USS Jackson Tic Tac UAP Encounter

On the evening of 15 February 2023 the Independence-class littoral combat ship USS Jackson (LCS-6) was transiting the Navy's W-291 warning area off Southern California when lookouts spotted four self-illuminated objects pacing the vessel. Combat Information Center (CIC) crews quickly slewed the Star SAFIRE electro-optical/infrared turret onto the targets and began recording.

Sequence of events

Local time	Observation
≈ 19:15 PST	First "Tic Tac" breaches the sea surface astern of Jackson and climbs without visible propulsion.
19:17 PST	Three additional objects appear on infrared — all exhibit cool signatures and lack control surfaces.
19:20–19:25	Objects maneuver around the ship at ~22 000 ft recorded altitude — helm reports no radar lock despite concurrent FLIR tracking.
19:27 PST	CIC audio (released publicly) captures operators joking about scrambling jets while attempting range-gates.
19:29 PST	The four craft depart simultaneously in a near-vertical climb — no transponder or exhaust detected.

Sailors later told journalists that the group "counted down" before leaving, suggesting coordinated control or shared communication.

Sensor & ship data

Parameter	Details
Detection platforms	Star SAFIRE multi-spectral EO/IR (video released)¹
	Bridge watch standers (visual)
	SPY-1F radar (ambiguous, intermittent "skin paints"; could not track)
Environmental conditions	Moonless, sea state 2, visibility < 3 nm; surface winds 12 kt @ 280°

Time stamp: 03:15 UTC (19:15 PST).
Ship position: ~32.889 N, -117.933 W, moving slowly (≈3.7 kt) on a true track near 029°.
IR turret: FLIR Star SAFIRE-class sensor; field-of-view estimated ≈4–5 °.
Screen heading tape shows 50–52 (almost certainly magnetic).
Azimuth read-out drift: ≈22.8 °→31.4 °.
Two hot spots appear; no aerodynamic detail is visible.
CIC operator later slews to a known airliner and clearly sees wings/jet exhaust.
Operator’s after-the-fact range guess: “about 6–10 NM.”

Assessments

Naval intelligence has not issued a public attribution. Analysts note parallels with the 2004 Nimitz "Tic Tac" and 2019 drone swarm incidents yet stress key deltas:

Transmedium exit from water recorded.
Lack of heat plume even in hover.
Instantaneous group departure.

Skeptics argue advanced unmanned systems could spoof sensor returns, but available footage shows performance beyond known commercial UAV envelopes.

Key participants

Name/Role	Notes
CIC operators (anonymous)	Voices heard on leaked audio describing altitude & radar failures.
Jeremy Corbell & George Knapp	Journalists who obtained and published the footage.¹²
Marik von Rennenkampff	Former DoD analyst who reviewed ADS-B & flight data; found no conventional traffic.³

Status

All materials were forwarded to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) in early 2024. No definitive explanation has been released as of 2025.

Metabunk Analysis

Metabunk users analyzed the USS Jackson infrared video by extracting all available on-screen data and cross-referencing it with ADS-B, AIS, and weather records, as well as testimony from a CIC operator. The majority concluded the "tic-tacs" were distant aircraft or helicopters, with their appearance and movement fully explained by known flights, camera geometry, and ship maneuvers; a minority considered a mix of aircraft or a transmedium craft, but found no corroborating evidence. The consensus is that all observed phenomena match conventional aircraft signatures, with no extraordinary physics or independent evidence supporting exotic explanations.

Weaponized Podcast, "The USS Jackson 'Tic Tac' UAP" (8 Apr 2025) — includes stabilized Star SAFIRE video and CIC audio transcript. ↩ ↩²
Jeremy Corbell, X/Twitter post — 8 Apr 2025. ↩
New York Post – "New footage shows 'Tic Tac' UFOs on military radar…" (10 Apr 2025). ↩

Command Palette