The Department of Defense had already put forward a similar hypothesis in the same year, believing that it was a missile launched by one of the countries of the Warsaw Pact. Two experts claimed they were Poseidon C-3 rockets launched from American submarines near the Canary Islands.
The military leadership of the former USSR prepared a large report on the presence of UFOs in the waters surrounding the Canary Islands. It states that the object, discovered by the Spanish authorities in March 1979, appeared “from under the water,” but does not specify whether it was a missile as it was claimed at the time and what was proven in 2001.
The light phenomenon in the area of the Canary Islands was mentioned in one of the Soviet reports of those years. The fact that the USSR knew about what was happening in the Canary Islands was quite understandable: the KGB station was located there, working under the cover of the Soviet-Spanish enterprise "Sovispan". Since it was engaged in fishing, the USSR had to have sources for collecting information on the high seas, installed on fishing or auxiliary vessels.
The report, which came into the possession of the ABC newspaper and signed by Colonel PVL and Captain LAP, is called "Study of anomalous phenomena by the intelligence service of the USSR Navy." The document states that "thousands of people on the island of Gran Canaria witnessed an unusual phenomenon: a dark object flew out from under the water and rushed up."
The text goes on to say that “a moment later, a strong glow was observed around the object, after which it disappeared from view, leaving behind a huge luminous cloud,” the Soviet military said in a report. Indeed, the object was observed all over the Sahara coast, including pilots of passenger aircraft flying south of the Canary Islands. During the Cold War, the Soviet military could neither confirm nor deny that these were missiles, nor clarify who they belonged to.
Witnesses
A report dated March 3, 1979, declassified by the Spanish Ministry of Defense, states: “At 17:56, air traffic controllers detected a primary echo on the screen, which was moving rapidly, which was reported to the operator, who was also observing it on his screen. Soon the signal disappeared from the screen. At that moment, no aircraft movement was observed in this area."
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The UFO, which, according to the Soviet military, flew out from under the water, according to eyewitnesses, was a "rare atmospheric phenomenon" or "strange sunset" at 18.30 Canary time.
The phenomenon was observed twice that day. At 20.08 a “silvery object” reappeared (various witnesses say that it was pyramidal, represented a luminous sphere, rocket, fireball), “which left a red trail behind it” and went up “almost vertically”.
The Defense Department report indicated that the object changed its trajectory, "soaring up sharply in a short time," according to witnesses. Witnesses indicated to military officials that small explosions had been observed at the site. There were four missile launches that day.
Launch from the sea
Although there was much speculation as the phenomenon was observed by a significant number of people, a coded message was sent from Las Palmas to Madrid on 23 March stating: “All indications are that this is a rocket launched from international waters west of the archipelago. Proceeding from this, it is necessary to suppress all kinds of speculation that unprincipled people resort to in order to use these facts for their own purposes. " The telegram goes on to say: “It might be advisable to ask the US Armed Forces about the launch, although, judging by some available data, the missile could have been launched towards the east. In this case, it can be assumed that this was a training launch of a rocket, which should fall on the territory of Eastern Europe. Accordingly, it was launched from one of the warships of the Warsaw Pact countries. " So,Spain believed it was a Soviet missile.
Experts Ricardo Campo and Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos believe the fires were the result of the launch of Poseidon C-3 missiles from US nuclear submarines in the Atlantic Ocean. On the evening of that day, four rockets were launched at various times, two of which were well observed, especially their trail in the form of a huge trail of gas in the upper atmosphere. The launches were carried out as part of the firing practice of American submarines.
Four years agoAs it became known to ABC, on September 10 and 12, 2013, in one of the areas of the Atlantic Ocean, located near the Canary Islands, the US Navy's Ohio-class submarines carried out in a submerged position four training launches of Trident-2 D5 marine ballistic missiles without a warhead produced by Lockheed Martin Corporation.
