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RAF Ordered to Shoot Down UFOs

Posted by samzenpus on from the you-come-in-peace-you-leave-in-pieces dept.

Pilots in the RAF have fired upon unidentified objects without success since the 1980s, according to Nick Pope, who used to run the Ministry of Defence's UFO project. "There was a faction in the MoD who said 'We want to shoot down a UFO and that will resolve the issue one way or another. We know of cases where the order has been given to shoot down - with little effect to the UFO," he says. The MoD refused to comment. While not making the best first impression on our alien visitors, this policy assures that the British won't end up in a cookbook.

21 comments

  1. Neat by jerep · · Score: 1

    Some quick research around the article led me to http://www.disclosureproject.org/.

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    1. Re:Neat by f1vlad · · Score: 1

      Disclosure project is good fantasy.

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      o_O
    2. Re:Neat by jerep · · Score: 1

      True, landing on the moon used to be good fantasy too, so was thinking the earth was flat and the center of the universe, so was believing humans to be masters of their own emotions.

      I'm not an UFO believer, but I'm not a non-believer either, I like to sit in that comfortable "I don't know" area.

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    3. Re:Neat by f1vlad · · Score: 1

      Well, yes I am like you, on the fence and I don't claim UFOs do not exist. They do, people tend to assume that UFO means ship from another planet. It could be. But it really marely means Unidentified Flying Object. Which could be a number of different things.

      The thing about Disclosure Project is I am almost convinced that governments are clueless about what is going on. While they might know some things that are classified, chances are it has been kept classified because it is not understood -- beyond our comprehension. So disclosure would probably mean that a government admits to the fact that there are things happening in its airspace but it has no idea what it is and it cannot control this phenomena. No government would want to put itself in such position.

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    4. Re:Neat by jerep · · Score: 1

      Yeah I agree with you on that, but I do believe the governments to be hiding a LOT from the public. It's a known fact that NASA deliberately alters images before releasing them. Take of the face and pyramids on Mars for example; the image quality of that zone kept degrading over time while their cameras kept improving.

      Besides, with trillion of trillions of stars out there with much more planets around them, I find it easier to believe there is life out there than the fact that we're alone in this universe, especially since we're still a pretty young civilization compared to the average star ages.

      In anyways I can't help myself but be interested in that stuff, if only to feed my imagination.

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    5. Re:Neat by f1vlad · · Score: 1

      Yes, I recall those NASA screw-ups when they forgot to `photoshop` few images.

      If you like this sort of stuff, check out the paracast weekly podcast, highly recommend.

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      o_O
  2. The photo is unrealistic by Profane+MuthaFucka · · Score: 4, Funny

    First, the airplane is a MiG-21, which would definitely not be in the RAF. Maybe that should be a photo of a Eurofighter or a Tornado. And second, the UFO is rounded with a high dome, indicating a Rigellian spacecraft. Everybody knows that those assholes can't be bothered to explore a water-oxygen world that they can't even live on. The photo should have included the cigar shaped Antaran spacecraft.

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  3. MORONS by unity100 · · Score: 1, Troll

    these people are the kind of people who deserve the thick stick treatment. get a load of that - some ALIEN visitor, definitely of SUPERIOR technology may be coming to earth. and, you order the planes to 'shoot them down' to 'clear the issue'. EVEN if its a 1% probability, imagine shooting down of the first visiting ship of a technologically superior race. If their laws and understanding is anything like our shitface civilization, that deserves a planetary whacking in response.

    that kind of morons. trademark of britain since thatcher (tm).

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    1. Re:MORONS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, ever since that person was elected 30 years ago every person in Britain is now born with the stupid gene.

    2. Re:MORONS by Caedes.Leighton · · Score: 1

      Calling Britain stupid because of Thatcher is like calling America a bunch of xenophobic inbreds because of Bush. Oh, wait...

    3. Re:MORONS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      so are you saying that I should not fuck my sister? Why, she is so sweet.

      Stoopid third world people, there is only one way and it is the USA way.... next time I see a light in the sky I'll give it some 00 from my 12gauge

      Now back to ma sis

    4. Re:MORONS by KasperMeerts · · Score: 1

      What ass modded this troll? He's right, although for the wrong reasons.

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      As long as there are slaughterhouses, there will be battlefields.
  4. MoD = Minds on Dope by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If UFOs are of advanced ET origin, what kind of idiot would make them mad?

    1. Re:MoD = Minds on Dope by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Judging from the story, I'm guessing the kind with an impressive handlebar 'tache, pipe, and women's underwear.

  5. yea by unity100 · · Score: 1

    that's why you havent lost any of your individual freedoms in the last 8 years. oh wait ...

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  6. Yeah okay. by Xest · · Score: 1

    Perhaps the reason they haven't managed to shoot one down is because there's nothing physical there to shoot down and they're just visual tricks created by natural phenomena?

    Not meaning to ruin anyones UFO fantasy or anything but there are still perfectly earthly explanations for these sorts of events.

  7. Game theory by sjames · · Score: 1

    Looking at the risks and payoffs, an attempted shoot down is the dumbest possible response. If as you say (and quite likely I might add) it's just tricks of the light, they're wasting expensive ammo and fuel. If it's a mis-identified man made aircraft, they'll kill someone for no good reason.

    In the unlikely event that it really is an alien spacecraft from an advanced civilization (and to get here, it would HAVE to be a technologically advanced civilization) the best shooting at them can accomplish is to convince them we're dangerously violent and backward. The worst is to convince them that this would be a nice recreational planet if the humans weren't here to mess things up.

    If UFOs are from a hostile alien race, we've been fortunate so far that they don't consider us worth wiping out. The best way to keep it that way is to NOT shoot at them. Decades of shooting at them have proven that we pose no real threat to them, let's not make shooting at us look like an enjoyable sport!

    There's simply no upside to shooting at UFOs, whatever they are.

    1. Re:Game theory by Maximum+Prophet · · Score: 1

      The ex-Soviets would have shot at it. If there's anything really there, it's most likely a spy plane from whatever enemy you happen to have right now.

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    2. Re:Game theory by sjames · · Score: 1

      If you can spot it and chase it close enough to shoot at it, you could surely identify a spyplane or follow it.

      Failure to verify your target often ends badly.

    3. Re:Game theory by internerdj · · Score: 1

      Don't know what planet you live it on, but it seems pretty dangerously violent and backwards without having personally been shot at.

  8. If they are ordered to shoot down UFOs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    then it must be identified and no longer a UFO?