Project Condign

Last updated
Cover page Project Condign (cover).jpg
Cover page

Project Condign (not to be confused with the Condon Committee) was a secret unidentified flying object (UFO) study undertaken by the British Government's Defence Intelligence Staff (DIS) between 1997 and 2000. [1]

Contents

The results of Project Condign were compiled into a 400-page document titled Unidentified Aerial Phenomena in the UK Air Defence Region that drew on approximately 10,000 sightings and reports that had been gathered by the DI55, a section of the Directorate of Scientific and Technical Intelligence (DSTI) within the DIS. [1] [2] It was released into the public domain on 15 May 2006 after a September 2005 Freedom of Information Act request by UFO researchers David Clarke, a lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, and Gary Anthony, a former BUFORA astronomical consultant. The identity of the report's author/s was not made public. [1] [2]

Conclusions

UFOs

The report concluded that UFOs had an observable presence that was “indisputable”, but also that no evidence has been found to suggest they are "hostile or under any type of control". [1] [3] [4] According to its author/s the majority of analyzed UFO sightings can be explained by the misidentification of common objects such as aircraft and balloons, while the remaining unexplainable reports were most likely the result of a supernormal meteorological phenomena not fully understood by modern science. [1] [4] This phenomenon is referred to in the report as "Buoyant Plasma Formation," akin to Ball Lightning, and is hypothesized to produce an unexplained energy field which creates the appearance of a Black Triangle by refracting light. The electromagnetic fields generated by plasma phenomena are also hypothesized to explain reports of close encounters due to inducing perceptual alterations or hallucinations in those affected. [5] The Condign report suggests that further research into "novel military applications" of this plasma phenomenon is warranted, and that "the implications have already been briefed to the relevant MoD technology managers." [6] The report also notes that scientists in the former Soviet Union have identified the close connection between the 'UFO Phenomena' and Plasma technologies," and are "pursuing related techniques for potential military purposes." [7]

Close encounters

The report described people who believed themselves to have had close encounters as being convinced of what they said that they had seen or experienced, but also as not representing proof that such encounters were real. [1] [4] It attributed a number of cases to the “close proximity of plasma related fields” which it said could “adversely affect a vehicle or person". [1] [4]

Reaction

According to Clarke, the release of the documents did not shed any new light on UFOs or the UFO phenomenon, but did show that the DIS had been conducting a far larger investigation of the topic than it had previously revealed. [2] Due to the secret nature of the report, it was apparently not subject to peer review, and it has been suggested that the "buoyant plasma" hypothesis would not have withstood independent scrutiny. [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unidentified flying object</span> Unusual phenomenon in the sky that is not readily identifiable

An unidentified flying object (UFO), or unexplained aerial phenomenon (UAP), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. Upon investigation, most UFOs are identified as known objects or atmospheric phenomena, while a small number remain unexplained.

The term foo fighter was used by Allied aircraft pilots during World War II to describe various unidentified flying objects or mysterious aerial phenomena seen in the skies over both the European and Pacific theaters of operations.

Ufology is the investigation of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) by people who believe that they may be of extraordinary origins. While there are instances of government, private, and fringe science investigations of UFOs, ufology is generally regarded by skeptics and science educators as a canonical example of pseudoscience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Project Blue Book</span> American systematic study of unidentified flying objects

Project Blue Book was the code name for the systematic study of unidentified flying objects by the United States Air Force from March 1952 to its termination on December 17, 1969. The project, headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, was initially directed by Captain Edward J. Ruppelt and followed projects of a similar nature such as Project Sign established in 1947, and Project Grudge in 1948. Project Blue Book had two goals, namely, to determine if UFOs were a threat to national security, and to scientifically analyze UFO-related data.

The extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH) proposes that some unidentified flying objects (UFOs) are best explained as being physical spacecraft occupied by extraterrestrial intelligence or non-human aliens, or non-occupied alien probes from other planets visiting Earth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black triangle (UFO)</span> UFOs with triangular shape with dark color

Black triangles are UFOs reported as having a triangular shape and dark color, typically observed at night, described as large, silent, hovering, moving slowly, and displaying pulsating, colored lights and can turn their lights off.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacques Vallée</span> Computer scientist, ufologist

Jacques Fabrice Vallée is an Internet pioneer, computer scientist, venture capitalist, author, ufologist and astronomer currently residing in San Francisco, California and Paris, France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robertson Panel</span>

The Robertson Panel was a scientific committee which met in January 1953 headed by Howard P. Robertson. The Panel arose from a recommendation to the Intelligence Advisory Committee (IAC) in December 1952 from a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) review of the U.S. Air Force investigation into unidentified flying objects, Project Blue Book. The CIA review itself was in response to widespread reports of unidentified flying objects, especially in the Washington, D.C. area during the summer of 1952.

Australian ufology refers to a historical series of Australian events and or activities pertaining to government departments, civilian groups or individual Australians, which centre on or around the study of Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) reports, sightings, encounters and other related phenomena, known as ufology within the Australian context before 1984.

Identifying unidentified flying objects (UFOs) is a difficult task due to the normally poor quality of the evidence provided by those who report sighting the unknown object. Observations and subsequent reporting are often made by those untrained in astronomy, atmospheric phenomena, aeronautics, physics, and perception. Nevertheless, most officially investigated UFO sightings, such as from the U.S. Air Force's Project Blue Book, have been identified as being due to honest misidentifications of natural phenomena, aircraft, or other prosaic explanations. In early U.S. Air Force attempts to explain UFO sightings, unexplained sightings routinely numbered over one in five reports. However, in early 1953, right after the CIA's Robertson Panel, percentages of unexplained sightings dropped precipitously, usually being only a few percent in any given year. When Project Blue Book closed down in 1970, only 6% of all cases were classified as being truly unidentified.

GEIPAN. , its name since September 2005., is a unit of the French Space Agency CNES whose brief is to investigate unidentified aerospace phenomena (UAP), and make its findings available to the public.

The interdimensional hypothesis is a proposal that unidentified flying object (UFO) sightings are the result of experiencing other "dimensions" that coexist separately alongside our own in contrast with either the extraterrestrial hypothesis that suggests UFO sightings are caused by visitations from outside the Earth or the psychosocial hypothesis that argues UFO sightings are best explained as psychological or social phenomenon.

David William Clarke is an investigative journalist, reader and lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, England. He has a lifelong interest in folklore, Fortean phenomena and extraordinary personal experiences. He is frequently consulted by the national and international media on contemporary legend and UFOs and acted as curator for The National Archives UFO project from 2008 to 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2007 Alderney UFO sighting</span> Reported UFO sighting

In the afternoon of 23 April 2007, Ray Bowyer, a pilot flying south towards the island of Alderney in the English Channel sighted unidentified flying objects. He reported the sighting to an air traffic controller who told him that a second pilot had seen something similar. In Bowyer's report to the British Civil Aviation Authority he said he saw two bright, stationary objects. Two passengers on Bowyer's aircraft said that they saw unusual coloured lights at the same time. Proposed explanations for the sighting have included earthquake lights and sun dogs.

The Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) was an unclassified but unpublicized investigatory effort funded by the United States Government to study unidentified flying objects (UFOs) or unexplained aerial phenomena (UAP). The program was first made public on December 16, 2017. The program began in 2007, with funding of $22 million over the five years until the available appropriations were ended in 2012. The program began in the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pentagon UFO videos</span> Cockpit instrumentation display videos from US Navy jets, widely publicized as UFOs

The Pentagon UFO videos are selected visual recordings of cockpit instrumentation displays from United States Navy fighter jets based aboard aircraft carriers USS Nimitz and USS Theodore Roosevelt in 2004, 2014 and 2015, with additional footage taken by other Navy personnel in 2019. The four grainy, monochromic videos, widely characterized as officially documenting UFOs, have received extensive coverage in the media since 2017. The Pentagon later addressed and officially released the first three videos of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) in 2020, and confirmed the provenance of the leaked 2019 videos in two statements made in 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office</span> Task force of the United States Department of Defense

The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) is an office within the United States Office of the Secretary of Defense that investigates unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and other phenomena in the air, sea, and/or space and/or on land: sometimes referred to as "unidentified aerial phenomena" or "unidentified anomalous phenomena" (UAP).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UFO Report (U.S. Intelligence)</span> 2021 report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence

Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, also known as the UAP Report and colloquially named the Pentagon UFO Report, is a United States federally mandated assessment, prepared and published by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on June 25, 2021, summarizing information regarding unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAPs) which include unidentified flying objects (UFOs). Substantial public attention had been given to the mandated June 25 report, fueled by statements by former high level officials in the U.S. government, including former president Barack Obama, who stated in June 2021 "...there's footage and records of objects in the skies, that we don't know exactly what they are."

On 17 May 2022, members of the United States House Intelligence Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence and Counterproliferation held congressional hearings with top military officials to discuss military reports of unexplained aerial phenomena (UAPs). It was the first public congressional hearing into UFO sightings in the US in over 50 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NASA's UAP independent study team</span> NASAs UAP Independent Study Team

The NASA's Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) Independent Study Team is a panel of sixteen experts assembled in October 2022 by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and chaired by David Spergel to recommend a roadmap for UAP data analysis by NASA and other organizations. UAPs are currently defined as phenomena or observations of events in the air, sea, space, and land that cannot be identified as aircraft or as known natural phenomena. The UAP acronym seeks to provide separation from the assumptions about extraterrestrial life and other associations in popular culture with the older UFO acronym. UAP originally stood for "unidentified aerial phenomena" but was expanded at the end of 2022 to mean "unidentified anomalous phenomena". To complete their work, the independent NASA team will identify how data gathered by civilian, commercial, and government entities as well as any other sources can most effectively be analyzed to shed light on UAPs. The study team started work on October 24, 2022, held its first public meeting on May 31, 2023, and is scheduled to deliver a full report containing the team's findings in mid-2023. Unlike the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) under the United States Office of the Secretary of Defense, this NASA independent study team will focus solely on unclassified data.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Simpson, Mark (2006-05-07) "UFO study finds no sign of aliens", BBC News
  2. 1 2 3 Randerson, James (2006-09-25) Is there anybody out there? How the men from the ministry hid the hunt for UFOs, The Guardian (2007-12-02)
  3. ↑ "Project Condign". Archived from the original on 2010-02-11.
  4. 1 2 3 4 ”Unidentified Aerial Phenomena in the UK Air Defence Region”, Defence Intelligence Staff (2000)
  5. ↑ ”Unidentified Aerial Phenomena in the UK Air Defence Region: Executive Summary”, Defence Intelligence Staff (2000), Pages 7-8
  6. ↑ ”Unidentified Aerial Phenomena in the UK Air Defence Region: Executive Summary”, Defence Intelligence Staff (2000), Pages 11,12,
  7. ↑ ”Unidentified Aerial Phenomena in the UK Air Defence Region: Executive Summary”, Defence Intelligence Staff (2000), Pages 9-10
  8. ↑ Stenhoff, Mark; James, Adrian (2016). Extreme weather : forty years of the Tornado and Storm Research Organisation (TORRO). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. pp. 227–228. ISBN   978-1118949962.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.