SCP-1661

SCP-1661 specimen after partial deconstruction. The eye continued to operate for several days after the removal of what was presumed to be vital components.

Item Number: SCP-1661

Object Class: Archon

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-1661 specimens are to be contained within Site-5 Site-81. Dissection and experimentation requests are to be filed through personnel with Level-3 clearance.

Description: SCP-1661 consists of a swarm of self-replicating automata composed primarily of aircraft components, assembled in a random and seemingly nonfunctional manner. Although general arrangement and internal workings are highly variable between instances, each specimen contains a single, genetically cephalopodic eye of varying size in its approximate center. All SCP-1661 are capable of self-directed flight through unknown means, and posses an aptitude for swift, coordinated maneuverability.

While SCP-1661 display some degree of sapience, attempts at communication have been ineffective.

Individual instances are highly specialized for a variety of purposes relating to the seizure and deconstruction of airborne crafts such as planes, drones, helicopters, and un-manned spacecraft. Laser-cutters, multi-fingered appendages, and primitive cloaking devices have all been observed.

SCP-1661 prefers to hunt collectively at night, attacking their target mid-flight. They are capable of completely deconstructing un-manned crafts and aerial drones in a matter of minutes; in all recorded cases they were successful in reducing such craft into scrap throughout free-fall, and before the craft could impact the ground. They generally limit themselves to removing non-vital components in manned crafts, presumably to allow the survival of passengers. Experimentation has revealed that in these cases SCP-1661 are more cautious and precise with their work, taking as long as an hour to carefully excise specific material. SCP-1661 has shown no responses to prey items other than airborne devices.

History: SCP-1661 activity was first brought to Foundation attention in 1948, following several reports of aircraft losing small exterior sections of their wings or fuselage. Some passengers aboard affected flights claimed they witnessed small, metallic objects moving about the plane's exterior, thus prompting further investigation. A fictionalized account of these sightings were later disseminated to the public by Agent Matheson in accordance with OPERATION:SAGA.

Investigation into the projected hunting grounds of SCP-1661 was fruitful; several attacks on dummy planes were witnessed by field agents over the following decade, allowing researchers to eventually triangulate the location of their nest. Containment specialists were deployed to the abandoned Albert Johnson Air Base in Indiana's Tippecanoe County in April of 1969.

Personnel discovered over three-hundred SCP-1661 in the process of configuring salvaged material into new instances. The majority were able to escape through collapsed sections of ceiling in the complex upon sighting agents, who were successful in capturing several specimens for study. Forty-seven inactive instances were also recovered, each of which did not possess their characteristic eye - hosting only open orbits within their central mass.

It is notable that two instances were responsible for the rescue of an Agent Fielding, who had nearly fallen into a fissure in the foundation of the facility. They were both then captured.

Three days after containment at Site-81, a swarm of SCP-1661 descended within the site's exclusion-zone, landing five meters from the main gates. These instances did not resist collection by personnel.

Incident Report: