UK Ministry of Defence's bid for alien spaceship technology

London, September 20 (ANI): UK's Ministry of Defence had launched an investigation of thousands of UFO sightings in the 1990s in a bid to see if alien spaceship technology could advance engines for the Royal Air Force.

An unnamed wing commander was said to have set off the project in 1993 to explore possibilities for "technology transfer", according to a book based on the ministry's "X-files" of thousands of UFO sightings.

David Clarke, senior journalism lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, quoted official documents from the wing commander in the new book 'The UFO Files: The Inside Story of Real-Life Sightings'.

Nick Pope, who was a colleague of the officer at the MoD, confirmed the book's account though he declined to reveal the man's name.

"I remember him saying he believed there was evidence of an exotic propulsion system and the bottom line was that if they had it, we sure as hell wanted it," Times Online quoted Pope as saying.

The officer apparently wrote, "if the sightings are of devices not of this earth then their purpose needs to be established as a matter of priority".

He added: "There has been no apparently hostile intent and other possibilities are 1) military reconnaissance; 2) scientific; and 3) tourism."

The book traces the story of UFO sightings in Britain from the first decade of the 20th century and is published by the National Archives in Kew, London. (ANI)