UFO lore has been one of the most exciting and repetitive elements in modern mythology, inspiring public fears, wild theories, and pop culture with stories of extraterrestrial visitors flying over our heads. These strange sightings are reported by individuals around the world, and the possibility of a cosmic threat to national security has prompted a number of countries to seriously investigate the issue over the past century. Here are 5 official programs launched by governments.
1. Office of Investigation of Anomalous Air Phenomena, Peru
After the fall of Alberto Fujimori's regime in 2001, the Peruvian Air Force announced the creation of an official UFO Investigation Bureau, Oficina de Investigacion de Fenomenos Aereos Anomalos (OIFAA).
A series of UFO sightings over the capital of the country, Lima, has prompted a perceived need to investigate any possible threats to national security posed by air anomalies. Some in the administration were more inclined to support UFO research due to Fujimori's alleged encounter with UFOs in 1991. According to the story, the ex-president, known for his fishing in the Amazon, had just landed on the river, where he and a group of military officers were hit by a huge metal object moving south 300 meters (1000 feet) above their heads. The President took an oath of secrecy from the officers for fear of political complications, but the Peruvian military's interest in UFOs remained keen. First located in Lima, a middle-class suburb of Miraflores, OIFAA was relatively open to the media.the public and civilian ufologists. Air Force Commander Julio Cesar Chamorro said that one day the department received a call about UFOs from rural farmers. Instead of fearing an imminent invasion, the farmers asked the government to intervene to prevent UFOs and their inhabitants from scaring off their livestock.
The open-mindedness of the Peruvian Air Force dates back to 1980, when Captain Oscar Santa Maria Huertas fired at a UFO that resembled a giant drop of mercury hanging in the sky over La Jolla Air Force Base in front of nearly 2,000 witnesses.
Another pilot reported three hours of missed time during the flight without losing fuel. Administrative problems led to the closure of OIFAA in 2008, although the Air Force's Aerospace Interests Division remained open to UFO reports. In 2013, OIFAA was resumed after another series of observations, including luminous objects over the central Andean city of Marabamba. UFO-related information is being analyzed by Air Force personnel, sociologists, archaeologists and astronomers, and the public is told that there is an institute that will study all the information they have gathered regarding "seemingly unconventional phenomena."
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2. RAAF Research, Australia
The first official UFO investigation by the Australian government was conducted in 1930. Squadron Commander George Jones, an officer in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), was dispatched to Warrnambool, Victoria to investigate mysterious aircraft over Bass Strait.
Official interest continued until August 23, 1953, when the Deputy Director of the Civil Aviation Department, Tom Drury, recorded a UFO in Papua New Guinea. While filming the boy fishing with a spear, Drury noticed a thick white cloud appear in the clear sky, and then a silvery bullet-shaped object emerged from the ship and quickly flew away. The Air Force Intelligence Agency (DAFI) became concerned about a possible threat to national security. The RAAF recorded and investigated UFO reports until Operation Close Encounter in 1983, when it prepared Mirage jets to intercept UFOs detected by radar at Sydney airport.
The operation required 66.5 days of overtime and 1,000 kilometers (620 mi) of travel in a company car to investigate what turned out to be nothing more than radar interference. The RAAF changed its policy, limiting UFO research to credible defense threats, and later ceased all UFO research in 1994. In 2001, defense chiefs announced that the ministry would no longer deal with cases of “unusual aerial sightings.” “In 2011, the Sydney Morning Herald requested access to RAAF UFO files through freedom of information only to report they were missing or destroyed. It took the Department of Defense another year to “find” the old reports and submit them to the National Archives.
3. CRIDOVNI, Uruguay
Created by the Uruguayan Air Force in 1979, the Receptora e Investigadora de Denuncias sobre Objectos Voladores no Identificados (CRIDOVNI), or Commission for the Reception and Investigation of Reports of Unidentified Flying Objects, was the first government agency in South America to officially investigate UFOs.
Its researchers are hired employees of the Uruguayan Air Force, operating independently, without military intervention. While only about 2 percent of the cases are considered unexplained, these include the hijacking of military aircraft, kidnapping of civilians, cattle mutilation and physical landings.
According to the chairman of KRIDOVNI, Colonel Ariel Sanchez, the commission discovered changes in the chemical composition of the soil near the proposed planting sites. The various theories that the scholarly commissions were considering included atmospheric phenomena, foreign aircraft landing tracks, and observation probes sent from space. KRIDOVNI has extensive ties with its civilian partner, the Regional Center for Aerospace and Terrestrial Research (CRIFAT), and the commission interacts in an open-minded manner with members of the UFO community.
According to Colonel Sanchez, CRIDOVNI works with an impartial and objective methodology and quick response times. “We still have no answers regarding the UFO phenomenon, what these vehicles are and their origins, but we are continuing our research with utmost readiness. As people serving Uruguay, we must be impartial. We do not encourage or discourage any particular point of view."
4. GEPAN, SEPRA & GEIPAN, France
After World War II, UFO sightings were collected and archived by the French Air Force Advanced Study Bureau (EMAA / BPE,”Bureau of Long-Term Research”). The Military Police of the National Gendarmerie have also begun recording UFO sightings, with many in the Armed Forces taking an interest in soucoupes volantes, or flying saucers. The first attempt at a serious investigation was made in the 1960s, when Minister of Scientific Research Alain Peyrefitt asked former Atomic Energy Commission scientist Jean-Luc Bruno to set up an independent UFO investigation commission from the Americans. The initiative apparently came from the administration of President de Gaulle, who expressed concern about a UFO seen over Tananarive, Madagascar, in 1954.
The proposed research group pursued three goals: to determine the likelihood of the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence, to find out what kind of relationship can be with it through space, and to explain the phenomena of aerospatiaux nonidentifies (unidentified aerospace phenomena). The proposal was approved, but postponed indefinitely due to the political turmoil in May 1968. Following a wave of UFO sightings in the 1970s, Claude Picker, an engineer at the National Center for Space Research (CNES), the French space agency, proposed the creation of a UFO study team in collaboration with the Air Force, Gendarmerie, Civil Aviation and the National Meteorological Office. In 1977, the Aerospatiaux Non-ldentifiees Phenomenon Study Group (GEPAN) was formed as the official department of the CNES to investigate credible and strange UFO encounters since 1966.
The investigations, begun in 1978, involved teams of four investigators, invariably including a psychologist to study and evaluate witness statements. In one notable case, a 1982 GEPAN report on the impact of a UFO encounter on amaranth plants in a private garden in Nancy was later published in the United States by the Journal of Scientific Research. GEPAN remained active until 1989, when it was discreetly replaced by d'Expertise des Phenomenes de Rentrees. Atmospheriques (SEPRA), or atmospheric phenomena reentry department. Officially dealing only with satellite and rocket debris, UFO research continued behind the scenes. SEPRA closed after an audit in 2005, but a new official UFO Investigation Unit opened in 2006 - Groupe d'Etudes et d 'information des Phenomenes Aerospatiaux Non Identifies (GEIPAN).
GEIPAN first director Yves Sillard, former NATO Assistant Secretary General for Environmental and Scientific Affairs, defended serious UFO studies on France International radio: “I think Americans are practicing much higher investigation efforts on this issue than any other country, they are practicing deliberate politics and deliberately orchestrated disinformation. This is complete misinformation. For what? Could it be the fear of seeing that their superiority would be challenged if one day they faced a much more advanced outer civilization? Is it their concern to keep potential technology assets to themselves? Or … or any other explanation, who knows?"
5. Flying Saucer Working Group, UK
British official interest in UFOs dates back to the investigation of the mysterious "foo fighters" seen during the First and Second World Wars.
In August 1950, the UK Department of Defense created the Flying Saucers Working Group (FWSP) to investigate the possibility that UFOs were extraterrestrial in origin, investigating reports and liaising with the CIA. The FSVP consisted of five members, all of whom were experts from the technical intelligence units of the Ministry of Aviation, the Admiralty, the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Defense. They spent eight months in a hotel room near Trafalgar Square, looking at UFO reports from the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy.
The FSWP's conclusions were that the vast majority of the observations were false, and some of the unexplained were probably optical illusions. The group's final report, published in June 1951, recommended that the government expose the sightings and withhold from the public information about the sightings that defy explanation. The Department of Defense has recorded over 11,000 UFO reports between 1959 and 2007, although few records dating back to 1962 exist due to a policy of destroying messages after five years if they were not a possible security threat. In 1967, UFO reports over southern England led to the mobilization of British military and police officers until it was revealed as a joke by engineering students at Farnborough Technical College.
In 1979, the Earl of Clancarty persuaded the House of Lords to discuss the UFO problem, as a result of which many Lords opposed government censorship, the Bishop of Norwich declared that Jesus Christ died for the sins of intelligent beings throughout the universe, and a UFO study group was formed in the House of Lords. Despite aristocratic enthusiasm, the Department of Defense eventually closed its UFO hotline in 2009 during an economic downturn due to a waste of resources, when there were no signs of a security threat in 50 years of investigation.
6. Magnet Project And Second Floor Project, Canada
In 1950, Canadian radio engineer Wilbert B. Smith requested the use of government laboratories and field equipment to study UFOs and identify the means by which they flew.
Smith believed that the Earth's magnetic field could be used as a means of air traffic, while UFOs probably used geomagnetic motion. The desire to understand the science of UFO flight (and develop new technologies on its basis) led to the creation of the "Magnet" project. Smith said of flying saucers: “They are one hundred feet or more in diameter; they can move at a speed of several thousand miles per hour; they can reach heights well in excess of those that conventional aircraft or balloons must support; and sufficient power and strength appears to be available for all the necessary maneuvers …
Given these factors, it is difficult to reconcile this performance with the capabilities of our technology, and unless the technology of any Earth nation is much more advanced than is commonly known, we are forced to conclude that vehicles are likely extraterrestrial despite our prejudice against it. The goal of Project Magnet was to gain a comprehensive understanding of the principles of feeding UFOs in order to replicate the technology. Smith set up an observatory in Shirley Bay, Ontario to measure magnetic and radio noise interference from passing UFOs and find out their physical properties.
Project Magnet started out as a classified project that focused primarily on geomagnetic research, but soon shifted its focus to UFO research in the hopes that this would lead to a breakthrough in the geomagnetic drive. Smith's book on his idiosyncratic "new science" theories was published after his death. Parallel to the Department of Transportation's program was the Defense Research Council's program known as the "second floor." Government departments believed there were too many UFO reports and too many similarities to be discounted. They were also suspicious of the American analysis of UFO reports due to a lack of accurate and realistic detail.
They developed a detailed questionnaire designed to obtain the most objective reports of UFO sightings from eyewitnesses. The Second Floor Committee was disbanded in 1954 due to the Canadian government's embarrassment over the publicity of UFOs and the finding that the UFO phenomenon could not be satisfactorily explained by scientific methods.
7. CEFAA, Chile
The Comite de Estudios de Fenomenos Aereos Anomalos is an official UFO study group under the Ministry of Civil Aviation (DGAC) and under the jurisdiction of the Chilean Air Force. The committee was formed in 1997 after DGCA officers at Chacalluta airport observed aerial anomalies for two nights, leading to a flurry of media interest and government officials' confessions of sightings of OVNIs, the Spanish abbreviation for UFOs. The mission of the committee is to collect information and investigate reports of unidentified aerial events in order to determine any danger to Chilean aviation. CEFAA is governed by the 2008 Transparency Act, which encourages government agencies to act openly. While most other countries,which investigate UFOs, publishes only paper files, CEFAA also publishes hard physical evidence, including photographs, videos and audio recordings of UFO encounters.
In 2014, CEFAA released unexplained photographs of a disc-shaped object hovering above the Collahuasi copper mine, which is located in the desert Andean region at 4,300 meters (14,000 feet) above sea level. The photographs were taken by one of four electrical, electronic and fluid control technicians who worked near the site in April 2013.
CEFAA ruled out the possibility that the UFO was a weather event, balloon, airplane, bird, or drone, and concluded that the object was unidentified. A 2014 meeting at the headquarters of the Civil Aviation Department of CEFAA, DGAC and the Chilean Air Force with a number of leading scientists concluded that UFOs pose no threat to aircraft. The DGAC Chief of Operations simply said, “If, as many witnesses have stated, [the UFO phenomenon] is exhibiting 'intelligent behavior,' and if we acknowledge this fact, then we should seek 'the intent behind that intelligence', whatever that is. -Perhaps the form of energy is irrelevant. Intelligence is what matters. If so, then we must ask: Was she showing hostility or conducting openly threatening maneuvers? Did he really attack our plane?
As of today, this does not seem to be the case. We cannot call something a threat to something or someone unless they have shown any overt intent to harm. And even less, we don't even know their exact nature!”
8. Operacao Prato, Brazil
One of the largest official UFO studies to date has been conducted in northeastern Brazil: Operacao Prato, or Operation Plateau.
The first reports came from the villages of the Amazon near the Atlantic coast, where even the mayor of Colares complained about UFOs interfering with fishing. In November 1977, a group of military men under the command of Captain Uirange Hollande encountered a UFO that appeared directly above them. The disc-shaped object sounded “like an air conditioner or a bicycle sprocket as you pedaled backward, and emitted a yellow glow five times before turning blue and firing towards the sea. Reporting to the commander of his base in Belem, Hollanda was put in charge of an undercover investigation with the group specialists and photographers.
Investigators interviewed more than 300 people, including fishermen, who reported seeing UFOs entering and leaving the river and mysterious blue lights underwater. Several hundred photographs of UFOs were taken with filters and infrared and ultraviolet film, and objects were presented in a dazzling variety of shapes: discs, pyramids, cylinders and a 100-meter (330 ft) oil barrel-shaped “mother ship”. Locals called these objects chupa-chupas, which meant bloodsucking, as there were many reports of UFOs paralyzing people with a flash of green light and burning them with a flash of red light, leaving scars on the skin.
Hollanda concluded that the subjects were simply taking blood samples, but at least two people were reported to have died. After the investigation reports were sent to Brazil, Operacao Prato was classified and those who participated in it were ordered not to talk about it. In 1997, Colonel Hollande gave an interview to UFO magazine in which he described this operation. Less than two months later, he was found hanged in his own home. While some suspect murder, most of the evidence points to suicide.
Many documents related to the operation and other UFO encounters investigated by the Brazilian military were published in 2009. In 2013, representatives from the Brazilian Air Force, Navy and Army met with civilian UFO researchers to discuss a joint effort to study flying saucers.
9. Grid - MO, Grid - Academy of Sciences, USSR
On the night of September 20, 1977, residents of Petrozavodsk witnessed how a massive pulsating object similar to a red star or jellyfish appeared over their city for about 10 minutes. While the nearest hydrometeorological observatory did not report any anomalies, there were many witnesses, and similar cases were reported even in Finland.
Letters from local officials and the public poured into the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences, and neighboring countries wondered if this was some kind of weapon test. The Academy of Sciences turned to the Military-Industrial Commission (MIC) and the Scientific and Technical Council (STC) with a request to assist in coordinating the investigation with the assistance of the Ministry of Defense. The military-industrial complex has updated the five-year defense plan, including two new topics: the Defense Ministry's grid “research of paranormal atmospheric and space phenomena and their impact on the functioning of military-technical equipment and personnel” and the Academy of Sciences's grid “research of the physical nature and mechanisms of paranormal atmospheric and space phenomena. The official Soviet state UFO research program operated from 1978 to 1990,although they called any encounters “paranormal”.
The project was kept secret, encouraging the assumption that any UFO activity was the result of military tests, and in the case of verifying the real paranormal UFO activity, it is prescribed to apply any knowledge gained for military applications. Most reports concluded that these were optical illusions caused by high-altitude weather balloons or sunlight seeping through clouds of dust and gas left behind by rocket launches. In parallel with the "Grid" program, investigations were carried out by the KGB department in charge of the air force and aircraft construction, which was collecting UFO reports.
Various programs have been launched in response to UFOs, including training missile crews who have seen UFOs in order to avoid actions that could trigger an aggressive response. According to retired FSB Major General and Academy of Sciences researcher Vasily Eremenko, the experiment to attract UFOs began in the early 1980s after it was noted that phenomena occurred during periods of "increased tension" such as weapons testing and military movements. technology.
When moving a large number of combat aircraft or equipment, balls of light appeared in the sky. Military and government scientists eventually came to the conclusion that UFOs were either unknown natural phenomena, American or Japanese intelligence equipment, or extraterrestrial objects.
10. Project Sign, Project Gradge & Project Blue Book, USA
On June 24, 1947, Kenneth Arnold observed a formation of multicolored crescent-shaped ships flying at over 1,200 knots near Mount Rainier, Washington. Describing their movement as "a saucer when you launch it over water," he coined the term "flying saucer." Public interest in this phenomenon has led to an increasing number of calls for the Air Force to investigate the matter. The first program, Project Sign, was carried out by the Air Force Technical Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in late 1947. He gave a "situation assessment" that was officially inconclusive as to the cause, but it dismissed rumors that it was due to American experimental aircraft tests or the so-called "Horten disks" that were said to have been developed by captured German scientists for the USSR.
The report concluded that the UFO ships were real and likely extraterrestrial in origin. The assessment was sent to the Pentagon, where it led to an altercation between Air Force officers who supported the findings and those who feared the assessment could undermine public confidence in the military. US Air Force Chief of Staff, General Hoyt Vandenberg, ordered the destruction of the documents. In 1949, the mark was replaced by the Grage project and the mark investigators were transferred to unrelated designs. Fearing public panic after the Roswell incident, the US Air Force sought to debunk the UFO phenomenon as much as possible. Grage explained that UFO activity was the result of ordinary airplanes, weather balloons, meteors, optical illusions, and other mundane causes. Investigators were supported by civilian scientists as well as the US Air Force Meteorological Service and the United States Weather Bureau.
Grage concluded that UFOs were cases of misidentification, mass hysteria, hoaxes, and psychopaths, and recommended sending the findings to the Psychological Warfare Department. Pressure from senior Air Force officials based on an increase in strange radar readings led to the revival of Gradge in 1952 under the command of Captain Edward J. The project was renamed the Blue Book after blue test books were issued at some universities. The Air Force and the CIA convened a Robertson group, a group of scientists tasked with studying the UFO situation. The group recommended a downgrade of Project Blue Book due to the potential waste of military resources. However, the project continued its work until 1969, when the Air Force registered 12 618 observations. The closure was based on a report from the University of Colorado, which concluded that there was no evidence of advanced technology, extraterrestrial origin, or threats to national security.
Jeff Underwood, historian at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, also links the closure to a shift in popular culture: “Once Star Trek began, I lost interest in UFOs.” In early 2015, amateur historian John Greenwald posted over 100 000 pages of declassified Blue Book files. The evidence showed that while most of the sightings were easily explainable, there were about 700 cases that left investigators perplexed, including a 1964 collision of a New Mexico police officer with a flying vehicle marked with a red emblem and piloted by “child creatures” that left burns and physical evidence.
Other United States government agencies, such as the CIA, DIA, and NSA, have also conducted independent investigations of UFOs, but these files either remain classified or have been released so carefully edited that they could not be read.