On 14 November 2004 the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group operating about 100 nautical miles southwest of San Diego diverted two F/A-18F Super Hornets to investigate anomalous radar contacts.
Commander David Fravor, leading the section, reported a 40-foot white object that exhibited instantaneous acceleration, lacked visible control surfaces, and produced no sonic boom.1
Multiple sensors recorded data: the SPY-1B phased-array radar on USS Princeton tracked dozens of fast-moving objects, an E-2C Hawkeye confirmed airborne contacts, and Lt. Chad Underwood captured the 76-second FLIR1 infrared video later released by the Department of Defense.23
These records, together with sworn testimony from shipboard technicians, have made the incident a focal point of modern U.S. investigations into unidentified aerial phenomena.
Personnel
Timeline
Evidence
Assessment
Sensor correlation, pilot testimony, and publicly released video support that an unknown airborne object was present, moved rapidly, and interacted with carrier-group aircraft. The data set is richer than typical sightings and remains one of the Navy's best-documented cases.
Skeptical reviews note that FLIR1 may depict a distant jet and that radar anomalies can arise from software injection or clutter.7 The Office of the Director of National Intelligence concluded in 2021 that available evidence was insufficient to attribute extraordinary capabilities, urging release of additional telemetry.8
Without raw radar files or fused telemetry, the performance claims rest on observer interpretation. Further disclosure of classified sensor data would permit independent reconstruction of kinematics and determine whether the "tic tac" represented advanced human technology, a sensor artifact, or something not yet understood.