UFO Sightings in Arizona
Declassified UAP files, famous historical sightings, and primary-source documentation for Arizona.
Arizona is the state of the Phoenix Lights — the largest mass UFO sighting in modern U.S. history. On the night of March 13, 1997, thousands of witnesses across Arizona observed two distinct phenomena: a slow-moving, V-shaped or "carpenter's-square"-shaped formation of lights drifting south from Nevada toward Tucson, and a separate set of stationary hovering lights over Phoenix several hours later. The U.S. Air Force later attributed the second set of stationary lights to A-10 Warthog flare drops over the Barry M. Goldwater Range during a training exercise. The earlier moving formation has never been definitively identified. Then-Governor Fife Symington publicly mocked the sightings at the time, then in 2007 acknowledged he had personally seen the formation and described it as "otherworldly." The Phoenix Lights are not part of PURSUE Release 01 but are routinely cited as the highest-witness-count modern U.S. UFO event.
“I saw a craft of unknown origin… it was definitely not man-made.”
PURSUE Release 01 coverage
Arizonadoes not have any incidents publicly geolocated to it in PURSUE Release 01. The Pentagon's catalog covers 26 named incidents geographically; many “Western United States (undisclosed)” PURSUE entries — including the 2023 “Eye of Sauron” federal-agent encounter — may include Arizona locations that were redacted to protect facility identity.
Famous historical sightings in Arizona
Phoenix Lights (1997)
The 1997 Phoenix Lights remain the highest-witness-count UFO event in U.S. history, with thousands of witnesses across Arizona on the night of March 13. The Air Force attributed the second set of stationary lights to A-10 flares; the earlier moving V-formation has never been officially identified.
Tucson UAP reports (ongoing)
Davis-Monthan AFB and the broader Tucson basin generate recurring civilian UAP reports, often correlated with classified aircraft test flights from nearby ranges.