A total of 285 unidentified flying objects were reported to the Ministry Of Defence in 2008, compared to just 135 in 2007, according to official documents.
The reports include a mystery craft spotted hovering opposite Parliament was reported on February 12th, 2008. According to the document: 'There was a craft that had green, red and white lights. It was still and static in the sky. It was seen for about half an hour.'The rise in the number of sightings - the biggest since 1998 - was described as 'phenomenal' by experts.
The MoD only investigate reports of unidentified flying objects that it considers may pose a risk to national security, and most of the incidents seem just to have been logged and ignored. On June 28, near Cobham in Somerset, a document notes that someone reported seeing 'something interesting' in the sky. A few days earlier, it states: 'Twenty-five amber lights were seen leaving the Heathrow area. They were seen travelling West at 45 degrees, 200-300 knots'.
Another interesting sighting was reported in February 2008 where a UFO the size of a 747 was reported above Leeds, West Yorkshire. That craft was described as a 'jumbo jet sized object which was flat and round with a blue ripple underside. It made no sound and then disappeared.'
The dossier was published just one week after it emerged the RAF has tried to shoot down UFOs under instructions from the MoD. Former MoD UFO investigator, Nick Pope, claims that pilots have aimed at UFOs several times, but have failed to bring them down. Mr Pope, who worked on the MoD's UFO section for three years, said the 'shoot down' directive had been in place since the 1980s. Pope says 'We know of cases where the order has been given to shoot down - with little effect to the UFO... Firing at UFOs was 'not automatic but happens when something in our airspace is deemed to be a threat.' 'In the case of UFOs, whether the object is causing a threat is very much a (pilot’s) judgment call.'
And in January 09 it was claimed that a UFO ripped a 60ft blade off a wind farm turbine in Lincolnshire. Hundreds of witnesses reported hearing an earsplitting bang at 4am. One saw orangey-yellow spheres skimming across the sky, while another reported a 'massive ball of light' with 'tentacles going right down to the ground'.
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