DOW-UAP-PR108 — The Western US 2020 UAP Clip Compared to the Famous 2004 "Tic Tac"

The most-discussed modern-era case in PURSUE Release 04 is DOW-UAP-PR108 — an "Unresolved UAP Report" from the Western United States, 2020. What makes it stand out is not the file itself but the comparison being drawn: reviewers have flagged that the footage resembles the famous 2004 "Tic Tac" imagery captured by F/A-18 pilot Chad Underwood off the USS Nimitz.

Why the 2004 comparison matters

The Nimitz "Tic Tac" case is one of the most-referenced pieces of modern U.S. military UAP evidence. On November 14, 2004, off the coast of Southern California, F/A-18 Super Hornets from Carrier Strike Group Eleven engaged what appeared on radar as an unidentified object. Cmdr. David Fravor's visual account described a smooth white oblong shape, no wings, no exhaust, and hovering behaviour above churning water. Lt. Chad Underwood captured the FLIR video from a second Super Hornet. The clip — commonly called "FLIR1" or "Tic Tac" — became one of three videos the U.S. Department of Defense officially acknowledged as authentic in 2020. The case anchors much of modern Congressional UAP interest.

What we know about PR108 itself

The public record lists PR108 as an "Unresolved UAP Report, Western United States, 2020." Duration, sensor type (electro-optical, infrared, radar, or combination), and altitude/velocity data will be canonicalised once the war.gov file has been more fully catalogued. Third-party reviewers have flagged the Tic Tac comparison but the specific characteristics of the resemblance are still being written up.

The candor caveat

Third-party reviewers (Metabunk, The Debrief) have consistently noted that many PURSUE video files have plausible mundane explanations — balloons, ice particles, sensor artefacts, distant aircraft. A visual similarity to the 2004 Tic Tac does not by itself resolve PR108. What it does is raise the interpretive stakes: if PR108 is a balloon that looks like a Tic Tac, that also raises the question of whether the 2004 Tic Tac may have been a balloon. This is a hedged framing, not a claim.

Where PR108 sits in the PURSUE domestic-territory thread

• Release 03: The Western United States Event 2023 (DOW-UAP-D077 → D083) — the AARO-classified unresolved case package
• Release 04: DOW-UAP-PR108 (Western US 2020) + PR112 (Eastern US 2019) + PR116 (Atlantic Ocean 2020) — the modern-era U.S. domestic and coastal cluster

For Release 04's full inventory, see the SkyLens overview. The original video is on war.gov/ufo.