Skip to main content
1989CASE #008
🛸 UFOs & UAPDisputed

The Belgian UFO Wave

📅 1989–1990  ·  📍 Eupen, Belgium

Over several months thousands of people in Belgium, including police officers, reported large, silent triangular craft with bright lights. The air force scrambled F-16s to chase one.

What happened

The Belgium UFO wave began on the evening of 29 November 1989. Two gendarmes (police officers) near Eupen in eastern Belgium reported a large triangular object with bright lights hovering silently over a field. Dozens of other people in the same region described something similar that night, and reports kept coming for months, spreading across Wallonia and beyond.

On the night of 30–31 March 1990, after radar stations picked up unidentified returns, the Belgian Air Force sent two F-16 fighters to investigate. The pilots got several brief radar locks on a target that appeared to change speed and altitude sharply, but the locks kept breaking and neither crew saw anything they could identify. The air force took the unusual step of discussing the episode publicly, which is a large part of why the case is still cited.

A famous photograph of a triangular craft with lights at its corners, taken at Petit-Rechain in April 1990, became the symbol of the wave. In 2011 the man behind it said he had made it from a polystyrene model. Earlier analyses, including by Belgium’s Royal Military Academy, had found no clear sign of faking, and COBEPS, the successor to SOBEPS, said the confession did not change the rest of the case.

Two camps formed. SOBEPS, a Belgian group that studied space phenomena, collected and published the witness reports and argued that something unexplained was going on. Skeptics argued that the wave was a mix of misidentified aircraft and lights, a radar artefact and a media-driven surge in reporting. Both sides agree that the F-16 night produced no clear visual sighting and no physical evidence.

Timeline

  1. 29 November 1989
    Two gendarmes near Eupen and many other witnesses report a large triangular craft with bright lights moving slowly and silently. This is the usual start date of the wave.
  2. December 1989 – early 1990
    Reports spread across Belgium. SOBEPS collects witness statements and the press covers the story heavily.
  3. 30–31 March 1990
    After radar contacts and ground witnesses, two F-16s are scrambled. They get several radar locks on a fast-changing target but see nothing clearly.
  4. April 1990
    The Petit-Rechain photograph, showing a dark triangle with lights, is taken and later published.
  5. 1991–1994
    SOBEPS publishes its two-volume report on the wave (volume 1 in 1991, volume 2 in 1994). Most reports had stopped by spring 1990.
  6. 2011
    The photographer says the Petit-Rechain image was a fake made from a polystyrene model. Earlier analyses, including by Belgium’s Royal Military Academy, had found no clear sign of faking, and COBEPS, the successor to SOBEPS, said the confession did not change the rest of the case.

🔍 The evidence

  • More than 2,000 witness reports collected by SOBEPS (about 2,600 by one count), including statements from police officers. Witness testimony is the backbone of the case, and it is not physical evidence.
  • Radar recordings from the F-16s on 30–31 March 1990, with several locks that broke. The Belgian Air Force released the data, but it did not confirm an object, and the pilots saw nothing they could identify.
  • The Petit-Rechain photograph (April 1990). It was widely published, then discredited: in 2011 the photographer said it was a polystyrene model. Earlier analyses, including by Belgium’s Royal Military Academy, had found no clear sign of faking, and COBEPS, the successor to SOBEPS, said the confession did not change the rest of the case. Either way, the photo should not be counted as evidence.

🤨 The skeptic’s view

  • The F-16 radar returns have been attributed to weather effects, interference and tracking errors, such as a radar lock jumping between targets. A radar lock on its own does not show that a solid object was there.
  • Many sightings may have been aircraft, helicopters or light aircraft seen from below at night, then amplified by heavy media coverage that primed people to look up.
  • SOBEPS and some researchers reply that the volume of reports and the number of police witnesses make mass misidentification an unlikely sole explanation. Skeptics reply that more reports follow more publicity, not more craft.
  • The best-known photograph was, by the photographer’s own later account, a hoax, which damaged the wave’s credibility. Earlier analyses, including by Belgium’s Royal Military Academy, had found no clear sign of faking, and COBEPS, the successor to SOBEPS, said the confession did not change the rest of the case.

Related reports on the map

News stories that mention this case and reports from the area around Eupen.

No recent reports linked to this case yet. Seen something in the area?

Report a sighting nearby

Frequently asked questions

What was the Belgium UFO wave?+

The Belgium UFO wave was a run of sightings of large, silent, triangular craft with bright lights, reported in more than 2,000 witness reports collected by SOBEPS (including police officers) from 29 November 1989 to about spring 1990. It is one of the best-documented UFO waves, and it is still disputed.

Did the Belgian Air Force chase a UFO?+

On 30–31 March 1990 two F-16s were scrambled after radar contacts. They got several radar locks on a target that appeared to change speed and altitude sharply, but the locks broke and the pilots did not see anything clearly. The air force released the data, and it did not prove an object was there.

Was the Belgian UFO wave photo a hoax?+

The Petit-Rechain photograph taken in April 1990 was widely seen as the best evidence. In 2011 the photographer said it was a polystyrene model. Earlier analyses, including by Belgium’s Royal Military Academy, had found no clear sign of faking, and COBEPS, the successor to SOBEPS, said the confession did not change the rest of the case. The photo is no longer treated as proof of anything.

What did SOBEPS conclude about the Belgium UFO wave?+

SOBEPS, the Belgian group that collected the reports, argued that many cases had no ordinary explanation. Skeptics point to misidentified aircraft, radar artefacts and media coverage.

Has the Belgian UFO wave been explained?+

Not to everyone’s satisfaction. Some sightings have mundane explanations, the photo is a likely hoax, and the radar data is open to debate, but a core of police and other witness reports remains unexplained. That is why we list this case as disputed.

Sources and further reading