LOURMARIN (84) 23.07.2021

On 23 July 2021 at 22:07, the main witness, T1, and their spouse observed eight white-yellow lights forming a diamond in the night sky from their vehicle near Lourmarin (84). The UAP made several curves before disappearing. The lights moved slowly, accompanied by a humming sound. The several-minute observation allowed them to pull over and record video with an iPhone 6. T1 sent GEIPAN a completed technical questionnaire on 15 May 2025, with a video, two photographs and a map of the viewing area. The reporting delay prevented obtaining a radar reconstruction from CAPCODA*. Similar observations have recurred in this area for years. Nearby Salon-de-Provence air base houses the Patrouille de France aerobatic team, which conducts night flights once or twice yearly, usually in July for the naming ceremony of a new Air School class. The questionnaire contains conflicting dates: 23 July in one place and 21 July elsewhere. Its late completion on 15 May 2025 may explain a memory error. A similar observation at the same time and in the same viewing area was reported in Lambesc on 22 July 2021. That case, LAMBESC (13) 22.07.2021, was published on 18 November 2021; radar evidence confirmed a Patrouille de France night flight. Numerous photographs and videos over several years document identical configurations in this area during such flights. The reported number of lights, diamond formation, curves, flashes and turbine noise match the team’s Alpha Jets in every respect. GEIPAN attributes the witnesses’ perceived strangeness to their being visitors to the town and driving at the time. Evidential substance** is moderate: the exact date is uncertain, but video is available. GEIPAN nevertheless identifies the phenomenon with certainty as nighttime manoeuvres by Alpha Jets in formation. Classification A: Patrouille de France night flight. *CAPCODA: the French Air and Space Force’s air operations and air-defence planning and control centre. **GEIPAN defines evidential substance as the amount of information collected for an account that is considered reliable and objectively substantiated.