The files contain a wide range of UFO-related documents, drawings, letters and parliamentary questions ranging from 1965 up to 2008.
Discover the role of the UFO Desk Officers, what they really thought of alien visitors, their ideas to harness alien technology as a weapon, and their briefings to Tony Blair on UFO policy.
Start by reading our highlights guide (PDF, 358kb) to help navigate your way through the files.
Six of the files (DEFE 31/189/1-194/1) contain some duplicates of UFO sighting reports copied by the Air Secretariat between 1996-1999. The original papers were released by The National Archives in February 2010.
Due to the large size of some of these files, we recommend you save them to your computer before opening them. Please right click on the links and select the ‘save’ option.
The National Archives holds other UFO files that have already been released by the Ministry of Defence. You can download these in PDF format for a small fee. The files contain details of numerous UFO sightings.
Access existing UFO files
Dr David Clarke, an expert in UFO history, guides us through the highlights of the newly released UFO files.
Read the transcript (PDF, 140kb)
Dr David Clarke’s book combines official government reports and eye-witness interviews to reveal the incredible inside story of more than a century of UFO sightings.
Buy a copy of The UFO FilesRead a free sample (PDF, 1.8Mb)
A new edition is also coming soon - sign up for our free e-newsletter to find out when it becomes available.
Find out more about the background to, and highlights of, the file release in Dr David Clarke's two-part blog post Do you believe in UFOs?.
Start your own UFO research by reading Dr David Clarke's guide to the files (PDF, 144kb). Discover the history of government UFO investigations and find out where the new files fit in.
“What does all this stuff about flying saucers amount to?
What can it mean? What is the truth?”
Sir Winston Churchill - July 1952 (Catalogue reference PREM 11/855)
