Former members of the US Air Force yesterday claimed aliens had interfered with nuclear weapons – including during one famous incident in Britain.

UFO researcher Robert Hastings held a press conference in Washington to “address the vital issue of UFO incursions at US nuclear weapons sites over the past six decades”.

Mr Hastings said: “More than 100 former or retired US Air Force personnel – once trusted to operate or guard weapons of mass destruction – have come forward and revealed ongoing UFO surveillance of, and occasional interference with, our nuclear weapons.

“This information alters the historical perspective on the nuclear arms race and much, much more.

“The fact that the Pentagon and CIA have successfully kept the truth from public view for so long is in itself mind-boggling.”

The Rendlesham Forest incident, often described as Britain’s Roswell was used as one example of evidence aliens had targeted nuclear weapons.

The incident, in the early hours of December 27, 1980, was never fully explained.

Several US Air Force personnel reported seeing a strange metallic object hovering in the forest near RAF Woodbridge in Suffolk.

The object apparently left three depressions in the ground.

But papers released by the National Archives show the Ministry of Defence’s final position was that there was “no evidence of anything having intruded into British airspace”.