Filippo Biondi's controversial radar claims about Giza spark scientific backlash

Filippo Biondi, an Italian radar engineer, has made extraordinary claims about vast underground structures beneath the Giza pyramids using satellite-based Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) technology—claims that have been categorically rejected by Egyptian authorities and mainstream scientists. His March 2025 announcement of an alleged underground city extending 2,100 feet deep beneath the Khafre pyramid drew fierce criticism from Dr. Zahi Hawass, who called the findings "completely wrong" and "fake news." While Biondi holds legitimate credentials in SAR engineering with peer-reviewed publications on infrastructure monitoring, his pyramid claims remain unverified by independent researchers and fundamentally contradict the established capabilities of radar technology.

Biondi's credentials and the Khafre Project

Filippo Biondi holds a PhD in electronic and electrical engineering from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, with specialization in Synthetic Aperture Radar imaging and signal processing. He maintains connections to the Italian Ministry of Defense and founded HarmonicSAR.com, a consortium commercializing his deep-imaging technology. His legitimate research includes over 1,000 citations on Google Scholar for work on dam monitoring, bridge stability assessment, ship detection, and infrastructure surveillance using satellite radar.

In 2019, Biondi formed the "Khafre Project" with collaborators including Corrado Malanga (a University of Pisa chemist also known for UFO research), Armando Mei (an author and alternative history researcher), and Nicole Ciccolo handling communications. The team published a 2022 paper in Remote Sensing titled "Synthetic Aperture Radar Doppler Tomography Reveals Details of Undiscovered High-Resolution Internal Structure of the Great Pyramid of Giza," which appeared on arXiv and in the open-access MDPI journal. Notably, this paper made far more modest claims than the team's subsequent 2025 announcements.

Biondi's core innovation involves analyzing micro-vibrations of structures detected by satellite radar. His "Harmonic SAR" algorithms use Doppler frequency shifts from surface vibrations caused by ambient seismic waves, claiming to create 3D tomographic images of subsurface features. The team uses data from Italian COSMO-SkyMed satellites and commercial providers including Capella Space, Umbra, and ICEYE.

The March 2025 claims drew immediate condemnation

In March 2025, Biondi and Malanga announced at a press conference that their SAR analysis had detected an extraordinary underground complex beneath the Khafre pyramid:

The team linked these findings to the legendary "Halls of Amenti" and suggested the structures could date to 38,000 years ago—claims that place their work firmly outside mainstream archaeology.

The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities responded within days. Dr. Zahi Hawass, the former Minister of Antiquities and Egypt's most prominent Egyptologist, issued a statement calling the findings "completely wrong," "baseless," and an "attempt to undermine ancient Egyptian civilization." He explicitly stated that "the Ministry did not give permission to any individuals or institutions to work inside or outside the second pyramid." Mohamed Ismail Khaled, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, noted that neither researcher holds qualifications in Egyptology, archaeology, or remote sensing.

Technical experts question the fundamental methodology

The scientific critique extends beyond archaeology to fundamental physics. Professor Lawrence Conyers, a ground-penetrating radar specialist at the University of Denver, called the underground city claims "a huge exaggeration," noting that SAR technology at X-band frequencies (~10 GHz) typically penetrates less than one meter into solid rock. Even L-band radar reaches only a few meters in dry sand.

Biondi claims his methodology works differently—detecting how seismic vibrations propagate through structures rather than directly penetrating them with radar waves. He asserts that the pyramid becomes "transparent like a crystal when observed in the micro-movement domain." However, no independent researchers have validated this approach for subsurface imaging at the claimed depths. The team's findings have not been published in any peer-reviewed journal since their 2022 paper, which made no mention of the massive structures announced in 2025.

Critics also raised concerns about Corrado Malanga's background in UFOlogy and alien abduction research, as well as reports that some images shared from the project were generated using artificial intelligence. Snopes flagged that "one of the most popular images being shared was generated using artificial intelligence."

ScanPyramids represents the scientific benchmark

The contrast between Biondi's claims and the ScanPyramids project illuminates the scientific debate. ScanPyramids, launched in October 2015 under Egyptian Ministry authority, represents a rigorous international collaboration between Cairo University, the French HIP Institute, and research teams from Japan (Nagoya University, KEK), France (CEA), and Germany (Technical University of Munich).

The project uses muon tomography—analyzing cosmic ray muons that pass through dense structures—combined with infrared thermography, ground-penetrating radar, and electrical resistivity tomography. In November 2017, ScanPyramids announced the discovery of the "Big Void," a massive cavity at least 30 meters long above the Grand Gallery, published in Nature and independently confirmed by three separate detector teams achieving five-sigma statistical confidence.

In March 2023, the project confirmed the North Face Corridor, a 9-meter-long passageway with a 2×2 meter cross-section, eventually verified through endoscopic camera inspection—the first visual access to this space in 4,500 years. These discoveries were announced at official Egyptian government press conferences with Ministry blessing.

Critically, ScanPyramids' muon tomography found no evidence of the vast underground networks Biondi claims exist. Filippo Biondi has no connection to ScanPyramids—his work is entirely separate and uses fundamentally different technology.

Verified underground structures at Giza remain modest

Actual documented underground features at Giza are far more limited than Biondi claims:

Small tunnels approximately 40×40 centimeters lead from the Osiris Shaft toward the Great Pyramid and Sphinx but remain unexplored. These documented features represent depths of tens of meters at most—not the hundreds of meters Biondi claims.

Biondi continues promoting claims through alternative media

Despite the scientific rejection, Biondi has continued publicizing his findings through alternative media channels. In January 2026, he appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience (#2443), one of the world's most popular podcasts, stating "The pyramids are the tip of the iceberg... The substance is below." He also appeared on Jesse Michels' American Alchemy podcast in December 2025.

Biondi has announced plans to establish a foundation in Malta to continue non-invasive archaeological exploration, with an estimated $20 million budget to clear vertical shafts his scans allegedly detected. He claims to have partners in Egypt ready to submit government-approved proposals, though Egyptian authorities have shown no indication of cooperation.

The team reports detecting similar structures in Peru and Russia using the same methodology, expanding their claims beyond Egypt. Biondi filed a patent application for "Tomographic Doppler Imaging" (PCT/EP2023/064345) in May 2023, suggesting commercial intentions for his technology.

Conclusion

Filippo Biondi represents a case study in the tension between legitimate technical credentials and extraordinary archaeological claims. His genuine expertise in SAR engineering for infrastructure monitoring does not translate to validated pyramid research. The 2,100-foot depths he claims to image vastly exceed the established capabilities of radar technology, and his findings contradict the ScanPyramids muon tomography that successfully detected verified voids using fundamentally different physics.

The Egyptian archaeological establishment's unified rejection—from Hawass to the Ministry to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina—reflects not merely institutional gatekeeping but substantive scientific concerns about methodology, depth of penetration, and the absence of peer-reviewed publication for the most dramatic claims. Until independent verification occurs through validated techniques, Biondi's underground city remains in the realm of unsubstantiated speculation rather than scientific discovery.