State Department UAP Cable 2, Kazakhstan, January 31, 1994

Department of StatePDFCableUNCLASSIFIEDNo redactions7/10— significant, well-sourcedPURSUE Release 1

Location: Kazakhstan
Incident date: 1/27/94
Released: May 8, 2026

Official Description

This document is a U.S. Department of State diplomatic cable from the U.S. Embassy in Dushanbe, Tajikistan to the Secretary of State in Washington, D.C. on January 31, 1994. On January 27, 1994 one Tajik pilot and three American citizens encountered an UAP flying a 747 jet at 41,000 feet over Kazakhstan. Object was a bright light of enormous intensity and approached over the horizon to the east at great speed and a much higher altitude. Several pictures were taken of the craft making 90 degree turns, doing corkscrews and maneuvering in circles a great rates of speed. Object was reported as resembling a bullet in flight. Visual estimation of the contrails were at 100,000 feet, which was too high to leave contrails by ordinary aircraft.

UAP Insight Analysis— AI generated, not official

A U.S. Embassy Dushanbe diplomatic cable dated January 31, 1994 reports that Tajik Air Chief Pilot Ed Rhodes and two American colleagues observed an unidentified flying object on January 27, 1994 while flying a Boeing 747SP at 41,000 feet over Kazakhstan. The crew observed the object for approximately 40 minutes as it performed extraordinary maneuvers, and Rhodes photographed it with a pocket camera. The embassy reports the incident without offering an opinion on its nature.

Key Findings

→Three American pilots and a Tajik Air crew member observed a UFO on January 27, 1994 at latitude 45N, longitude 55E over Kazakhstan while flying at 41,000 feet in a Boeing 747SP.
→The object appeared as a bright light of enormous intensity approaching from the eastern horizon at great speed and at a much higher altitude than the aircraft, and was observed for approximately 40 minutes.
→The object performed circles, corkscrews, and 90-degree turns at rapid speeds under very high G-forces, maneuvers the crew assessed as impossible for conventional aircraft.
→Captain Rhodes estimated the object left contrails at approximately 100,000 feet altitude, and the contrail patterns matched the observed maneuvers including circles and corkscrews; the crew flew under these contrails 45 minutes after the initial sighting.
→Captain Rhodes took photographs with a pocket Olympus camera and planned to send copies to the embassy and the State Department Tajikistan desk; Rhodes and his crew expressed the opinion the object was extraterrestrial and under intelligent control.

Extracted Entities

People

Ed Rhodes (Tajik Air Chief Pilot, American citizen)Lowry Taylor (Tajikistan Desk, State Department)Escudero (cable signatory)

Agencies & Organizations

U.S. Embassy DushanbeU.S. Department of State (SECSTATE WASHDC)CIA WASHDCDIA WASHDCTajik AirPanAm (prior employer of witnesses)

Locations

Dushanbe, TajikistanKazakhstanLatitude 45 North, Longitude 55 EastWashington D.C.

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AI analysis by claude-sonnet-4-6 · May 17, 2026