France opens it's UFO database

France on Thursday became the first country to open its official archives on unidentified flying objects (UFO), said Jacques Patenet, the head of the UFO study group at the National Centre of Space Studies (CNES)."It's a world first," Patenet said. "It's true that in the United States you can ask for information on a case-by-case basis. But we have done the opposite by putting all the information at the disposition of the public. "

The archives are available at HERE and currently contain 400 files, about one fourth of the approximately 1,600 UFO sightings reported in France since the 1950s.

All of the files are scheduled to be online by the end of the year, Patenet said.

"We are working on the principle that there is nothing we will not put online with one exception: protecting an individual's privacy," he noted.

The files comprise principally witness statements taken by police officers, with personal data erased.