What was the ‘Tic Tac’ UFO incident?

During yesterday’s US Congress hearing on UFOs, retired US Navy fighter pilot David Fravor shared his encounter with a ‘Tic Tac’ shaped UFO 15 years ago. Fravor described the object as far superior to any known technology. MailOnline takes a look back at the incident and the possibility of it being an alien spaceship. 

MailOnline looks back at the ‘Tic Tac’ UFO incident. Former US Navy pilot Chad Underwood( pictured above), who shot footage of the UFO in 2004, breaks his silence about the bizarre experience while flying over the Pacific. The mysterious aircraft had been tracked on advanced radar for two weeks by the missile cruiser USS Princeton during Navy carrier group exercises off the coast of Mexico. 

In November, then-Navy commander Fravor(pictured above) and pilot Underwood encountered a strange object that defied normal flight characteristics. Underwood coined the term ‘Tic Tac’ for the white, wingless oblong captured on his cockpit’s in-flight video. The object’s erratic behavior, rapid changes in altitude and speed, puzzled both pilots. 

While he dismissed the idea that it was aircraft, 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 again when Fravor spoke at a US Congress hearing with two other military whistleblowers. Fravor emphasized the need for oversight if such technology is in possession of programs. He described the Tic Tac object as ‘perfectly white, smooth, and had no windows,’ with ‘two little objects that came out of the bottom.’ One theory is that it might have been a radar reflector balloon used to gauge the abilities of enemy air defenses. 

Launched by a submarine, these specially-designed airborne devices date back to 1955, during the days of the Cold War. It is unclear if such balloons are still used today, but given the covert nature of submarines, it’s not exactly something that defense chiefs would be shouting from the rooftops about. The War Zone, an online magazine oriented towards national security and geopolitical coverage and analysis, first came up with the theory. It said that being able to deploy balloons with radar reflectors while submerged would be a ‘highly effective way’ of getting a feel for an enemy’s air defenses. 

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