Brazil UFO Files: OVNI Records at the National Archive

Quick answer

Brazil’s Arquivo Nacional identifies its OVNI fonds as BR DFANBSB ARX, produced by Comando da Aeronáutica and preserved by the archive. It contains different record and media types. The archive explicitly explains that OVNI means an object not immediately identified, not necessarily an extraterrestrial vehicle.

Who created the files?

The archive’s introduction names Comando da Aeronáutica as the producer. Arquivo Nacional is the custodian. The fonds includes reports, questionnaires, correspondence, photographs, drawings, audiovisual material and press clippings. An enclosed newspaper story remains a newspaper story even inside an official file. Identify which item you are reading before describing it as an Air Force conclusion.

Sources: Conheça o fundo sobre OVNIs do Arquivo Nacional (2018; updated 2020)

Treat the published count as a dated snapshot

The introduction was published in 2018 and updated in 2020. It describes 743 records and a 1952–2016 span. Those figures describe that page’s collection snapshot, not a verified total for October 2026. A later transfer can change the holdings without changing an older article. For a specific record, prefer its own catalogue description and document date over a broad release headline.

Sources: Conheça o fundo sobre OVNIs do Arquivo Nacional (2018; updated 2020)

Follow the official discovery route

Start at the archive introduction, which points to its SIAN information system. Search both OVNI and the fonds code; use Portuguese place names and date variants. Save the item identifier, complete page sequence and any release letter. If the catalogue requests registration or does not expose a file, describe that access limit rather than promising an unrestricted download. No protected database was accessed for this guide.

Sources: Conheça o fundo sobre OVNIs do Arquivo Nacional (2018; updated 2020)

A second official route to the fonds

The Defence Ministry’s FAQ separately identifies the Air Force’s recording-and-transfer process and gives a SIAN search sequence: Fundos/Coleções, Pesquisa Multinível, then the collection title and BR DFANBSB ARX. It starts with a login step, so we do not promise anonymous access. This supports the custody route, not a second observation of any craft. Assessing an event still requires its own records and analysis.

Sources: Frequently asked questions: OVNI records and archive search instructions