Project Condign
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 7
| Date | 2 December 1993 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Secrecy & cover-up (topic) |
| People | David Clarke |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 118 |
| Year | 1993 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1993 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 11 |
Project Condign was a secret study of UFO reports carried out for the UK Ministry of Defence's Defence Intelligence Staff in the late 1990s, with its final report completed in 2000. Its report, Unidentified Aerial Phenomena in the UK Air Defence Region, concluded that UFOs were no threat and attributed many unexplained sightings to poorly understood atmospheric "plasma" phenomena. Its existence was revealed in 2006.[1][2]
Origins
Internal discussion of a UFO study began in 1993, when a memo from DI55, the intelligence branch concerned, raised the risk of political embarrassment if such a project became known, and the request was shelved. A memo of 19 June 1995 from the same branch revived the idea after a rise in UFO reports. The work was given to a trusted defence contractor; sources differ on whether it began in 1996 or 1997, and the final report was dated December 2000.[1][4]
The study
The study was based on about 10,000 sighting reports collected by DI55, a section of the Defence Intelligence Staff's scientific and technical intelligence directorate. The resulting report ran to about 400 pages. Its author has never been publicly identified.[1]
Findings
- The report said the existence of the phenomena was "indisputable", but that there was no evidence that they were hostile or under any kind of intelligent control.[1][2]
- Most sightings were explained as misidentified aircraft, balloons and other ordinary objects.[1]
- Many of the remaining reports were attributed to "buoyant plasma formations", electrically charged atmospheric phenomena compared with ball lightning, which the report suggested might also explain reports of black triangles.[1]
- It suggested that such plasma fields might affect people near them and cause altered perceptions, which might explain some close encounters, and recommended research into military uses of plasma.[1]
Release and reaction
The report was released on 15 May 2006 in response to a Freedom of Information request made in September 2005 by Sheffield Hallam University lecturer David Clarke and researcher Gary Anthony. Clarke said it showed that the intelligence staff's investigation had been larger than previously admitted, though it shed no new light on UFOs. Because it was secret, the report was never peer-reviewed, and commentators have doubted that its plasma hypothesis would survive independent scrutiny.[1][2][3]
People and topics
- UK Ministry of Defence — The British defence department, which ran a UFO desk until 2009.
- Unidentified anomalous phenomena — The U.S. government's current term for unidentified objects in the air, in space and underwater.
- Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
- David Clarke — British historian of the UK Ministry of Defence UFO files.
On the Timeline
- Dan Sherman's transfer papers (December 1993) — Dan Sherman provides transfer papers he says relate to Project Preserve Destiny.
- D'Amato and untraceable black budgets (1994) — Dick D'Amato reportedly says $40–80 billion a year went to programs that couldn't be traced.
See every 1993 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- Project Condign — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Mark Simpson, "UFO study finds no sign of aliens", BBC News (2006) · news.bbc.co.uk · archived copy
- James Randerson, "Is there anybody out there? How the men from the ministry hid the hunt for UFOs", The Guardian (25 Sep 2006) · theguardian.com · archived copy
- "UFO mysteries unraveled: How the 'real-life X-Files' emerged from a top secret UK project", Fox News · foxnews.com · archived copy
- UFO reports — The National Archives (UK) · nationalarchives.gov.uk · archived copy
- United Kingdom UFO documents — The Black Vault · theblackvault.com · archived copy
- Project Condign: the full report — The Black Vault · theblackvault.com · archived copy
- Why Britain's MoD closed the UFO files — David Clarke · drdavidclarke.co.uk · archived copy
- Condign un-redacted — David Clarke · drdavidclarke.co.uk · archived copy
- Guardian coverage of Condign (2007) — Patrick Gross · ufology.patrickgross.org · archived copy
- ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com · ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com · 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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