1 - The Black Vault

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From: .. llllllllll ...
Directorate of AVSta (Lower Airspace)
Operations & Policy 1
ro)t
MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
Room 6/73, Metropole Building, Northumberland Avenue, London,
WC2N 5BP
Telephone
(Direct dial)
(Switchboard)
(Fax)
(GTN)
Your Reference
Our Reference
D/DAS/64(3
Date
5 September 200 I
I am writing with reference to your letter concerning your paper on the "Radiospectroscopic
Study of Astrophysical Photon Source Flares and the SETI''. This office is the focal point within
the Ministry of Defence for correspondence relating to 'Unidentified Flying Objects' and your
letter has been passed to me for reply.
It may be helpful ifl explain that the Ministry of Detence does not have any expertise or role in
respect of'UFO/flying saucer' matters or to the question of the existence or otherwise of
extraterrestriallifeforms. Our onl y concern is the defence of the United Kingdom' s airspace and
we do not study space nor conduct searches for life on other planets. Any reports of sightings of
'unidentified flying objects' received are examined solely to establish whether what was seen
might have some defence significance; namely, whether there is any evidence that UK airspace
might have been compromised by hostile or unauthorised air activity. Unless there is evidence of
a potential threat to the United Kingdom from an external military source, and to date no 'UFO'
report has revealed such evidence, we do not attempt to identify the precise nature of each
reported sighting. We believe it is possible that rational explanations, such as aircratllights or
natural phenomena, could be found for them, but it is not the function of the MOD to provide this
kind of aerial identification service. We could not justify expenditure of public funds on
investigations which go beyond our specific defence remit.
~
I should add that while the MOD remains open-minded, to date we know of no evidence which
substantiates the existence of these alleged phenomena. I have not contacted • ~f ~{)
British Interplanetary Society, as you requested, as this is not a matter for the 0 .
Yours sincerely,