Summary
Navy fighter pilots visually tracked and filmed an unidentified craft performing abrupt, high-speed maneuvers inconsistent with any known aircraft off the California coast.
Detail report
During a training exercise near San Diego, radar operators aboard the USS Princeton had tracked unusual objects in the area for two weeks before two F/A-18F Super Hornet pilots were vectored to investigate. They visually observed a white, oblong object resembling a Tic Tac mint hovering above churning ocean water before it accelerated away at a speed the pilots described as having no visible means of propulsion. A separate pilot, Lt. Chad Underwood, later captured the object on infrared targeting camera. The Pentagon officially confirmed the authenticity of the footage in 2020 and the case remains formally unresolved.