Government / Military

Project GRUDGE (reestablished)

1951-10-01 – 1952-03-01what this date marks, in the notes below

A second, distinct USAF programme carrying the same codename, stood up "In late October 1951, almost two years after Project GRUDGE was disestablished", and led by Captain Edward Ruppelt. "By his own account, Capt Ruppelt sought to correct the mistakes of Project SIGN and the former Project GRUDGE. His primary goal was to ensure that there would be 'no wild speculation' and that if his staff were 'too pro or too con' regarding the off-world origin of UFOs, they would be let go." He set a policy "intended to foster objectivity" and, "Unlike the previous Project GRUDGE, he allowed his staff to create an 'unknown' category of cases which he hoped would dissuade the forcing of a particular answer to any case" - the direct reversal of a predecessor the report says prohibited its staff from recording anything as unknown or unidentified. It re-reviewed all previous SIGN and GRUDGE cases, noticed "some correlation between sightings and the publication of UFO stories in the media", and recorded concentrations of cases "in the Los Alamos-Albuquerque area, Oak Ridge, White Sands, Strategic Air Command locations, ports, and industrial sites". Results: "No evidence of extraterrestrial origin of UFO/UAP were discovered."

In the UAP recordRuled into the unidentified-phenomena thread on 2 September 2026 from this entity's own name and role text, which contain: "uap", "ufos", "project grudge". An editorial classification of what thread this entity belongs to; it rests on no page and does not claim to. Neighbours were not used - see apply-subjects-2026-09-02.mjs for why.

3 of 3 connections resolve to a document you can open.

3 notes on how this record was made

Documents1 behind a connection

Documents behind a connection

Report on the Historical Record of U.S. Government Involvement with Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP), Volume I 2024-02-01

3 connections

→ Project GRUDGE (original)

Report on the Historical Record of U.S. Government Involvement with Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP), Volume I

This map says

a distinct programme given the same name, stood up almost two years after the first was disestablished

The document says

In late October 1951, almost two years after Project GRUDGE was disestablished, the USAF's UFO mission was reorganized into another distinct program - also named Project GRUDGE - led by Capt Ruppelt.

Report on the Historical Record of U.S. Government Involvement with Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP), Volume I, 2024
printed p. 15 · read off the page footer; the printed number matches the PDF page on every page held from this report
rendered and read by eye — the grade this project quotes from

Caveat TWO ORGANISATIONS, ONE CODENAME, AND THIS EDGE IS THE ONLY THING KEEPING THEM APART ON THE MAP. The report calls them "two related, but different organizations" on printed 13 and "another distinct program - also named Project GRUDGE" here. Merging them would be the codename equivalent of merging two people who share a surname.
← Project BEAR

same document as the row above

This map says

the contract created to give it scientific support

The document says

Project BEAR was an informal name given by Capt Ruppelt, Chief of Project GRUDGE, to a contract he created with the Battelle Memorial Institute (BMI) to provide scientific support to the new Project GRUDGE.

Report on the Historical Record of U.S. Government Involvement with Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP), Volume I, 2024
printed p. 16 · read off the page footer; the printed number matches the PDF page on every page held from this report
rendered and read by eye — the grade this project quotes from

Caveat PROJECT BEAR WAS A CONTRACT, NOT AN ORGANISATION - AARO's own words, "an informal name given by Capt Ruppelt ... to a contract". It is filed as a program because that is the vocabulary this map has, and its form_note says so. The GRUDGE at the far end is the SECOND one, "the new Project GRUDGE" in the source's phrasing.
← Edward Ruppelt

same document as the row above

This map says

led it, having set out to correct the mistakes of Project SIGN and the first Project GRUDGE

The document says

By his own account, Capt Ruppelt sought to correct the mistakes of Project SIGN and the former Project GRUDGE.

Report on the Historical Record of U.S. Government Involvement with Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP), Volume I, 2024
printed p. 15 · read off the page footer; the printed number matches the PDF page on every page held from this report
rendered and read by eye — the grade this project quotes from

Caveat BY HIS OWN ACCOUNT - the report says so and this claim keeps it. What Ruppelt did next is on printed 16 and cuts both ways: he created an "unknown" category so that cases were not forced to an answer, and he said staff who were "too pro or too con" would be let go. This map also carries him as Project Blue Book's first director, which printed 18 confirms in the same breath as calling him "the former Director of the reorganized Project GRUDGE".

Notes on this record

The name

The second of two different organisations to carry the name Project GRUDGE. The report calls this one "another distinct program - also named Project GRUDGE".

The date

The report says "In late October 1951" and its heading gives "October 1951". The first of the month is a placeholder for a month the source describes only as "late".

The end date

The section heading gives "March 1952" with no day. The report's Project BLUE BOOK section begins at March 1952, so the two ranges abut - but the report does not say in so many words that this programme BECAME Blue Book, and this entry does not say it either.