1 - The Black Vault

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(Lower Airspace)
Operations & Policy 1
MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
Room 6173, Metropole Building, Northumberland Avenue, London,
WC2N 5BP
Telephone (Direct dial) 020 7218 2140
(Switchboard)
(Fax)
(GTN)
Your Reference
Our R~ference
D/DAS/64/3
Date
20 September 2001
Dear
Thank you for your letter of27 August regarding 'unidentified flying objects' . I will address your
questions in the same order as your letter.
First you asked for copies of 'UFO' sighting reports made to the Ministry of Defence by civilian
Police Officers and RAF personnel, concerning an incident on 31 March 1993. These are
attached for your information. The personal details have been removed to protect the
confidentiality of the individuals concerned. As you will be aware from my previous letter, the
MOD' s only interest in 'UFO' reports is whether there is any evidence that UK airspace may have
been compromised by hostile or unauthorised air activity. In this case, air defence personnel
within the MOD were contacted about these reports, at the time, and they were satisfied that there
was nothing in these reports of defence concern.
You then talk about the MOD's liaison with the US Defence Intelligence Agency and the National
Security Agency, and the involvement of the Government Communications Headquarters. Air
defence personnel within the MOD are consulted where necessary but this does not involve any of
the agencies you have mentioned.
Next you mentioned the chain of events that you believe are followed when a 'UFO' sighting
report is made to the MOD. These reports are not treated in the way that you describe and it may
be helpful if I explain how they are treated. All reports sent to MOD are forwarded to this
Directorate. Where appropriate we may consult branches within the MOD which have an interest
in air defence matters. Once the air defence staff confirm that the report contains nothing of
defence interest, no further investigation is made and we do not attempt to identify what was seen.
You may wish to be aware that to date no 'UFO' report received has produced any evidence of
anything of defence significance.
In your letter you mentioned Flying Complaints Flight (FCF) and 01955. You may recall from
my last letter that until 1992 FCF co-ordinated 'UFO' reports before forwarding them to us, but
FCF no longer have any involvement in the collection of these reports. You mention DI955 and
some reports were copied to the Directorate of Intelligence Scientific and Technical (DIST).