Four tic tacs off the USS Jackson
- What: four tic-tac-shaped objects on a Navy warship's thermal sensor in 2023, in the same waters as the 2004 Nimitz Tic Tac.
- Who saw it: Senior Chief Alexandro Wiggins, 23 years in the Navy, who also served on the USS Omaha during the 2019 swarm.
- The record: the ship's SAFIRE thermal video with combat-center audio, released by Jeremy Corbell; not yet confirmed by the Navy.
- Checked: a former Defense Department analyst found no aircraft or helicopters in flight records that could explain them.
About 19:15 on 15 February 2023, in the same waters as the 2004 Nimitz encounter, operators in the combat information center of the USS Jackson saw unknown objects on their screens. Senior Chief Alexandro Wiggins, the ship's radar and air-traffic specialist, went out on deck and saw a light on the horizon that seemed to be surfacing out of the water. Back inside, the SAFIRE thermal sensor showed a tic-tac-shaped object with no exhaust, then a second, and on zooming out, four. All four left to the northeast at the same moment, almost instantly. The ship filed no formal report because the objects did not close on it or show hostile intent. The thermal video was released by Jeremy Corbell in April 2025, and Wiggins testified before Congress in September 2025.
Evidence, in date order (2)
- Apr 2025USS Jackson SAFIRE thermal sensorsensor dataThermal video of the objects, with CIC audio: "all four... all synchronous, heading out into the abyss" Weaponized (Jeremy Corbell), April 2025
- Apr 2025Marik von RennenkampffdocumentFlight-track check found no aircraft to explain the objects KLAS 8 News Now, 17 Apr 2025
How plausible · High
A named Navy radar senior chief saw it firsthand and the ship's thermal video is out; flight records show no explaining aircraft.
- ●●Access On the ship.
- ●●Cost of speaking Named, on camera.
- ●●No gain sought Nothing sold.
- ●●Character record Senior chief.
- ●●Physical traces or official reaction Thermal video.
- ●○Independent convergence Thermal sensor.
Plausibility weighs how well an account fits where secrecy hides the documents by design, so missing records never count against it. Strength measures what is documented. Assessed 2026-10-23.