The 'Tic Tac' and the Navy UAP Videos

The Story

On April 27, 2020, the Defense Department did something unusual: it officially released three grainy black-and-white videos shot from Navy fighter jets. One was recorded in November 2004, the other two in January 2015. They had already been all over the internet after what the department called 'unauthorized releases in 2007 and 2017.' The Pentagon said it was releasing them 'to clear up any misconceptions by the public on whether or not the footage that has been circulating was real.' Its verdict on the objects in them was short: they 'remain characterized as "unidentified."'

The 2004 video is the one linked to the 'Tic Tac.' In July 2023, retired Navy Cmdr. David Fravor told a House subcommittee under oath what he says happened. He was flying off the USS Nimitz near San Diego on a day with 'clear skies, light winds, calm seas.' He testified that he and three other aircrew looked down and 'saw a white Tic Tac object' moving over the water 'like a ping pong ball.' As his jet closed in, he said, 'it rapidly accelerated in front of us and disappeared,' and the controller then reported it at a point 'roughly 60 miles away in less than a minute.' He said the 90-second video was recorded afterward by another crew from his squadron that was getting ready to launch.

The Pentagon says the objects 'remain characterized as "unidentified."' Unidentified is not the same as alien.

Fravor also testified that 'the incident was never investigated' and that a radar tape 'was never released.' Those are his statements; the documents cited here do not confirm or rule them out.

The government's own reviews have been cautious in both directions. A June 2021 intelligence community assessment looked at 144 military reports from 2004 to 2021. It found that 'the limited amount of high-quality reporting' made firm conclusions impossible. It identified only one object with high confidence, 'a large, deflating balloon,' and said 'the others remain unexplained.' It noted that in '18 incidents, described in 21 reports,' observers reported unusual movement.

In 2024 the Pentagon's UAP office, AARO, went further on the bigger claims. It said 'the vast majority of reports almost certainly are the result of misidentification,' and that it 'found no empirical evidence' for claims that the government or companies have been reverse-engineering alien technology.

So the videos are real Navy footage, and the 2004 encounter has been described under oath by one of the pilots. What the objects were has not been officially explained. No official review has found evidence that they were extraterrestrial.