The British military thought there was ‘basis in fact’ to UFO sightings and wanted to get their hands on the ‘extraterrestrial’ technology, previously secret files show.
Confidential memos from the Defence Intelligence Staff (DIS) within the Ministry of Defence warned that ‘unidentified aerial phenomena’ (UAP) were a ‘potential threat’ to the UK in the 1990s.
The documents – now in the National Archives in Kew – also reveal how Britain’s most well-known UFO sighting at Rendlesham Forest was ‘confirmed’ by US military personnel.
One internal correspondence from March 4, 1997 reads: ‘Logic would indicate that if significant numbers are reporting seeing strange objects in the sky then there may be a basis in fact.
‘It could be argued that UAPs pose a potential threat to the defence of the realm since we have no idea what they are!’
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Intelligence officers appeared particularly concerned about the reports of large, silent, low-flying black triangles which came out of Belgium in their thousands between November 1989 and April 1990.
The reports sparked calls for Britain to try get hold of the technology.
The document noted: ‘A supplementary issue is the possibility of technology acquisition.
‘UAPs do not appear to use conventional reaction propulsion.
‘The Belgian deltas (confirmed by the country’s MoD) hovered for long periods and accelerated quickly to supersonic speeds, outrunning F-16s.
‘If this represents real technology perhaps it should be acquired.’
Another briefing letter, marked ‘Secret UK Eyes B’, acknowledged that the British military did not have the ‘reported technology’.
It added: ‘No matter the origin, the determination of the technology, and possible acquisition, is a matter for Defence Intelligence Staff [DIS].’
The correspondence added that ‘some reports described objects in terms of manoeuvre, speed and shape which lie beyond our engineering knowledge and that which could be reasonably expected from hostile powers.’
The file also stressed that most UFO reports were tenuous, with only a small number that could not be explained immediately.
The documents jokingly dismissed the possibility of alien life as part of fringe conspiracy theories.
The file reads: ‘Mention of UAPs is guaranteed to generate mirth and Little Green Men jokes, possibly because of the fringe element of “crazies”.’
Rendlesham Forest UFO sightings ‘confirmed’
A separate file from the British Military sheds new light on the Rendlesham Forest incident.
Dating back to December 1980, members of the US Air Force stationed at RAF Bentwaters and RAF Woodbridge in Suffolk, England, reported seeing unexplained lights and a craft in the forest.
Witnesses, including high-ranking officers, described seeing a glowing, metallic, triangular object hovering and emitting strange beams of light.
The document says that the Rendlesham Forest ‘landing’ was ‘confirmed by the US unit commander and others’.
It adds: ‘In both [Rendlesham Forest and Belgian] cases the UAP apparently did not use any conventional propulsion system and could hover as well as move at considerable speed.
‘The French have always had an interest in this topic … and I am aware that there is an informal intelligence grouping in the US.’
The sighting has fuelled decades of speculation and conspiracy theories ranging from alien encounters to secret military tests.
One UFO expert, Philip Mantle, told Metro he is convinced something happened over those fateful nights in 1980 – but doesn’t necessarily think aliens were involved.
The former Director of Investigations for the British UFO Research Association speculated that soldiers could have come into contact with ‘strange plasma’ that caused ‘electromagnetic effects’.
The previously secret file also claimed to have a ‘Moscow report’ that suggested ‘two military scientists are responsible for UFOs’.
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