Tic Tac

The Tic Tac refers to a specific UAP encountered by the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group in November 2004. The object was designated the "Tic Tac" by the pilots and crew due to its resemblance to the white, oblong candy. The series of encounters is considered a cornerstone case in modern UAP investigation due to the high-fidelity data collected by multiple military sensor platforms and the corroborating testimony from numerous highly credible and trained observers.¹

The Encounter

For approximately two weeks in November 2004, the advanced SPY-1 radar system on the Aegis-class cruiser, the USS Princeton, had been detecting anomalous aerial vehicles. These objects, referred to by the crew as Anomalous Aerial Vehicles (AAVs), would appear suddenly at an altitude of 80,000 feet, descend rapidly to 20,000 feet, hover, and then accelerate out of radar range. On November 14, 2004, a flight of two F/A-18 Super Hornets was diverted from a training mission to intercept one of these objects. The flight consisted of Commander Dave Fravor and his WSO, Commander Jim Slaight, and Lieutenant Commander Alex Dietrich with her WSO. The pilots were directed to a location where the ocean surface was inexplicably turbulent, as if something large was submerged beneath. Hovering and darting erratically above this disturbance was the Tic Tac. The object was estimated to be about 46 feet long, with a smooth, seamless white surface and no discernible wings, control surfaces, or propulsion system.¹

Commander Fravor began a spiral descent to approach the object. The Tic Tac responded by ascending towards him, mirroring his maneuvers precisely. When Fravor cut across the circle to close the distance, the Tic Tac accelerated at a velocity that was, in Fravor's words, "like nothing I've ever seen." It vanished in an instant. Shortly thereafter, the USS Princeton reacquired the object on its radar at the squadron's pre-arranged rendezvous point (the CAP point), sixty miles away. The object seemed to have an awareness of the pilots' intended destination, a detail that deeply concerned the investigators.¹

Subsequent Events and Analysis

Later that day, a second flight, piloted by Lieutenant Chad Underwood, was launched and managed to acquire the object on its ATFLIR (Advanced Targeting Forward-Looking Infrared) pod. The resulting video, which would become famous as the "FLIR1" or "Tic Tac" video, captured the object's incredible performance. The footage shows the object, which registered as cold on the infrared camera, accelerating and maneuvering in ways that defy the known laws of physics and aerodynamics. The object displayed no heat signature, exhaust plume, or any of the conventional signatures of advanced aircraft.¹

The incident was investigated by Jay Stratton for the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP). The analysis concluded that the Tic Tac exhibited performance characteristics well beyond any known technology, including hypersonic velocity and instantaneous acceleration, which would subject a conventional craft to thousands of G-forces. The lack of official follow-up at the time of the incident, and the subsequent dismissal by some in the chain of command, highlighted the deep-seated stigma surrounding the UAP topic within the military.¹

The "FLIR1" (Tic Tac) video was one of two published by the New York Times in December 2017 (December 2017 New York Times AATIP Report).² Politico reported in 2021 that Washington Headquarters Services had approved the videos "for unlimited distribution" inside the government, and the Pentagon stated on April 27, 2020 that it authorized the release of three unclassified Navy videos "circulating in the public domain after unauthorized releases in 2007 and 2017."²³ The Office of the Secretary of Defense file released to The Black Vault under the Freedom of Information Act in August 2019 contains an August 23, 2017 email in which Luis Elizondo asked Michael Russo of the Defense Office of Prepublication and Security Review to "consider our request for unrestricted release"; an August 24, 2017 reply from Russo that if the service-level classification authority verified that removing the metadata made the videos unclassified, "please feel free to move forward with release"; and a DD Form 1910 whose publication-data block reads "Not Applicable. Not for publication. Research and analysis ONLY and info sharing with other USG and industry partners for the purposes of developing a database to help identify, analyze and ultimately defeat UAS threats." Joseph Gradisher, a Navy spokesman, said in 2019 that neither the cognizant Navy offices nor the review office had a record of correspondence responding to a request for unrestricted release of the videos in 2017.⁴ The publication of the video, along with the testimony of Commander Fravor and Lieutenant Dietrich, was a seminal event in the UAP disclosure movement. It provided credible, verifiable evidence that forced a public and congressional conversation about the reality of UAP and the potential national security threat they represent.¹