VIEILLEY (25) 19.05.2022

On the evening of 19 May 2022, a woman at home in Vieilley (25) heard a powerful, deafening sound coming from behind her house. Until then, everything had been quiet apart from ordinary nighttime noises. It resembled a strong rumble of thunder, but was much louder. Turning toward it, she saw an enormous red-orange ball, which made her think of a small planet. It appeared to be on fire, but had no luminous trails like those seen in meteorite images. It was very round. She was surprised by its size, trajectory, rapid and constant speed, and apparent closeness to the ground. The UAP traveled toward Besançon. She watched for about 7 to 10 seconds before it continued on and disappeared. The sound persisted for 30 seconds. Before analysis, GEIPAN judged the evidential strength moderate: only 1 witness and no photographs or video. The aircraft radar plot and its agreement with the sighting raised that assessment to very good. The investigation identified a Mirage 2000 flying low with afterburner engaged; see the investigation report. The French Air and Space Force's National Air Operations Center, CNOA, confirmed that a military patrol of 2 Mirage 2000s was nearby at the time. One passed only 2 km southeast of the observation site on a path fully consistent with the UAP's. GEIPAN considers this explanation accounts for every unusual feature: the large red-orange fireball appearance, deafening sound, noise persisting after visual contact was lost, very high speed and proximity to the ground. The case is classified as A: observation of a Mirage 2000.