Sighting in Ploumilliau, September 23, 2015

At around 10:30 pm, the witness heard aircraft engine noise and then saw four or five luminous balls, far brighter than the few faint stars visible. They moved very fast in different directions, appearing and disappearing in turn, in a pattern the witness compared to a ballet. Two aircraft, recognizable by their white trails, were flying close to the balls; there may have been more, judging by the noise. The phenomenon lasted one to two minutes. The balls vanished quickly, while the aircraft stayed visible and audible.

The witness had made a similar observation on 14 September 2015, from the same place and at the same time. That evening, two very loud, distinct noises had led them to look out of the window. They had seen a spherical ball, different from the aircraft, which at one point released a curtain of light toward the ground. The witness thought of the Rafale exercises at low altitude along the coast earlier in the month, and considered it almost certain that the aircraft on the 14th were military.

According to GEIPAN, the area the witness indicated corresponds to a military low-altitude flight zone (2015 RTBA map). The two episodes were therefore air exercises. Such exercises can include test launches of luminous infrared decoy flares, which produce strange lights for anyone who does not connect them with that context. No other witness contacted GEIPAN. Both cases were classified B: aircraft.