SAO.
“On the night of May 19, 1986 — known in Brazilian UFO history as "A Noite Oficial dos OVNIs" (the Official UFO Night) — air traffic control in São José dos Campos and São Paulo began tracking up to 21 unidentified objects in southeast Brazilian airspace.”
The Brazilian Air Force scrambled Mirage III fighters from Anápolis, F-5 Tiger II fighters from Santa Cruz, and Northrop F-5E Tiger II fighters from Canoas. The fighters reported intermittent radar contacts and visual sightings of luminous objects. The objects exhibited rapid acceleration, hover behaviour, and at one point appeared to coordinate movement around the intercepting aircraft. The pursuit continued for several hours; no military aircraft fired on the objects.
The Brazilian Minister of Aeronautics, Brigadier Octávio Júlio Moreira Lima, gave a televised press conference within days of the event in which he confirmed the radar contacts, the fighter scrambles, and the inability of the Brazilian Air Force to identify the objects. Brigadier José Pessoa Cavalcanti de Albuquerque, who oversaw the air defence operation, similarly confirmed the events. This level of immediate, on-camera ministerial confirmation of an unexplained military UFO event remains rare in any country's record.
In 2010, the Brazilian government released approximately 4,300 pages of declassified documents related to UFO investigations, including extensive material on the May 1986 events. Researcher A.J. Gevaerd, editor of the Brazilian UFO Magazine, organised the campaign that led to the declassification. The 1986 case is one of three Brazilian UFO events for which the government has formally and publicly admitted institutional investigation, alongside Operation Saucer (1977) and the Trindade Island photographs (1958).