MARLENHEIM (67) 17.09.2025

On 17 September 2025 in Marlenheim (67), at about 14:25, a witness outside his home saw what he described as a four-engine jet heading north-northwest. Three circular objects accompanied it at the same speed for about 10 seconds, then turned left and accelerated out of sight behind a cloud. At about 14:50 he heard another aircraft and saw what he described as a twin-engine jet followed by two similar circular objects moving parallel to it. This second appearance lasted about 8 seconds. Radar reconstruction from CAPCODA, the French air-defence operations planning and control centre, shows an A330 MRTT tanker, in blue, refuelling several fighters, in red, during the first observation (Appendix 1). Refuelling took place around 12:28 UTC, or 14:28 local time, almost directly above the witness. The tanker followed a nearly straight southeast-to-northwest path; the fighters looped left after refuelling. CAPCODA explained that fighter transponders are switched off during refuelling, accounting for the absence of red tracks then. Asked whether three fighters could approach the tanker simultaneously with only one transponder on, it confirmed that this manoeuvre is a standard procedure. The Airbus A330 MRTT is a military transport and tanker, white like the UAP. GEIPAN identifies the circular-looking objects as fighters, about 4–5 times smaller in length and wingspan than the tanker. Their details, such as wings, could not be distinguished at the viewing distance: they were flying at 7,000 m altitude. The timing, 14:28 versus about 14:25, and the southeast-to-northwest path with the fighters’ left loop match the observation. For the second sighting, radar again shows the tanker nearly overhead around 12:48 UTC, or 14:48 local time, at the end of refuelling. The fighters continued on the tanker’s southeast-to-northwest path (Appendix 2). Both observations therefore involved the same aircraft types, tanker and fighters. GEIPAN attributes the first description of a four-engine jet to limited visibility at that distance and multiple aircraft in the same area. The case has moderate evidential substance*: one witness and no photograph or video. GEIPAN classifies it A: military aircraft observation. *GEIPAN defines evidential substance as the amount of information collected for an account that is considered reliable and objectively substantiated.