Exploring the MoD's UFO files

It's the weird and wonderful place where the men in grey suits from Whitehall meet the little green men from Mars. The Ministry of Defence has for the first time opened its real-life 'X Files', detailing how its experts have examined photographs of UFOs hovering over the UK. While the images range from the baffling to the risible, there is no doubting the seriousness that officials reserve for the issue of extraterrestrial life. Correspondence between the MoD and members of the public who report sightings of strange objects reveals that Whitehall mandarins remain "totally open-minded" about the existence of UFOs. The letters - obtained by Scotland on Sunday through the Freedom of Information Act - confirm that the MoD has a procedure of scrambling fighter planes to confront any unidentified craft or object that enters UK airspace. However, there are hints that at least some strange objects seen in the sky are of a distinctly terrestrial provenance. In one letter, officials admit that military helicopters carry out low-flying combat training missions across Britain, and apologise for any alarm they may have caused. The MoD has confirmed it receives more than 100 reports of UFO sightings every year, many of which come from Scotland.

Last year alone, the Ministry was sent five sets of photographs and videos purporting to show UFO activity. One was sent by a concerned resident who last March reported seeing silent superfast "triangular craft" and other strange objects in the skies above the south of England. He enclosed a picture that appears to show a ball of light moving at speed across the sky with an illuminated trail in its wake. A lengthy official response from the MoD's Directorate of Air Staff is at pains to reassure the individual. It states: "We remain totally open-minded, but to date we know of no evidence which substantiates the existence of these alleged phenomena.