Nick Pope ran the British Ministry of Defence’s official UFO investigation programme from 1991 to 1994. Assigned to “Section 2a” of the Secretariat (Air Staff), he investigated thousands of UFO reports from members of the public and the military. He entered the role as a skeptic. He left convinced that some UAP were real, unknown, and of potential defence significance. The UK programme was formally closed in 2009.
What the MoD Programme Did
The MoD UFO desk received reports from civilians, police, military personnel, and airline pilots. Pope’s role was to assess whether any report had defence implications. During his three-year tenure he investigated cases including Cosford/Shropshire (March 31, 1993) — a mass military UFO sighting across two RAF bases that generated a formal report to the Air Marshal — and multiple high-grade pilot and radar cases.
The Cosford Incident — March 31, 1993
On March 31, 1993 a series of UFO sightings occurred across the UK including directly over two RAF bases. The objects were seen by military police, RAF personnel, and civilians. Pope investigated extensively and wrote a formal report concluding the phenomenon was of unknown origin. The report reached the Assistant Chief of the Air Staff. It was the most significant UAP report in UK government history.
The 2009 Closure
The MoD closed its UFO investigation programme in 2009 with the official statement that it had found “no defence significance.” Pope has said publicly that this conclusion was predetermined rather than evidence-based — the programme was closed for resource reasons, not because UAP had stopped appearing over UK airspace. All MoD UFO files have since been released to the UK National Archives. Pope continues to comment on UAP developments and consults for media and government bodies.
Source: nickpope.net. Nick Pope, “Open Skies, Closed Minds” (1996). UK National Archives MoD UFO files.