It’s worth pointing out that the pulp fiction work Flying Saucers, published in 2014 and revised various times since, predicted the Wall Street Journal’s astonishing revelation that the Pentagon ran electromagnetic tests over U.S. nuclear missile silos in the 1960s, leading to one of the most enduring UFO mysteries of the modern era.

However, whereas the Journal’s investigation found that the Pentagon tests were aimed at learning whether the nuclear bunkers would still function if they received a direct hit, my thought was that the military was testing a new anti-missile technology using electromagnetic pulses to temporarily shut down the controls.

Anyway, here is the relevant passage, from page 150, Flying Saucers:

Air Force General Curtis LeMay, a key player in antigravity R&D, informed McNamara that the saucers were by design the perfect foil against Soviet intercontinental ballistic missiles. LeMay, who despised McNamara and his intellectual disposition, strong armed the defense secretary into boosting resources for the antigravity program.

Tests ordered by LeMay were conclusive: Just flying alongside missiles and unloading a few hundred rounds from a 30-millimeter cannon was all it would take to neutralize nukes. Or, better yet, hover over a missile silo and barrage it with electromagnetic pulses to overwhelm the controls.

The weapons people were testing both options by 1967, inducing terror in the hearts and minds of military personnel on both sides of the Cold War.

Missile silo operators at U.S. and Soviet bases reported UFO encounters that temporarily shut them down. On other occasions, Air Force and Army engineers reviewing films of missile tests were surprised to see flying saucers shadowing their rockets and shooting what appeared to be a ray gun. The “ray gun” was actually a high-intensity strobe lamp flashing rapidly to simulate cannon fire. Sometimes word leaked out to the press, fueling speculation of alien visitation and interstellar intrigue. All films were sent to the Pentagon and studied by project leaders. Analyses confirmed that flying saucers were the only effective defensive weapon against ICBMs.

 This sort of testing represented a dramatic development: The big brains in charge of antigravity realized the best way to evaluate their new weapon was in the real world. Cribbing a page from Truman’s playbook, they’d fly over cities and near military bases in America and Europe and then watch the fireworks.

The idea was to pit antigravity vehicles against first class air defenses and radar systems. America was fine-tuning the ultimate weapon, and the program got a big boost during the Reagan years, when the black budget tripled.