What was the ‘Tic Tac’ UFO? The story behind a retired Navy pilot’s 2004 sighting of a “perfectly white, smooth” windowless object that was “far superior to any human craft”

UFOs have long captured the public’s imagination, but never more so than yesterday during the US congressional hearing on claims that the US government is covering up its knowledge of alien craft.

In a day that sparked great interest in the US and around the world, the historical panel heard from three key witnesses who shared their encounters with unexplained objects.

Among them was retired US Navy fighter pilot David Fravor, who once again reminded the world of his infamous encounter with a ‘Tic Tac’ shaped UFO 15 years ago.

“I would say that the tic-tac object we used in 2004 was way better than anything we had then, have today or plan to develop in the next 10 years,” he said.

So what exactly was the ‘Tic Tac’ UFO incident? And could the “perfectly white, smooth” windowless object Fravor saw really have been an alien starship? MailOnline looks back at everything we know.

What really happened?

Before we get to Fravor, it’s important to mention another former US Navy pilot.

Chad Underwood was the man who actually filmed the ‘Tic Tac’ UFO in November 2004.

He broke his silence in 2019, detail for the first time his bizarre experiences while flying across the Pacific.

At the time, Underwood was participating in naval carrier group exercises just off the coast of Mexico.

For about two weeks, their missile cruiser USS Princeton tracked a mysterious aircraft on an advanced electronic radar.

Contact with the craft was so inexplicable that the system was even shut down and checked for bugs – but operators continued to monitor it.

On November 14, then-Naval Commander Fravor claimed to have made visual contact with this object, which appeared to submerge, resurfaced, and disappeared from view as he attempted to approach it.

Underwood then also saw the strange object for himself just after Fravor urged him to look out.

The former pilot told New York magazine: “So we go outside where our designated training area is. We’re not looking for anything per se, but the Princeton had a specific object they wanted to hunt, for lack of a better word. And all of a sudden I got this blip on my radar.

What exactly was the ‘Tic Tac’ UFO incident? In 2004, Navy pilot Chad Underwood captured footage of a strange flying object in the sky, which was also seen by Navy Commander David Fravor

Underwood is the one who coined the description “Tic Tac” for the “perfectly white” wingless elongate captured from the in-flight video of its cockpit (pictured)

The 2004 “Tic Tac” sighting is once again at the center of debate as three military whistleblowers spoke at Congress to expose “the greatest cover-up in history.” Pictured from left to right: Ryan Graves, former pilot, Air Force and Intelligence veteran David Grusch, and Navy veteran fighter pilot Commander David Fravor

“What struck me most was how erratic it behaved. And what I mean by “irregular” is that the changes in altitude, airspeed and aspect were just different than anything I’ve ever encountered before flying into other air targets,” Underwood told the magazine.

‘Because aircraft, whether manned or unmanned, still have to obey the laws of physics. They must have a source of lift, a source of propulsion. The Tic Tac did not. It went from about 50,000 feet to, you know, 30 feet in a matter of seconds, which isn’t possible.”

Underwood is the first to come up with the description ‘Tic Tac’ for the white wingless oblong captured on the flight video of its cockpit.

Although he rejected the idea that it was an airplane, a bird, or even a weather balloon, he is still unsure whether the object was human or non-human.

The Tic Tac incident caused a sensation in 2017 when the Pentagon confirmed that the footage was authentic.

It resurfaced Wednesday when Fravor joined two other military whistleblowers to speak at a U.S. Congressional hearing.

He assured officials he was not a “UFO fanatic” and said the Tic Tac was “far superior to anything we had at the time.”

“If we do indeed have programs that own this technology, it must have oversight from the people the citizens of this country have elected to office to represent what is best for the United States and what is best for the citizens,” he added. please.

Fravor described the Tic Tac object as “perfectly white, smooth and windowless,” with “two small objects emerging from the bottom.”

‘I’m not like a UFO fanatic – I’m not. But I will tell you that what we saw with four pairs of eyes for five minutes is still nothing close to it,” he said.

What else could it have been?

One theory is that it could very well be a radar reflector balloon used to measure the capabilities of enemy air defenses.

Launched by a submarine, these specially designed airborne landing craft actually date back to 1955, during the days of the Cold War.

It’s unclear if such balloons are still used today, but given the secretive nature of submarines, it’s not exactly something defense chiefs would shout about.

One theory is that it could very well be a radar reflector balloon used to gauge the capabilities of enemy air defenses (pictured)

The war zonean online magazine focused on national security and geopolitical reporting and analysis was the first to come up with the theory.

It said being able to deploy balloons with radar reflectors underwater would be a “very effective way” to get a feel for an enemy’s air defenses.

“By sneaking into or near enemy territory, releasing these devices under the right weather conditions, and erecting their low-visibility electronic intelligence-gathering masts, they could theoretically remarkably improve the quality of the intelligence gathered,” it added. magazine to it.

It concluded that the Tic Tac UFO witnessed by the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group during its 2004 training exercise could therefore be “a pair of radar reflector and/or electronic warfare balloons carrying cargo.”

What could come of the congressional hearing?

Fravor’s testimony comes as the U.S. Senate considers a UFO Disclosure Bill that aims to make public all information related to “unidentified anomalous phenomena” (UAPs).

If passed, the documents would be made public no later than 25 years after they were created, unless the president believes their release would jeopardize national security.