{"type":"locations","slug":"belgian-air-force","title":"Belgian Air Force","url":"https://disclosdex.com/locations/belgian-air-force","description":"Force that scrambled F-16s during the 1989-1990 Belgian UFO wave centered over Wallonia","date":"1989-11-29T00:00:00.000Z","tags":["Military"],"updated":"2025-06-13T13:26:43.000Z","lat":50.5039,"lng":4.4699,"connectionCount":3,"content":{"markdown":"## Radar and Jet Pursuits\n\nStarting in late 1989, the Belgian Air Force investigated repeated reports of triangular craft. On 30 March 1990, F-16s attempted to intercept a radar target maneuvering erratically over Belgium.[^1][^2]\nSee the [Belgian UFO wave](/events/1989-1990-belgian-ufo-wave) article for a full account of sightings.\n\n## Photographs and Analysis\n\nThe widely published Petit-Rechain photo fueled debate until it was confessed as a hoax in 2011. Official investigations concluded no hostile aircraft was identified.[^3][^4][^5]\n\n\n[^1]: [Belgian Air Force report PDF: March 30-31, 1990](https://www.das-ufo-phaenomen.de/app/download/5789262574/Belgian_UFO_Report.pdf)\n[^2]: [COBEPS: Belgian UFO wave historical overview](https://cobeps.org/fr/historique)\n[^3]: [Skeptoid: The Belgian UFO Wave](https://skeptoid.com/episodes/538)\n[^4]: [RTBF: Photo confession](https://www.rtbf.be/article/la-photo-d-ovni-de-petit-rechain-etait-un-canular-6436883)\n[^5]: [Patrick Gross transcript: Belgian Air Force Major Lambrechts report](https://ufologie.patrickgross.org/htm/belrap01.htm)","readingTime":"1 min read"},"relatedRecords":[{"ref":{"type":"documents","slug":"1990-belgian-air-force-reports","title":"Belgian Air Force Reports","url":"https://disclosdex.com/documents/1990-belgian-air-force-reports"},"direction":"inbound","weight":1},{"ref":{"type":"events","slug":"1990-belgian-air-force-reports","title":"Belgian Air Force Reports","url":"https://disclosdex.com/events/1990-belgian-air-force-reports"},"direction":"inbound","weight":1},{"ref":{"type":"events","slug":"1989-1990-belgian-ufo-wave","title":"Belgian UFO Wave","url":"https://disclosdex.com/events/1989-1990-belgian-ufo-wave"},"direction":"outbound","weight":1}],"citation":{"canonicalUrl":"https://disclosdex.com/locations/belgian-air-force","title":"Belgian Air Force","publisher":"Disclosdex","retrievedFrom":"https://disclosdex.com/api/v1/locations/belgian-air-force","license":"CC-BY-4.0"},"continent":"Europe"}