Eglin AFB radar tracks — 26 January 2023

Eglin Air Force Base reported a series of radar contacts in restricted airspace in late January 2023 that AARO has acknowledged in its historical records review. Public detail remains limited; the Council is watching for additional declassification.

Eglin Air Force Base, Florida — the largest USAF installation by area and home to the 96th Test Wing — has filed a series of UAP-related reports referenced in the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) historical record. Public reporting following the 26 January 2023 event indicates radar contacts in restricted training airspace that did not match known traffic and were of sufficient interest to be referred up the chain.

What is on the public record

• AARO acknowledgment. The office’s Historical Record Report Volume I (March 2024) includes Eglin among installations with elevated UAP report rates. The report does not provide event-level detail for the 2023 incidents.
• Congressional reference. Lt. Ryan Graves and other witnesses in the April 2023 Senate Armed Services Subcommittee hearing referenced restricted-airspace incursions of the type Eglin reports, without identifying specific dates.
• Pattern of reporting. Eglin’s regional airspace overlaps with operating areas implicated in earlier carrier-based UAP encounters off the Gulf and East coasts.

What we do not have

• The radar tape itself.
• Slant range, altitude, or velocity data.
• Confirmation of whether visual or infrared contact was made.
• A public AARO disposition for the specific 26 January event.

Mundane explanations under consideration

1. Civilian drone incursion. Eglin’s restricted airspace is regularly violated by recreational and commercial drone traffic; many contacts are eventually attributed to UAS.
2. Sensor anomaly or radar clutter. Modern AESA radars produce occasional spurious returns; without the tape, ruling this in or out is impossible.
3. Foreign collection platform. Possible but neither confirmed nor refuted in public statements.

The Council’s verdict

Watching. The case is not yet adjudicable on public information. AARO has acknowledged Eglin as a site of interest; the underlying data is not declassified. We assign Watching rather than Inconclusive because there is reasonable expectation of additional disclosure under AARO’s ongoing reporting cadence — particularly the FY2025 annual report (Case #00471).

For amateur sky-watchers in the Florida Panhandle, the reference instruments are the Celestron NexStar 8SE for tracking specific contacts and the SiOnyx Aurora Pro for geotagged low-light video. Field notes should always be logged in a Rite in the Rain notebook — Florida’s humidity will destroy a normal pad inside an hour.