash while awaiting information from the power plant.
the battery's internal fuse was blown.
In Pasadena, a witness described a black, unlit, boomerang-like craft, loud humming and an estimated seventeen-minute passage; its roughly 300-foot span was a witness estimate.
about 300 feet wingspan.
Pasadena follow-up records a public-works denial of street sweeping at that hour and two shop employees who reported hearing or seeing nothing unusual; other inquiries had no replies.
We definitely would not sweep/clean during those hours.
The Northern Tier analysis focuses on 1975–1976 events and highlights Malmstrom, Wurtsmith, Loring and Canadian Forces Base Falconbridge for further inquiry.
This analysis concentrated on incidents from 1975 - 1976 timeframe
BAASS describes Keith Wolverton’s historical event collection and excludes animal-mutilation incidents from this analysis; its maps also omit vague or out-of-area locations.
Incidents termed "Animal Mutilations" were not considered
The Wurtsmith summary describes reported ground sightings, radar and a KC-135 pursuit over Lake Huron, and judges the case worthy of further attention.
makes this one worthy of additional attention.
The Loring discussion preserves an important negative result: a tasked Air National Guard helicopter crew could not observe the object from the air.
an Air National Guard helicopter crew was unable to observe the object from the air.
The Northern Tier plan says its strategy is provisional and that locating witnesses after roughly thirty years prevents definitive predictions about investigation outcomes.
there are no definitive predictions that can be made
The report says translation of the 329 Danish pages was complete and analysis was underway, while British and Canadian collections were being organized.
The translation has been completed
Source Material & Evidence
Research Map
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