This article was published in the daily newspaper Le Provençal, France, page 18, on January 14, 1980.
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"It went at the speed of a jet plane, at approximately 500 knots (926 km/h), when I saw it, it was just behind a helicopter taking part in a night exercise."
This testimony of an air controller of the military Base of Elmas, close to Cagliari in Sardinia, is contained in a thick report kept secret during more than two years by the Italian Ministry of Defense, and communicated Sunday to the press agency "ANSA".
The appearance of this UFO, on October 21, 1977, at the time of a military exercise, prompted the exchanges of messages between the Base of Elmas, the NATO Base of Décimomannu, the American aircraft carrier "Saratoga" and several military aircraft in flight.
The UFO, that several pilots also saw, flew at approximately 1,500 feet (500 m.) and remained visible during four minutes.
In the night from the 3rd to the 4th of August, 1977, three employees of the control tower of the airport of Naples-Capodichino saw two UFOs of circular form, emitting a very sharp white light.
In Pisa, finally, an air controller, informed by a colleague of the airport of Sarzana, saw in the night from the 23rd to the 24th of November 1977 an object in the shape of a star changing color very quickly, passing from the red to purple then to the green and the yellow [This one probably was a star].
