USS Nimitz Tic Tac Encounter
Multi-day series of radar contacts and visual encounters by F/A-18F crews from Strike Fighter Squadron 41 with a small white object resembling a Tic Tac, observed near the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group during pre-deployment exercises.
FLIR-UAP ("FLIR1"): the Nimitz Tic Tac video. Mid-wave infrared ATFLIR video from an F/A-18F of the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group, off San Diego, November 14, 2004. Released by the Department of Defense on April 27, 2020.
US Department of Defense / DVIDS
Provenance metadataFields marked “not disclosed” are transparent gaps in the release, not omissions on our end.
- Coordinates
- Off the coast of San Diego, California (exact bearing redacted)
- Altitude
- Object tracked from ~80,000 ft descending to sea level over ~2 weeks; visual intercept at approximately 20,000 ft
- Sensor detail
- AN/APG-73 radar (F/A-18F), AN/ASQ-228 ATFLIR pod, plus USS Princeton SPY-1 shipboard radar
- Encounter duration
- Approximately 5 minutes at visual intercept
- Witness count
- 4 aircrew across 2 F/A-18F Super Hornets, plus SPY-1 radar operators
- Operational context
- Training operations near USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group
- Weather / visibility
- Clear daylight, unlimited visibility
- Chain of custody
- VFA-41 Black Aces → USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group → CNO → DoD → ODNI (2021 assessment) → AARO
- Classification
- DECLASSIFIED, DoD Public Release April 27, 2020
Official description
Multi-sensor encounter reported by Cmdr. David Fravor, Lt. Cmdr. Jim Slaight, and additional aircrew. Pre-existing radar tracks (over a two-week period) of unidentified objects descending from approximately 80,000 feet to near sea level were reportedly designated 'AAVs' (anomalous aerial vehicles) by Navy operators. The November 14 visual intercept produced the FLIR1 video released by Defense officials in 2017 and 2020.
Editor's context
Widely regarded as the most thoroughly documented modern Navy UAP encounter. Multiple radar systems, two pilots in two separate aircraft, ATFLIR video, and corroborating ship-board reports. Subsequent analyses have ranged from 'genuinely anomalous' to 'sensor artifacts plus identification confusion.' The case is referenced extensively in AARO documentation and the 2021 ODNI preliminary assessment.
In the margins
Transcribed redactions, stamps, and handwritten markings, the paratext of the file. Often the most human part of a declassified document, and worth reading on its own.
- Stampp. video headerDECLASSIFIED, DoD Public Release, April 27, 2020
- Stampp. 1DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, STRIKE FIGHTER SQUADRON 41 (VFA-41 'Black Aces')
- StampUSS NIMITZ CARRIER STRIKE GROUP, UNCLASSIFIED
- AnnotationDisplay reads: '0.0 NM, 0.0 KTS', sensor track of object descending from approximately 80,000 feet to near sea level over a two-week period prior to the November 14 visual intercept.
- AnnotationCmdr. Fravor's after-action report: 'It accelerated like nothing I've ever seen. It mirrored my movements.'
- AnnotationCited at the July 26, 2023 House Oversight UAP hearing (Grusch/Fravor/Graves testimony). Fravor gave sworn eyewitness testimony on the encounter.
- Redaction[Pilot callsigns redacted on subsequent referral to ODNI under (b)(6)]
Cite the primary source
Citations center the originating government agency and link to the official record. This archive is listed as the access point, not the author.
U.S. Department of Defense. "USS Nimitz Tic Tac Encounter." Released via PURSUE program, 2017-12-16. File ID: DOD ATFLIR / Strike Fighter Squadron 41 Records. https://www.aaro.mil/UAP-Records/. Accessed 2026-08-12 via Social Media for Aliens archive, https://socialmediaforaliens.com/files/nimitz-tic-tac-2004.
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