Orange lights hovering in the sky? It may be a military illumination flare

4 min read

A few bright, orangish lights appear side by side, hover almost motionless for minutes, then go out one by one. Sights like this are often reported as UFOs, yet they are frequently caused by parachute military illumination flares, which are dropped during exercises to light up target areas at night.

What do people see in these cases?

The reports are similar: bright, whitish or orange lights standing in a row or a group appear in the sky, hovering almost in place for minutes or descending very slowly. Sometimes more lights appear next to them, then they disappear one after another. If the observer is far away, they hear no sound at all.

What is an illumination flare?

A military illumination flare is a parachute light source used to illuminate a target area at night. It is dropped from an aircraft or fired as an artillery round. After release, a timer opens the parachute and ignites the illuminant compound.

One of the best-known types is the U.S. Air Force's LUU-2 illumination flare. According to GlobalSecurity.org's description:

its brightness is about 1.8 million candlepower,
its burn time is about 5 minutes, while it descends on a parachute,
its color is bright white, but it can also take on an orangish tint because of the burning aluminum casing,
when the light goes out, the parachute collapses.

According to BBC Sky at Night Magazine, on a clear night it can be seen from as far as 50 kilometers away. The heat of the burn warms the air around the parachute, so the flares sink much more slowly, as if they were hovering. In calm air, lights dropped one after another from the aircraft also keep their row, so they can look like a single large object.

The most famous case: Phoenix, 1997

On the evening of March 13, 1997, many people saw lights over Phoenix, Arizona. The evening's second phenomenon, the hovering row of lights that appeared around 10 p.m., was clearly linked to military illumination flares. A-10 aircraft of the Maryland Air National Guard were conducting exercises at the Barry M. Goldwater Range, about 100 kilometers southwest of Phoenix. According to a 1997 Associated Press report, the aircraft dropped the flares from about 4,600 meters. Before returning home they also released the rest, and according to one of the pilots it was a hell of a light show.

According to Wikipedia, the lights disappeared as if they had gone out, but in reality they sank behind the Sierra Estrella mountains southwest of Phoenix. Local TV stations compared footage of known flare drops with the Phoenix videos and found similarities. Earlier on the same evening, another, V-shaped light formation was also seen; its origin is still disputed to this day. We wrote about it in a separate article.

More recent cases

San Diego, August 29, 2018: after 10 p.m., a row of orange orbs of light appeared over the southern part of the city. According to a spokesperson for Naval Base Coronado, a Marine Corps transport squadron dropped them during an exercise, about 50 kilometers off the coast. One of the videos also shows an aircraft passing above the lights.
El Paso, January 2020: regarding the orbs of light seen over the northeastern part of the Texas city, the Fort Bliss military base stated that they were artillery illumination flares used by a unit at the nearby Doña Ana training range.
Phoenix, February 6, 2007: lights recorded by a local TV station were attributed by military authorities and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to flares from F-16s exercising out of Luke Air Force Base.

How can you recognize it?

Bright, white or orange light, often several in a row or a group.
Hovers almost in place, or descends very slowly, drifting with the wind.
Goes out after a few minutes, the lights usually disappear one after another as they burn out, or as they sink behind the horizon, a mountain or a hill.
Nothing can be heard, because they are typically far away, even several tens of kilometers.
They occur near military training areas and firing ranges, and aircraft lights can sometimes be seen nearby.
Often confirmable afterward: the press offices of military bases will usually tell you on request whether there was an exercise.

If the lights move quickly and change direction, rise upward, or are visible for much longer than a few minutes, then they are probably not illumination flares. In that case it is worth considering sky lanterns, drones or aircraft as well.

The sober take

What is it? A military illumination flare is a parachute light source that is dropped from aircraft or fired by artillery during exercises to illuminate the target area at night. It is very bright, can be seen from several tens of kilometers away, and hovers almost motionless for minutes, so it can easily look like a mysterious, silent object.

The most important identifying features:

Bright, white or orangish light, often several in a row or a group.
Hovers or slowly sinks for minutes, drifting with the wind.
After a few minutes they go out one after another, or sink below the horizon.
No sound, near a military training area.

How does it differ from a truly unidentified light? An illumination flare never rises, never speeds up, and never changes direction suddenly. Nor does it shine for longer than a few minutes. If a light does all of this, it may have a different cause. The press offices of military bases can usually tell you afterward whether there was an exercise that day.