UK Ministry of Defence
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🏢 Organization
Contents 6
| Type | Organization |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Ministry of Defence |
| On the Timeline | 4 events, 1992–2022 |
The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) was responsible for the British government's handling of UFO reports from the 1950s until 2009, when it closed its "UFO desk". Between 2008 and 2013 it released almost all its surviving UFO files to the public through the National Archives.[1][2]
The UFO desk
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Reports of UFOs were handled by a small civil-service secretariat, known in the early 1990s as Sec(AS)2a, whose staff — including Nick Pope from 1991 to 1994 — examined sightings for any defence significance. Reports were also copied to the Defence Intelligence Staff branch DI55 until 2000.[3][4]
Project Condign
In the late 1990s the Defence Intelligence Staff carried out a secret study, later known as Project Condign, based on some 10,000 reports. Its report, released in 2006, concluded that UFOs posed no threat and attributed many unexplained sightings to atmospheric "plasma" phenomena.[4]
Closure
In late 2009 the MoD closed its UFO desk and telephone hotline. Officials advised ministers that nearly 60 years of reports had revealed no extraterrestrial presence or military threat, and that the desk encouraged reports of no defence value. Reports had risen from 208 in 2008 to 643 in 2009, many of them floating orange lights probably caused by Chinese lanterns, overwhelming the single officer responsible. Budget pressure was another factor.[2][5]
Release of the files
After the Freedom of Information Act came into force in 2005, the MoD decided in 2007 to transfer its UFO archive to the National Archives. Ten batches were released between 2008 and June 2013, amounting to 209 files and about 52,000 pages. UFO historian David Clarke served as consultant and spokesman for the project, whose website attracted more than four million visitors.[2]
On the UAP Timeline
- British embassy report on triangles (1992) (22 December 1992) — The British embassy reports on the U.S. reaction to triangular UAP sightings.
- Project Condign (2 December 1993) — A UK Ministry of Defence memo discusses a proposed UAP study.
- Calvine UFO photograph (12 August 2022) — Researcher David Clarke publishes the 1990 'Calvine' UFO photo from MoD files.
- Franc Milburn's directed-energy claim (7 October 2022) — A former UK officer claims directed-energy weapons were used against UAP scientists.
References
- "UFO files", The National Archives (final tranche press release, 2013) · cdn.nationalarchives.gov.uk · archived copy
- David Clarke, "The End of the UFO Files" (20 Jun 2013) · drdavidclarke.co.uk · archived copy
- Nick Pope (journalist) — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Project Condign — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- "UFO Desk Closed By MoD Due To No Evidence Of 'Military Threat'", HuffPost UK (2013) · huffingtonpost.co.uk · archived copy
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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