The COMETA report is an unofficial 1999 report published by the French association (''Comité d'Études Approfondies'') on unidentified aerospace phenomena (UAP), commonly known as

unidentified flying object An unidentified flying object (UFO) is an object or phenomenon seen in the sky but not yet identified or explained. The term was coined when United States Air Force (USAF) investigations into flying saucers found too broad a range of shapes ...

s (UFOs).. The report was titled ''UFOs and Defense: What Should We Prepare For?'' and an archive was made public in 2007 by

GEIPAN GEIPAN (an acronym in French for , or Unidentified Aerospace Phenomenon Research and Information Group) () is a unit of the French space agency CNES based in Toulouse, whose brief is to investigate unidentified aerospace phenomena (UAP) and make ...

, the French unit responsible for researching and investigating unidentified aerospace phenomena (UAPs).

COMETA association

(abbreviation of the ''COMité d'Etudes Approfondies'') was a non-profit association formed in 1999 by a group of individuals, including defense experts, with the aim of raising awareness about the UFO phenomenon among authorities and the public. It was chaired by retired

French Air Force The French Air and Space Force (, , ) is the air force, air and space force of the French Armed Forces. Formed in 1909 as the ("Aeronautical Service"), a service arm of the French Army, it became an independent military branch in 1934 as the Fr ...

General Denis Letty. After operating informally since 1996, COMETA was officially registered as a non-profit association under the French law of 1901 on February 24, 1999. COMETA association became dormant around 2006 after the report's publication. The report itself was not widely circulated due to

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...

restrictions.

Report details

In 1999, after three years of work by a "private committee" led by General Letty, COMETA member Jean-Jacques Velasco personally handed an unofficial 90-page document titled "COMETA Report" to

Lionel Jospin Lionel Robert Jospin (; born 12 July 1937) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 1997 to 2002. Jospin was First Secretary of the French Socialist Party, First Secretary of the Socialist Party from 1995 to 1997 and th ...

, who was the prime minister of France at the time. This was not an officially commissioned government report. The report was divided into three parts with a conclusion. It compiled case studies of French and foreign UAP/UFO incidents investigated over a period of about 60 years, with a focus on aspects related to national defense.

Contributors and collaborators

Contributors to the COMETA report included: * Jean-Jacques Velasco (former director of CNES's GEPAN and SEPRA UAP study groups) * General Domange of the

* Edmond Campagnac, former technical director of

Air France Air France (; legally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France, and is headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. The airline is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and is one of the founding members ...

* Professor

André Lebeau André Lebeau (March 4, 1932 – February 25, 2013) was a French aerospace engineer, administrator, and author who served as the President of the CNES, National Center for Space Studies (CNES), Deputy Director General and Director of Programs at t ...

(preface), former president of

CNES CNES () is the French national space agency. Headquartered in central Paris, the agency is overseen by the ministries of the Armed Forces, Economy and Finance and Higher Education, Research and Innovation. It operates from the Toulouse Spac ...

(French space agency) * General Bernard Norlain (preface), former director of IHEDN (Institute of Higher National Defense Studies)

Findings

The authors of the COMETA report concluded that there was an "almost certain physical reality" of completely unknown flying objects displaying extraordinary capabilities that current science could not explain. They stated that based on the documented performance of UFOs, especially in cases with radar data, the extraterrestrial hypothesis appeared to be the most "probable" or "credible" explanation, though not scientifically proven. The report clearly differentiated between the reality of UFO phenomena and the notion of extraterrestrial visitors, which it said remained a hypothesis.

Reactions

The COMETA report received media attention in France and abroad when it was published. However, reactions were mixed, with skeptics criticizing its credibility while some UFO researchers had varied opinions about its conclusions. According to Olivier Schrameck, who was chief of staff to

, the French prime minister, read and annotated the COMETA report "to mark his interest" upon receiving it.. The French government did not make any official response beyond Jospin's reported interest.

References

{{reflist Ufology UFO sightings in France 1999 in France 1999 documents