Sighting in Marlenheim, September 17, 2025

A single witness, who was outside their home, heard and then saw a four-engine jet flying north-northwest at around 2:25 p.m. Three circular objects accompanied it, keeping pace with it for about ten seconds. They then turned left, sped up and vanished behind a cloud. At around 2:50 p.m., the witness heard an aircraft again. This time it was a twin-engine jet, followed by two similar circular objects flying parallel to it. The sighting lasted about 8 seconds.

The CAPCODA radar reconstruction showed that during the first sighting, an A330MRTT, a white military transport and refuelling aircraft, was refuelling several fighter jets in flight at about 2:28 p.m. local time, almost directly above the witness. The tanker followed a nearly straight path from southeast to northwest, and the fighters made a loop to the left after refuelling. During this phase their transponders are switched off, which explains why no traces appeared on the screen, and CAPCODA stated that several fighters approaching the tanker at once is standard procedure. The fighters, four to five times smaller than the tanker and flying at 7,000 m, looked like circular objects with no visible detail. At the second sighting, around 2:48 p.m., the radar showed the tanker again almost directly above the witness, at the end of a refuelling phase, with fighters following the same track. The first aircraft was probably taken for a four-engine jet because of the distance and the number of aircraft in the area.

GEIPAN classified the case as A: military aircraft refuelling in flight. Consistency is rated medium, since there was only one witness and no photo or video.