In the 1990s, Nick Pope, a civil servant working at the MoD, was tasked with examining such cases to determine whether they posed any risk to national defence.
Pope spent years reviewing reports and interviewing witnesses, including those connected to Rendlesham.
Although he often emphasised that most sightings had conventional explanations, he acknowledged that a small percentage remained unexplained.
Pope wrote extensively on the subject of UFOs and, diagnosed with cancer earlier this year, continued to speak publicly.
He spoke to the BBC shortly before his death in April.
“This wasn’t lights in the sky, this was a landing; British and American witnesses, multiple military witnesses,” he said of the Rendlesham Forest incident.
“This is a defence and national security issue… People use the phrase ‘drone’ very loosely these days but there is no getting away from the fact that military bases have been directly overflown by these things, and it’s not unreasonable for the British people to want some answers.”
Despite these accounts, the official government position remains cautious.
The MoD maintains that no reported sightings of extraterrestrial intelligence, UFOs, or UAPs have ever indicated a direct military threat to the United Kingdom.
That stance offers reassurance but not necessarily answers.
An MoD spokeswoman said she was not aware of any point within the government for reporting such sightings, but added: “If the public are concerned about use of the airspace, they could contact the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority).”