The Nimitz Incident 2004: Complete Primary Source Record
In November 2004, the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group operating approximately 100 miles southwest of San Diego encountered a series of anomalous aerial objects over several days. The encounters were tracked on ship-board radar, AN/SPY-1 Aegis systems, and the APG-73 radar of F/A-18 Super Hornets. One encounter was recorded on the FLIR1 targeting pod of an F/A-18. The footage was authenticated and officially released by the Pentagon in April 2020.
The Radar Track
The USS Princeton — a Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser operating as part of the Nimitz Strike Group — began tracking anomalous objects on its AN/SPY-1 phased array radar system approximately two weeks before the intercept. The objects were observed descending from 80,000 feet to sea level within seconds, holding station over the ocean, and performing manoeuvres inconsistent with any known aircraft. The Princeton’s Combat Information Centre crew initially assumed radar malfunction and had the system calibrated and recertified. The contacts persisted.
The AN/SPY-1 radar was recalibrated and recertified specifically because the contacts were so anomalous that the CIC crew suspected equipment failure. After recertification, the contacts continued. This rules out simple radar malfunction as an explanation.
Commander David Fravor’s Intercept
Commander David Fravor, commanding officer of VFA-41 Black Aces, was directed to investigate a contact approximately 60 miles ahead of the carrier. Fravor, flying with Lieutenant Commander Jim Slaight, and a second F/A-18 crewed by Commander Alex Dietrich and Lieutenant Commander Chad Diaz, descended to approximately 20,000 feet. Both crews visually observed a white, featureless, 40-foot object shaped like a Tic Tac, hovering approximately 50 feet above the ocean surface and disturbing the water below it.
Fravor descended in a circular pattern to approach the object. The object matched his manoeuvre, ascending to mirror his position. When he attempted to close directly, the object accelerated away instantaneously and disappeared. Within seconds, the Princeton reported the same contact had reappeared on radar approximately 60 miles away — at the combat air patrol rendezvous point the strike group had briefed that morning in a secure setting.
The object reappearing at the pre-briefed rendezvous point is among the most troubling aspects of the encounter. That coordinates were contained in a secure briefing suggests either the object had intelligence collection capability or the reappearance at that location was coincidental — a coincidence the involved personnel do not accept.
The FLIR1 Footage
A subsequent F/A-18 sortie captured the FLIR1 footage that became one of the most analysed pieces of UAP evidence in history. The footage shows an infrared signature of the same Tic Tac object. The object exhibits no heat signature consistent with conventional propulsion. It maintains a lock against a background of open ocean and appears to accelerate and rotate in ways inconsistent with ballistic or jet-propelled objects. The Pentagon’s Defense Visual Information Distribution Service released the footage officially on April 27, 2020, with a statement confirming its authenticity.
Official Confirmation
The Navy confirmed in September 2019 that the Nimitz footage was real and had been captured by Navy personnel. In April 2020, the Pentagon officially released three UAP videos — FLIR1 (Nimitz 2004), GIMBAL (2015), and GOFAST (2015) — with a statement that the footage had not been “authorised for public release” previously but was being released “in order to clear up any misconceptions by the public on whether the footage that has been circulating was real.” Commander Fravor and Lieutenant Commander Dietrich both testified before Congress in July 2023.