Tag: UK Ministry of Defence

UK UFO Files Reveal Schoolchildren’s Sketches of 1977 ‘Alien Encounter’

Article by Alex McIntyre                                        March 13, 2021                                    (cheshire-live.co.uk)

• UFO files released in 2009 by the UK Ministry of Defence’s UFO Desk have revealed children’s sketches of what appears to be an alien spaceship at the Upton Priory School in Macclesfield, Cheshire, England in October 1977.

• On this day, ten children at the school, aged between 7 and 11 years old, had gone out for their lunchtime break. When they came back, they told a teacher, Mrs. Hindmarsh, that they had seen something hovering around the trees before it vanished into the sky. The teacher told the children to draw what they had seen independently of each other using crayons and colored pencils. The images were so striking that she passed the drawings along to police in Cheshire.

• After checking with air traffic control in Manchester to see if they had anything on the radar, a Chesire police officer passed the pictures along with his written report to the UK Ministry of Defence, saying that there was ‘a remarkable similarity in these sketches with regard to the UFO and its location between two trees’. The file was then passed along from the Ministry of Defence in London to the MoD’s UFO desk.

• “It really is quite something,” said Dr. David Clarke, a professor at Sheffield Hallam University who was involved in transferring the ministry’s files into the public domain between 2009 and 2013. Said Dr. Clarke, “When I opened this particular (file), it struck me as more interesting than the usual, because it was full of all these crayon drawings by these schoolkids from Macclesfield.” “[T]he teacher must have thought this was something to be taken seriously and sat them down to get them to draw what they had seen independently. Then, because the drawings were so similar she actually gathered them together and took them to the police station in Macclesfield.”

• The Macclesfield case images were “just so amazing” that Dr. Clarke featured them in his book UFO Drawings from The National Archives, published in September 2017. Dr. Clarke speculated that the children could have been inspired to draw a spaceship in the trees due to the fact that the sci fi movie ‘Star Wars’ had been released earlier that summer.

 

      student’s drawing of UFO

UFO files released by the Ministry of Defence have revealed children’s sketches of what

               student’s drawing of UFO

appears to be an alien spaceship at a Cheshire school in 1977.

The pictures drawn by school pupils at Upton Priory School in Macclesfield were made public by the MoD’s UFO Desk shortly before it closed down in 2009.

The documents reveal that the sighting occurred in October 1977 when 10 children at the school, aged between seven and 11 years old, had gone out for their lunchtime break.

         student’s sketch of UFO

They came back and told a teacher, Mrs Hindmarsh, that they had seen something hovering around the trees before it vanished into the sky.

        Cheshire, England

The teacher told the children to draw what they had seen independently of each other using crayons and coloured pencils.

The images were so striking that she passed the dossier to police in Cheshire before it ended up at the UFO desk at the Ministry of Defence.

In a covering letter, the police officer said there was ‘a remarkable similarity in these sketches with regard to the UFO and its location between two trees’.

Dr David Clarke, a former journalist and currently a professor at Sheffield Hallam University, was involved in transferring the ministry’s files into the public domain between 2009 and 2013.

 Dr. David Clarke  (credit: Richard Hanson)

Speaking to CheshireLive, he said: “When I opened this particular one, it struck me as more interesting than the usual, because it was full of all these crayon drawings by these schoolkids from Macclesfield.

“I suppose kids say all kinds of things about things they’ve seen in playgrounds but the teacher must have thought this was something to be taken seriously and sat them down to get them to draw what they had seen independently.

“Then because the drawings were so similar she actually gathered them together and took them to the police station in Macclesfield.

“Then this copper had written a report about this and sent it to air traffic control in Manchester to see if they had anything on the radar.

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UK Proposes the Creation of a Space Command

Article by Nicholas Puschman                                         January 5, 2021                                            (lexology.com)

• Since the 1967 Outer Space Treaty established the international legal framework for space activities, space has become recognized as a potential domain of warfare. Satellites are increasingly viewed as essential components of critical communications for military and defense purposes, and space-faring countries have made clear the importance of space and space technology to their current and future defense posture.

• In 2019, space was recognized by NATO as the latest operational domain (along with air, land, sea and cyberspace). In October 2020, NATO announced that it would establish a center for space operations at Ramstein airbase in Germany to increase deterrence and defense. While many countries have had space-related functions within existing military branches, both the US and France have recently established new military branches devoted to the strategic and military importance of space. In 2019, the U.S. established Space Force and France formed a new Space Command (Commandement de l’Espace), which supersedes the previous French military service dealing with space.

• In recent years, the UK government has been considering how to develop its capabilities in using space technology and ensuring that space is part of its national defense strategy. In 2019, the UK Ministry of Defence announced several new military space initiatives and published plans for a Defence Space Strategy, noting that “satellites and space-based services are vital to modern life” and that “there would be severe consequences from any disruption, whether by natural or man-made hazards, or intentional threats from hostile states”.

• On November 18, 2020, the UK announced its proposal to establish a new military command dedicated to space. (see previous ExoArticle here) The proposal of a new Royal Air Force (RAF) space command was part of an announcement by the UK Government of the largest defense budget since the Cold War of £16.5 billion over the next four years. The full details of how this new UK space command will be composed, and what it will do, remain to be seen.

• The potential opportunities of a new UK military space command will likely be of interest to industry players, and in particular those involved in the UK spaceport market in relation to commercial spaceflight and spaceports, such as those being established in Scotland. In announcing the new defense budget, Prime Minister Boris Johnson stated that “we will establish…a new RAF space command, launching British satellites and our first rocket from Scotland in 2022.”

 

Space has long been recognised as a potential domain of warfare – indeed, it was one of the major motivating factors in establishing the international legal framework for space activities in the form of the Outer Space Treaty 1967. Space continues to be viewed as an area of strategic importance for military capability, and satellites are increasingly viewed as essential components of critical communications for military and defence purposes. In recent years, many space-faring countries and international organisations have made clear the importance of space and space technology to their current and future defence.

At an international level, in 2019, space was recognised by NATO as the latest operational domain (along with air, land, sea and cyberspace) and adopted a new space policy. In October, NATO announced that it would establish a centre for space operations at Ramstein airbase in Germany to increase deterrence and defence.

At a national level, while many countries have long had space-related functions within existing military branches, countries such as the US and France, as two examples, have recently established new military branches to clearly demonstrate the strategic and military importance of space. In 2019, the US established an independent military branch dedicated to space defence, named the US Space Force. In the same year, France formed a new Space Command (Commandement de l’Espace), which supersedes the previous French military service dealing with space.

       UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson

The UK announces the establishment of a new military command dedicated to space

On 18 November 2020, the UK announced its proposal to establish a new military command dedicated to space, similar to the recent moves taken by allied countries such as France and the US. The proposal of a new Royal Air Force (RAF) space command was part of an announcement by the UK Government of the largest defence budget since the Cold War of £16.5 billion over the next four years.

This announcement is in the continuity of the UK’s national defence strategy

While a new military branch is new, the UK Government has in recent years been considering how to develop its capabilities in using space technology and ensuring that space is part of its national defence strategy. In 2019, the UK Ministry of Defence announced several new military space initiatives and published plans for a Defence Space Strategy, noting that “satellites and space-based services are vital to modern life” and that “there would be severe consequences from any disruption, whether by natural or man-made hazards, or intentional threats from hostile states”.

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UK UFO ‘Hub’ Revealed in Declassified MoD Files

Article by Svetlana Ekimenko                                    October 4, 2020                                    (sputniknews.com)

• From the early 1950s until 2009, a department in the UK Ministry of Defence documented and investigated reports of UFOs. These documents, many of which were gathered by The Royal Air Force, had been sealed for 61 years and have been released following a Freedom of Information request. The files offer a head-spinning account of strange objects all shapes and sizes, detailed in over 620 sightings across the UK between 1959 and 2009.

• The very last UFO report published online by the MoD dates to 2009, and covers sightings that took place that year. A report dated January 2009 painted a vivid picture of a “a silver disc-shaped light”. Another one, in June that year, made mention of “up to 20 orange and red glowing lights”. In September, a witness described “three blazing gold orbs in a diagonal line in the sky”.

• One of the UK regions particularly noted for frequent “UFO sightings” over the years has been Lincolnshire, in the East Midlands. Lincolnshire was “a busy hub” for UFOs according to the MoD reports. Northern Lincolnshire witnessed more than 30 reports filed by the MoD over the years including 13 sightings in just one year.

• One Lincolnshire account described seeing a UFO with “a big red dome” and “suspicious” white lights, moving in a straight line. After being “stationary for some time, it … started moving making small erratic movements”. Another account described a quarter-of-a-mile long UFO with “three large green windows”. Yet another account depicts a “silver, cigar shaped object” with sharp “pointed wings”, a red light on one side and a green light on the other. After hovering, it swiftly disappeared.

• According to the declassified MoD files, London was at the top of the list with 54 sightings, followed by Kent (30) and Lancashire (24). The official documents are now available to read on the UK Government’s website (see here).

 

One of the UK regions particularly noted for frequent “UFO sightings” over the years has been revealed.

               Lincolnshire UK

Lincolnshire, in the East Midlands, was apparently a busy “hub” for Unidentified Flying Objects, according to a range of previously classified documents from a department of the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD).

Lincolnshire ranked in 15th place across all locations in the country, registering a suspected 13 eerie sightings in just one year.

Apparently, Northern Lincolnshire has witnessed more than 30 reports filed by the MoD over the years.

From the early 1950s until 2009, a department in the MoD documented and investigated reports of UFOs.

These documents, many of which were gathered by The Royal Air Force (RAF), had been sealed for 61 years and were released following a Freedom of Information request.

The files offer a head-spinning account of strange objects all shapes and sizes, detailed in over 620 sightings across the UK between 1959 and 2009.

The very last UFO report published online by the MoD dates to 2009, and covered alleged sightings that took place from January through the end of November of that year.

The descriptions of what “witnesses” saw are mind-boggling.A report dated January 2009 painted a vivid picture of a “a silver disc-shaped light”.

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UK Government is Withholding Three UFO Files, Former Ministry of Defence Employee Claims

by Shivali Best             May 9, 2018               (mirror.co.uk)

• In 2008, the British government started to release its UFO files to the public in the hopes of being as transparent as possible. The release process was expected to take three years at most. According to Nick Pope (pictured above), a former employee at the UK Ministry of Defence, three files still haven’t been made public. “I’m extremely disappointed that ten years after the release of the first files, the project is still incomplete,” said Pope.

• Mr Pope noted that the files have been sent backwards and forwards between the MoD and the British National Archives at least twice, adding to people’s suspicions. “A lot of people think the government is covering up the truth about UFOs, and this unfortunate situation is only adding fuel to the fire with regard to these conspiracy theories.”

• Mr Pope added that while he and his colleagues took the issue of UFOs seriously, they were often forced to ‘spin’ the subject for the media, ‘disingenuously stating that the subject was of “no defence significance”‘.

 

While UFOs are often seen as objects that belong in the imagination of conspiracy theorists, the British Government has taken them very seriously for years.

In 2008, the Government started to release its UFO files to the public in the hopes of being as transparent as possible.
But while the release process was expected to take three years at most, three files still haven’t been made public, according to Nick Pope, a former employee at the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

Mr Pope said: “Having worked on the Ministry of Defence’s UFO project and having written many of the documents that have already been released, I’m extremely disappointed that ten years after the release of the first files, the project is still incomplete.”

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