A former British UFO hunter has said he “doesn't rule out” recent drone incursions over Britain's Royal Air Force bases' links to Russia, China and nuclear weapons.
The unidentified drone was spotted in the skies above three air bases in eastern England used by the United States Air Force (USAF) in November.
The “Small Unmanned Aircraft System” was spotted over RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk and RAF Feltwell in Norfolk between 20 and 22 November. The U.S. Air Force, which occupies the base, could not confirm whether the drone was hostile.
Plans are moving forward to deploy U.S. nuclear weapons at Lakenheath Air Force Base, according to a Department of Defense (DoD) notice in January. The document said the work prepared the base for “future nuclear missions.”
“I don't rule out the possibility that this activity is related to nuclear weapons,” said Nick Pope, a former MoD official who headed Whitehall's UFO desk from 1991 to 1994. .
“An adversary (possibly Russia or China) could use drones to collect data on this in parallel with other intelligence gathering strategies. It is unlikely to endanger anyone, much less a convicted felon.”
Pope believes that if a foreign adversary were involved, they might use a third party, perhaps providing some equipment to local drone enthusiasts.
“Perhaps they persuaded them to work for an independent news agency. Anti-nuclear groups or individual activists could also be potential culprits in this scenario.”
November's intrusion was not the first time an unidentified anomalous phenomenon (UAP, the military's preferred acronym for unidentified flying object, or UFO) has occurred near a Royal Air Force base that houses nuclear weapons.
On Boxing Day 1980, US airmen spotted a strange object flying over Rendlesham Forest, on the gateway to RAF Bentwaters in Suffolk, an airbase once used by the US Air Force.
Charles Holt, the base's commander at the time, said he saw the aircraft firing a beam toward the ground and heard over the radio that “the beam fell into the weapons storage area.”
Pope said that unlike other UFO stories, the sighting report from Rendlesham was supported by hard evidence. “It's a real storm of UFO incidents. There are multiple witnesses, including military personnel. It's been a sighting for three consecutive nights.
“It's radar, it's radioactivity, it's physical evidence like indentations in the ground, burn marks, scorch marks. This is a case where we declassified documents and made them public, and their contents are shared with the National Archives and the Department of Defense. It can be viewed on the website. Therefore, unlike many UFO documents in circulation, its provenance is indisputable.
Former Pentagon officials such as Luis Elizondo, who claims to have headed the U.S. government's UFO hunting bureau, claim there is a strong correlation between UFO sightings and nuclear weapons.
Over the years, dozens of military personnel have witnessed strange spacecraft flying over bases housing humanity's most destructive weapons. In one alarming incident in 1966, airmen witnessed a UFO flying over Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota.
They claimed that its nuclear weapon was suddenly activated as the spacecraft was hovering over Minot, then deactivated when the UFO disappeared. The following year, a similar horror occurred at an air force base in Montana.
Witnesses there claimed to have seen a glowing red oval-shaped spacecraft hovering above the missile silo before all 10 nuclear warheads were deactivated.
But Pope said the most likely sighting was by a commercial drone. “Perhaps some are being operated by aircraft observers, but most of these people comply with the CAA's rules for operating drones, so this is likely the work of irresponsible hobbyists.” said Pope.
Mr Pope added that Lord Coker's comments in Parliament that the break-in was being treated as a criminal investigation for the purpose of prosecution supported his theory.
“Although adversary activity cannot be ruled out, at this point in time the intrusion came to light at about the same time Ukraine launched British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles to attack Russia's Kursk region. There is no evidence of that.”
This sighting could also be due to people confusing mundane objects such as Chinese lanterns, road lights, and bright stars with UFOs. Sirius is often confused with a UFO by people.
A MoD spokesperson said: “We take the threat seriously and maintain robust measures at our defense sites. This includes anti-drone security capabilities. Read more about our security procedures. I have no comment.''
