Tehran 1976 — the IIAF F-4 Pursuit

In the early hours of September 19, 1976, the Imperial Iranian Air Force scrambled two F-4 Phantoms toward a luminous object reported by civilians and confirmed on Mehrabad approach radar. Both aircraft suffered communications and weapons-systems failures as they neared the object; the pilots reported smaller objects detaching from the primary. The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency's four-page summary of the incident — written by the U.S. Defense Attaché to Iran — was distributed to NSA, CIA, and the White House.