As America Opens Its UFO Vault, India’s Most Mysterious Sky Encounters Return To Spotlight

Last Updated:May 09, 2026, 16:47 IST

India has a long and documented history of 'Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena' (UAP) that has often left the Indian Air Force and scientific community reaching for answers

While the United States dominates global headlines with President Donald Trump’s historic “PURSUE" initiative, the question on many Indian minds is simple: where does India stand in the search for the unknown? From the high-altitude silence of the Himalayas to the bustling outskirts of Uttar Pradesh, India has a long and documented history of “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena" (UAP) that has often left the Indian Air Force and scientific community reaching for answers.

What are the most famous UFO sightings in India?

The most strategically significant sightings in Indian history have occurred in the Kongka La Pass in Ladakh. Located on the disputed border between India and China, this region is frequently cited by local residents and military personnel as a “UFO base". In 2012, the Indian Army reportedly sighted over 100 luminous objects moving across the horizon in this area over a period of several months. Despite being monitored by radar and mobile ground-based sensors, these objects remained unidentified, leading to intense internal discussions about whether they were extraterrestrial or advanced surveillance drones from across the border.

Further south, in 2015, a boy from Kanpur made international news when he claimed to have captured a “perfect" flying saucer on his father’s mobile phone. While experts debated the authenticity of the photo, citing its “too-good-to-be-true" quality, it sparked a national conversation about civilian sightings. More recently, in November 2023, flight operations at the Imphal Airport in Manipur were suspended for three hours after a “UFO" was spotted in broad daylight. The Indian Air Force (IAF) even scrambled two Rafale fighter jets to intercept the object, but it vanished before a visual confirmation could be made.

Does the Indian Government have its own ‘UFO Vault’?

Unlike the US Department of War’s new public portal at war.gov/UFO, India does not currently have a centralised, public-facing database for UAP reports. Most sightings reported by the military are classified under national security protocols, primarily to avoid telegraphing the capabilities (or limitations) of Indian radar and air defence systems to regional adversaries. However, the Indian government has historically acknowledged these incidents in Parliament, often categorising them as “unidentified" rather than extraterrestrial to maintain a cautious diplomatic stance.

What is ISRO’s official stance on extraterrestrial life?

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has traditionally remained focused on lunar and interplanetary missions, but its leadership has recently become more vocal. In 2024, ISRO Chief S Somanath stated in a candid interview that he has “no doubt" technologically advanced aliens exist and may have already visited Earth. Somanath likened the human race’s current understanding to that of animals in a zoo, suggesting that advanced civilisations might be observing us from afar. This marks a radical shift from the purely sceptical tone of previous decades, aligning India’s top scientific mind with the growing global transparency movement.

How does the Indian Air Force (IAF) handle these encounters?

The IAF’s protocol for UAPs is strictly defensive. Any unidentified object in Indian airspace that does not respond to Transponder (IFF) signals is treated as a potential security threat. In incidents like the 2023 Imphal encounter, the response is kinetic: scrambling high-speed interceptors to identify the craft. The difficulty for the IAF, much like the US Navy, is that many of these objects appear to move with “non-ballistic" trajectories that defy conventional aerodynamics, making them nearly impossible to track with current standard-issue interceptor technology.

Will India follow the US lead in declassifying files?

As of May 2026, there is no official word on an Indian “PURSUE" equivalent. However, the massive interest generated by the US declassification of Release 01 has put pressure on global space agencies to be more forthcoming. With India’s growing role in the global space race via the Gaganyaan and Chandrayaan programmes, the demand for transparency is expected to grow. For now, the Indian “X-Files" remain behind closed doors, though the increasing frequency of sightings in the Indo-Pacific region may soon force a more public accounting of what lies in India’s skies.

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