In a written question posed by David Reed (Conservative – Exmouth and Exeter East), the Ministry of Defence (MOD) was asked to clarify its policy on reporting Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) and whether any new material on the subject had been classified since the UK’s previous declassification programme.
Luke Pollard, Armed Forces Minister, provided a detailed response, stating:
“Whilst we are aware of the differing approaches currently being undertaken by other countries and allies in the investigation of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP), the Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) position on UAP remains unchanged, which is, that in over 50 years, no sighting reported to the Department has indicated the existence of any military threat to the United Kingdom.”
Pollard further highlighted that the MOD ceased to investigate reports of UAP in 2009. He explained the reasoning behind this decision:
“It has been deemed more valuable to prioritise MOD staff towards other Defence-related activities.”
Pollard also confirmed that no new material has been classified on the subject since the cessation of investigations, stating:
“The MOD ceased to investigate reports of UFO or UAP in 2009 and has not classified any new material on the subject since.”
For those interested in historical reports, Pollard noted:
“All MOD files relating to UFOs that were created up until 2009 have been released to The National Archives (TNA).”
While acknowledging the “differing approaches” taken by allies and other nations, the MOD made it clear that there are no plans to form a dedicated team to investigate alleged sightings, emphasising the lack of evidence for a military threat. Despite public curiosity and the evolving international landscape, the UK has chosen to prioritise other defence-related activities over investigations into UAP.
So basically “go away and stop being silly”.
Cobblers.
The Bentwaters Woodbridge incident of 1980 contradicts that.
Either objects were present over nuclear weapons storage ateas at Bentwaters that could not be identified nor prevented.
Or, Colonel Halt, the commander, was a liar and a lunatic, as were all the witnesses.
That he was promoted to command a nuclear missile wing after he escalated the incident to the MoD by reporting it shows it did not affect his career one bit.
Whichever the case, it is of extreme defence significance and just one example, that such occurred.
There have been several in the UK alone since 1980.
Dedicated teams? Go and look at what DI55 and the RAF P&SS were doing, as just two. AS2A with Nick Pope and one other person taking phone calls from the public is a PR exercise exactly as Project Blue Book was.
Can you give a single example of British military preparedness or capability being significantly affected by a UFO? You call an incident over forty years ago “of extreme defence significance” and you aren’t even talking about the Falklands. I’d call World War 2 of extreme defence significance and pretty lights in the sky as not consequential at all. Ignoring conspiracy chit-chat, why are you right and I wrong? What were the real world consequences?
Yes nothing to see there at all..the fact the objects were logged traveling at hypersonic speed, seen on a number of sensors and by a large number of people…. with one of the objects actually deciding to dog fight, dominate and then chased around the fighters sent to intercept it, for 10 minutes before sauntering off with a big FU and actually terrifying the poor pilot who could not shake it….
Classed as one of the many..” what the hell was that events” let’s just ignore it and don’t mention the A word 😂🤣😂🤣😬😬👽👽👽👽
Hi Daniele
The real UFO/UAV issue from the MoD – and particularly the RAF – point of view is that clearly, they cannot secure the airspace over the UK and so, despite the endless denials, UFO/UAV most definately are of defence significance.
Even more interesting are the underwater UFO’s and again, despite the denials, many SSN and SSBN crew can attest to close encounters with these things. I was once told that it did not do one’s RN career any good to submit reports of UFO’s etc and so self censorship is the reason why fewer reports have come to light in recent years
Exactly so.
Yes the tic tac ufos and the spherical ones are for me the ones of most interest. There are significant drone and fighter footage of these phenomena that even my cynical mind finds difficult to dismiss, having laughed for decades about sightings like the Hill and Adamsski claims or the Roswell stuff.
Interestingly I read about one explanation for the spheres/Tic Tacs going under water as there is a propulsive theoretical system that would exploit large areas of water to ‘recharge’. Quite complex and though it theoretically works it’s well beyond our technology or understanding to know if it were developable enough as a Space based propulsion system. If we take a leap and presume it could it would it seems be perfect for smallish Ai driven recon drones probably released from something bigger elsewhere. Interestingly something quite large was caught on video from a Mars rover in recent years as it moved across the sky that’s not been explained but hey ho all speculation but let’s at least keep an open mind. While organic beings might struggle to travel for years or generations in space silicon intelligence would find it perfectly feasible. And as we are finding this very decade the advances in Ai and robotics is progressing at a stunning pace with many claiming some level of machine self awareness (AGI) around the corner.
Yes nothing to see there at all..the fact the objects were logged traveling at hypersonic speed, seen on a number of sensors and by a large number of people…. with one of the objects actually deciding to dog fight, dominate and then chased around the fighters sent to intercept it, for 10 minutes before sauntering off with a big FU and actually terrifying the poor pilot who could not shake it….
Classed as one of the many..” what the hell was that events” let’s just ignore it and don’t mention the A word 😂🤣😂🤣😬😬👽👽👽👽
Although in truth there are logical terrestrial based explanations for the even…
By the way, a 1991 study suggested that nearly 4 million Americans believed themselves to have been abducted by aliens, 10% believe they have seen a UFO and over 40% believe in alien visitations. That the incident in Rendlesham Forest occured between two USAF bases speaks volumes.
Well I started out here as a total cynic, for me the distance between stars makes visitations highly unlikely for good or bad. However as I studied the situation and listened to many pretty Impressive and some rather less impressive sources I have become more open minded. The idea of silicon intelligence very possibly becoming more common than its organic forbears opens up a whole new prospect of long term space travel and the idea of slow but extensive stepping stone spread over thousands of years. And remember our galaxy and star are only at most mid age compared to those created earlier in the Universe.
Yes humans are generally gullible, hey most Americans believe in Space fairies which I find ludicrous but amongst these people are some very intelligent and insightful individuals so I don’t write them off per se as I don’t (well much) those who think Alan Sugar is a business genius or would make a great PM because he ran the Apprentice…hmm that sounds familiar. I just think we shouldn’t close off our minds to the possibility we may have visitors if only in machine form.
When I first read about Oumuamua I was unconvinced it was anything out of the ordinary. Yet years later its behaviour has yet to be sufficiently explained by our knowledge of meteors or comets or indeed anything else we have recorded. I personally find that of interest, maybe it’s because I’m curious but until a rational explanation is provided a bit of me will remain so even if I still suspect it’s a natural object most like.
Well old Nick Pope has certainly made a great career out of it, saw him yet again the other night on a UFO programme (I was waiting for his appearance and it didn’t take long) . Sadly he is probably the least impressive ‘spook’ you could find to give one any convincing evidence or objective view one way or the other on the subject. If he was typical of the quality of minds investigating reports then it seems entirely pointless asking the responsible Minister anything or expecting enlightenment in response. You are right we have never taken it seriously or if we have, then reported it.
Interestingly a pilot took a picture of what was claimed to be a hovering sphere at Manchester Airport a few weeks ago, not heard any more. Fact is if you just take these reports (or ignore them) and don’t investigate as he admits then how the hell can you conclude if anything is even potentially a UAP. Equally saying that we don’t see any evidence for them being a military threat leaves entirely open that they could be little green men claiming to come in peace. The response is effectively condescending and dismissive and pretty much pointless with its inbuilt misleading language to cover asses. Enough to make any conspiracy theorist suspicious. Meanwhile in the States while there are no clear stated conclusions the authorities are gradually admitting to detections, especially those by military pilots and personnel that they admit they can’t explain but show no obvious means of propulsion explainable by current technology but which interestingly I have seen potentially explainable by ideas that have been scientifically studied for future consideration. Shame at least, especially as these revelations have been updated in recent weeks there, that a British Minister can’t even find the capacity to express some modicum of intellectual curiosity in these developments across the pond and certainly unexplained phenomenon sometimes caught on military sensors.
Good post. Thank you.
Nick Pope ran AS2A, Air Staff 2A, with one other person. They took calls from the public.
Pilot and other military related sightings never crossed his desk and went elsewhere. He’s admitted as such, I was told as such by someone who worked in main building.
The ministers statement at best is evasive.
I’m very amused, pleased, and even surprised that George put an article up, I enjoy the reactions.
I though this was another Pre-Christmas story from the headline. That we have ufology questions being asked by a former member of the Royal Marines makes me wonder what it will take to hold the government to account on real military matters.
To be fair it’s not clear from this article exactly what his angle on the matter is. He might have simply wanted check that the MOD wasn’t wasting time on frivolous reports from the public.
True that.
Well I must admit it made me think from the Inisters dismissive response that in realty we really don’t have much of anything sophisticated enough or certainly enough of it, to record the sort of unexplained imagery that the Americans have recorded in recent years.
May the farce be with us.