The Nimitz Incident is a reported encounter with an unidentified aerial object during US Navy combat exercises off the coast of Southern California in 2004.
On November 14, 2004, during combat exercises involving F/A-18 jets from the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, pilots were dispatched to investigate an unexplained radar contact. Pilots David Fravor and Alex Dietrich reported seeing a bright, white, Tic Tac-shaped object flying low over the water and performing maneuvers they could not explain. These are eyewitness accounts, not independent verification of the object's capabilities.
The FLIR1 video, filmed with a US Navy infrared camera, is associated with the incident. It was unofficially released in the mid-2000s, and in 2017 it was presented to the public as part of the coverage of the Pentagon's AATIP program. The Department of Defense confirmed that the video was filmed by a Navy aircraft but did not determine what was seen in it.
In 2020, the Pentagon officially released the video and classified the object as unidentified; it did not claim that it involved extraterrestrial life. Even today, there is no definitive explanation from the Department of Defense for the object or its behavior. In 2023, Fravor testified about the incident before a US House of Representatives committee.
A reported encounter with an unidentified aerial object during US Navy combat exercises in 2004. Pilots described a Tic Tac-shaped object.
A video filmed with a Navy fighter jet's infrared camera, associated with the Nimitz Incident. The Pentagon officially released it in 2020.
No. The Pentagon confirmed the video was filmed by a Navy aircraft but classified the object as unidentified and provided no definitive explanation.
No. The pilots reported an object they could not identify, but the Pentagon did not claim it involved extraterrestrial life.