Jodhpur airport egg UFO.

[JJB]

Hi everyone, I am a long time follower and reader of this great forum and a skeptic of the paranormal. First time poster so please bear with me. I came across something on another forum that I'm going to need your help with. Now of course I don't believe that this is some alien tech or even something new and top secret as it is out there in full display. But what is this?

Anyone have any ideas?

https://vesavanhatupa.substack.com/p/egg-shaped-ufo-spotted-at-jodhpur

 

[Mick West]

Whatever it is, it's been there (and moved around, but seemingly never left the ground) since 2013

Maybe just some experimental aircraft body that never got off the ground.

Later images show it, maybe upside down, possible wings or legs nearby

 

[Ann K]

@JJB
Thanks to Mick for finding several different photos of it, but I have to admit, the first thing that came to mind from your photos was "is this simply a sculpture?" Here's the "Dragon's egg" sculpture at Keflavik airport in Iceland.

 

[Mendel]

Overview:

Does anyone know what the buildings/facilities next to it are? The fire fighters have some weird stuff to practice on, sometimes.

Whatever it is, it's been there (and moved around, but seemingly never left the ground) since 2013

Has it been in different places on the airport, or has it basically stayed in the same lot?

 

[JMartJr]

Maybe it is cheating but I sent a copy of the picture to Jodhpur Airport and asked what it is. Well see if they respond...

 

[deirdre]

Does anyone know what the buildings/facilities next to it are?

you can see it in landing videos, but so far i catn make out anything really about he buildings

 

[JMartJr]

Looks like it is elevatd off the ground -- I wonder of it is some sort of flight deck simulator for pilot training, up on jacks to make it banks and roll and stuff during training runs? Can;t find a great match, bit something along the lines of this...

 

[NorCal Dave]

The adjacent grounds seem to be for the Indian Air Force (object lower right):

The current Google Maps also has tank sitting nearby
:

And one of the photos in the OP had included what look like some sort of sing wing fighter jet under some scaffolding maybe:

I'm thinking maybe a Soviet era Sukhoi 24 Fencer:

Or a Soviet Mig 23 Flogger:

A Frogger here on display in India, which actively used them up until 2009:

Indian Air Force. The MiG-23BN ground attack aircraft was phased out on 6 March 2009, and the MiG-23MF air defence interceptor phased out in 2007. 14 MiG 23UB trainers in service according to "World Air Forces 2020"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-23

It would appear the object, whatever it is, might be associated with IAF operations.

 

[JJB]

And one of the photos in the OP had included what look like some sort of sing wing fighter jet under some scaffolding maybe:

View attachment 79732

Yes I noticed that, and here it looks as it is covering the whatever it is? I was thinking camouflage at first, but now maybe protection from the heat/sun?

 

[John J.]

The aircraft is a MiG-23 or MiG-27; both types were operated by the Indian Air Force. Essentially the same airframe, the main visible difference was the nose- which is absent from the Jodhpur airport craft.
But it allows us to make a (very) approximate estimate of the egg's size:

Maybe a UAV (drone) fuselage mock-up? For wind tunnel tests and the like. Bit of a long-shot, but Indian companies are developing several different drone systems.

The dark feature on the egg made me think of the air intakes of some UAVs, e.g. the Northrop-Grumman X-47B

...or the BAE Taranis/ Dassault Neuron demonstrators:

-but I'm not confident that this photo supports that interpretation.

If the dark area is meant to be an air-intake, there isn't an obvious jet nozzle/ exhaust.


This Indian UAV isn't the same shape, but the fuselage is a bit egg-shaped.

From The Aviationist, "Let's Have A Look At India's 'First Indigenous Bomber UAV'", David Cenciotti May 2024,
https://theaviationist.com/2024/05/04/india-first-bomber-uav/. This is described as an FWD-200B.
I'm no aero engineer, but that undercarriage could do with rather more ground clearance and a bit of beefing-up.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A quick detour: The toy-like undercarriage made me wonder about "FWD-200B"; Skip to below the next horizontal line if not interested:

Had a quick look at the company website https://fwdefence.com/products; the FWD-200B1 featured there looks very different, but has FWD-200B on its tail boom, the same as on the craft in the picture above.

The Flying Wedge Defence and Aerospace website has links to media about its products, including a "The Telegraph" (India) article about the FWD-200B, where it looks different again!
The Telegraph Online, 04/09/2024, https://www.telegraphindia.com/busi...mber-aircraft-fwd-200b-takes-wing/cid/2045679

Maybe they're angling for investment. Looking at other press releases linked to from FWDA's own site, there are huge discrepancies in quoted weights;

The bomber aircraft has a payload capacity of 100 kg... ...It can carry a maximum 498 Kg

(The Telegraph),

...the aircraft has a maximum take-off weight of 102 kg and can carry a payload capacity of 30 kg...

The New India Express, 04 September 2024.
I doubt the FWD-200B is a mature product, and would be sceptical about any claims made for it. I doubt the egg is related.
Detour over.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The fire fighters have some weird stuff to practice on, sometimes.

That might tie in with the (derelict? certainly retired) MiG. Maybe the egg is some fancy sort of water tank on a trailer or other wheeled mounting, it gets moved around.

 

[NorCal Dave]

Looking some more though, it looks different in different photos. Here it is with the Flogger:

Note the size and shape of the black almost diamond shaped area on the top near the pointed end. Also, its location next to the buildings or storage units to the upper left. Honestly this whole photo looks like diorama with some models. If that were the case though, it means the object is something a model maker would have known about and added. Maybe just the way it looks in this photo:

However, here is the current Google maps screen shot:

The black area on top is much smaller and the location seems different, same general yard area, but no storage units nearby. Whatever it is, it seems to change a bit over time.

 

[Ann K]

Looking some more though, it looks different in different photos. Here it is with the Flogger:

Note the size and shape of the black almost diamond shaped area on the top near the pointed end. Also, its location next to the buildings or storage units to the upper left. Honestly this whole photo looks like diorama with some models. If that were the case though, it means the object is something a model maker would have known about and added. Maybe just the way it looks in this photo:

View attachment 79751

However, here is the current Google maps screen shot:

View attachment 79750

The black area on top is much smaller and the location seems different, same general yard area, but no storage units nearby. Whatever it is, it seems to change a bit over time.

The proportions seem to be different, so (unless there's an aspect ratio difference in the photos) maybe there is more than one of them. There seem to be several different darker areas in the second photo, so is that an upside-down view, waiting for legs to be attached?

 

[John J.]

...unless there's an aspect ratio difference in the photos....

It looks like there is between some of them,
this from Mick West, post #2 (on the left) ...and this from @NorCal Dave (post #8), at right:

If the image at right has the more accurate aspect ratio, it appears to have a less egg-shaped "blunt" end than the egg with the black diamond

 

[Mendel]

Some obvious observations:
• we're looking at some kind of workshop (fighter aircraft with scaffolding and dismantled nose)
• not everything at an airport workshop can fly (e.g. the tank, or dismantled aircraft)
• the "egg" shape does not look like a lifting body; if it is intended to fly, it is probably missing some parts
• the small size (~6m/20ft) suggests that if the "egg" was a secret, it would easily fit in a corner of some hangar, or under a tarp (or both); but it sits outside, visible to pilots and passengers landing at the airport

 

[Eburacum]

This image looks like it has pneumatic adjustable legs of some sort, which supports the training simulator hypothesis.

If it were in use, there'd be some kind of steps allowing access to the device. So it might be some sort of out-of-use technology, possibly old or redundant tech.

 

[Eburacum]

Full-flight simulators can look something like this;

This egg-shaped thing is fully visible to people landing at Jodhpur airport, and if I saw it sat on the tarmac from a plane window I'd think 'flight simulator' first off the bat.

 

[Eburacum]

And here's an article about a contact to supply India with new full flight simulators, so maybe this 'egg' is just redundant older tech, waithng to be scrapped or carted off to a museum.
https://www.aviation24.be/flight-si...ng-company-for-8-a320-full-flight-simulators/
Avion gets order from Indian Flight Training Company for 8 A320 full flight simulators

 

[NorCal Dave]

And here's an article about a contact to supply India with new full flight simulators, so maybe this 'egg' is just redundant older tech, waithng to be scrapped or carted off to a museum.

But if Mick's photo is from 2013, and there sure seems to be different versions of the object, then the IAF has been moving assorted simulators out to this yard, but never 2 at the same time, for the past 10+ years.

It (or they) appears to have been in this yard for over 10 years. It appears to change over time with different proportions and a changing black mark on top. It's not secret.

India has the 4th largest air force in the world according to Wiki, but still, simulators are expensive bits of tech and there seems to be 2, if not 3, old units tossed out to the scrape yard. One would think, if these simulators were no longer suitable for air force training, they could still be used in the private pilot world. Here are simulators one can buy or rent in the US:

https://simulators.redbirdflight.com/products/topic/simulators

At the very least, older simulators would be useful as carnival attractions I would imagine.

I'm just thinking this is something much more mundane.

 

[Mick West]

But if Mick's photo is from 2013, and there sure seems to be different versions of the object,

It might just be upside down in some images.

 

[NorCal Dave]

It might just be upside down in some images.

Like they are turning the object over manually in the yard. So, it has small black circle(ish) mark on one side and the larger black diamond(ish) shape on the other side? The proportions also seem to chang, but I guess that could be the result of it being in different locations and the satellite imagery.

Ons side up, then turned over to the other side:

 

[Eburacum]

Like they are turning the object over manually in the yard. So, it has small black circle(ish) mark on one side and the larger black diamond(ish) shape on the other side? The proportions also seem to change, but I guess that could be the result of it being in different locations and the satellite imagery.

I think that is the answer. The side with the small black circle is probably the underneath, and you can see two other marks which might be the places where legs should be attached.

 

[John J.]

If it's a flight simulator, maybe the round black feature is a duct for power cables.

 

[MonkeeSage]

Current view from Apple Maps.

https://beta.maps.apple.com/frame?m...6&span=0.04256899999996122,0.0770607564080592

 

[John J.]

I'm wondering if this (orange arrow) is some sort of access way into the egg. Or maybe a service platform, like a cherry-picker.
-Of course its proximity to the egg might be coincidental, all sorts of bits and bobs seem to turn up in this yard
(the MiG, the tank, now what looks like the cockpit and nose of a military jet).

 

[NorCal Dave]

It is maddingly frustrating, and a bit fun, that this thing has been sitting there for over 10 years out in the open and we can't figure it out. I'm starting to suspect if we can figure this out, we'll figure out Jake Barber's egg under a helicopter chinkaderis.

 

[Ravi]

Whatever it is, it is not flying, so it cannot be a uap/ufo, right? It became a WITT. Still interesting though.

 

[Mendel]

It became a WITT.

"What is that thing?"?
It's not on the acronym thread (yet?).
https://www.metabunk.org/threads/ufo-acronyms-what-is-the-liz.11742/

 

[flarkey]

I'm surprised none of the UFO-fans have picked up on the TR-3B that is parked beside the egg...

Source

 

[flarkey]

Whatever it is it seems to have been built on that site under a temporary structure with a blue canopy around 2013.

 

[flarkey]

the egg does resemble an aerodynamic shape - could it be a model for wind tunnel testing?

there seems to be a wind tunnel in Jodhpur, but where exactly?

https://www.researchgate.net/figure...hpur-SWAHS-Lab-used-to-perform_fig2_378147951

Edit: here:

https://sites.google.com/iitj.ac.in/arun/swahs-lab

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa_yC_vgOZk

 

[JMartJr]

I have not heard from the airport, and I notice that the AFB sharing space with the airport is listed online as permanently closed:

So whatever it is, IF the base is really closed down, it MAY be abandoned equipment. But in hopes of learning something, I have written now to the adjacentAir Force School Jodhpur to see if they will respond, and if so if they can definitively identify it. Of course, I will keep y'all informed if I learn anything.

 

[JJB]

I must say that you guys really know how to investigate. I am glad I posted it here.

 

[Mendel]

there seems to be a wind tunnel in Jodhpur, but where exactly?

the IIT campus is outside of the city, to the North

I notice that the AFB sharing space with the airport is listed online as permanently closed:

looks like that's just the food place that's closed?

Openstreetmap shows pretty much the whole airport as AFB, with the exception of the terminal building at the northern edge.

Edit:

Article:

JODHPUR AIR FORCE STATION, RAJASTHAN, INDIA -- Tarang Shakti 24, India's largest multinational exercise involving 10 participating nations and 18 observers, lived up to its namesake from Aug. 29 to Sept. 14, 2024, at Jodhpur Air Force Station, Rajasthan, India.

Source: https://www.pacaf.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3907704/historic-exercises-cultural-exchange-and-tactical-growth-ripple-back-to-1942/

See also https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jodhpur_Airport :

Squadrons of HAL Dhruv, Mikoyan MiG-27, Mil Mi-17 and Sukhoi Su-30MKI aircraft are based here.

Plus a more recent helicopter type, but they don't look like that egg.

 

[JMartJr]

looks like that's just the food place that's closed?

Thanks, I will also reach out to the main base, then, if they have an email that I can find.

 

[B. Keeper]

To me it looks like there is a testing range of some kind directly in front of the hanger. It begins with a rectangular structure, then a varying number of chevron-like shapes then a circular pad. Perhaps the egg is a test/calibration shape. If you go back through the Google Earth historical images to Oct. 2012 you can see that the egg is on the circular pad. A number of other objects are there at different times.

 

[John J.]

See also https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jodhpur_Airport :

Squadrons of HAL Dhruv, Mikoyan MiG-27, Mil Mi-17 and Sukhoi Su-30MKI aircraft are based here.

I'm fairly sure that Wikipedia article is out of date, the IAF hasn't operated Floggers (MiG-23, MiG-27) for a few years:

India retired the last MiG-27ML squadron on 27 December 2019, when the last two MiG-27 squadrons were retired with a ceremony at Jodhpur airbase.
...The Indian Air Force has retired their aircraft (165 MiG-27Ms licensed built by HAL). The first batch of MiG-27MLs was retired in December 2017, and the final batch was retired from service on 27 December 2019.

Wikipedia, MiG-27

IAF to bid adieu to its last MiG-27 swing-wing squadron
...The swansong sortie will take place on Friday at the Air Force Station Jodhpur where the last MiG-27 UPG squadron (29 Squadrons or Scorpios) is based.

Deccan Herald (India), Kalyan Ray 26 December 2019
https://www.deccanherald.com/india/...s-last-mig-27-swing-wing-squadron-788922.html

The Wikipedia article List of Indian Air Force Stations (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Indian_Air_Force_stations) lists Jodhpur AFS under South Western Air Command, but also lists MiG-27s (and MiG 21s, due to be retired by 2025, "India to ground MiG-21 fighter jets by 2025, Times of India reports", Reuters, July 30 2022 https://www.reuters.com/world/india/india-ground-mig-21-fighter-jets-by-2025-report-2022-07-30/) as being operated from there.

 

[NorCal Dave]

To me it looks like there is a testing range of some kind directly in front of the hanger.

Seems pretty small for a test range. Looking at this photo @MonkeeSage had and given that @John J. established that the egg is around 20' or so, that's not a lot of room. But we can see that a fighter type aircraft seems to be leaving the area, or yard as we're calling it:

It seems a small yard for general aircraft maintenance, but maybe some sort of specialized work goes on here, like working on the nose radar, or training about working nose radar. There seems to be some sort of nose cone sitting there pointed at the chevrons. And in one of the other photos, there was a Flogger/Fencer that looked like its nose was being worked on.

Just speculating after thinking back to our thread on Ross Coulthart's Area 51 patch (link below), maybe the object is a radar reflector or calibration device? From the other thread, some radar reflector/calibration devices:

https://www.metabunk.org/threads/ro...reverse-engineering-program-at-area-51.13109/

Or maybe a small part of a VOR transmitter, again for training purposes:

 

[MonkeeSage]

Another image from ArcGIS map viewer taken last year showing something smaller on the gray circle.

Source: https://www.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html?layers=10df2279f9684e4a9f6a7f08febac2a9

(I can't figure out how to link directly to the result page, but if you click the magnifying glass in the lower right and search Jodhpur Airport it will find it).

We have seen what looked like a tank, a fighter jet nose cone, and whatever this small thing is sitting on that circle. I was thinking maybe it could be some kind of calibration point for satellite or aerial reconnaissance to test the ability to identify objects.

Complete speculation, but Iran captured a US RQ-170 in December 2011

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran–U.S._RQ-170_incident


They started building their own based off it and two were already reported to be in construction in 2014, so construction may have began earlier.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shahed_171_Simorgh

Perhaps this pod thing, built sometime in 2013, could be a mockup meant to look similar to these UAV to test satellite / aerial detection of these drones at foreign air bases.

 

[NorCal Dave]

Another image from ArcGIS map viewer taken last year showing something smaller on the gray circle.

Indeed. But the fighter aircraft is in the same place, so my thought above that it was leaving the yard is incorrect. It's parked there, though it looks like there is some sort of pathway to the yard.

We gotta be missing something obvious here.

 

[FastIndy]

Imagery from the 2nd article actually places it on the test stand:

Article:

Now, the very first pic of this UFO is from 2015, and in this pic it's on this very same elevator platform:

Source: https://vesavanhatupa.substack.com/p/jodhpur-airport-ufo-analysis

From the screenshot of this video it definitely looks like a test pylon of some sort. This could be either EW, radar warnings systems, other EM emissions, or something as simple as driver/pilot field-of-view marking/testing.


Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUN603BL2ek