Active-duty Navy senior chief says four 'tic-tac' objects rose from ocean, used radar to convince skeptics

An active-duty U.S. Navy senior chief told lawmakers he saw four oval, "tic-tac" shaped objects emerge from the ocean and used shipboard radar data to convince a skeptical colleague the contacts were not conventional aircraft.

Senior Chief Petty Officer Alexandro Wiggins, a 21-year Navy veteran, testified that he first detected the object on radar aboard the USS Jackson on the evening of Feb. 15, 2023 and then confirmed the contact visually from the ship's bridge wing. He said the first object appeared to come seamlessly out of the water, rose rapidly and performed maneuvers he had not seen in standard human technology, and that three other similarly shaped objects were moving in coordination roughly eight nautical miles away.

Wiggins said he reported the unknowns to a tactical officer and then monitored the contacts on a Sapphire radar system. Video of Sapphire-tracked contacts was later published in April by journalists George Knapp and Jeremy Corbell. In Wiggins' account, the radar display showed an oval-shaped, dark silhouette moving up and down and then rendezvousing with the three other objects.

"In utilizing the Sapphire system, you're able to see silhouettes and heat signatures of different objects," Wiggins told the committee. He said that some crew members initially suggested the contact might be a plane. To test that assessment, he asked a radar operator to slew the system to an actual passing commercial aircraft. The aircraft returned a clear radar signature with discernible wings, tail and nose, while the previously tracked oval contacts did not display the same profile, he said.

"It was kind of like 'checkmate,' and he sat back down," Wiggins said, describing the moment a doubting radar operator accepted the distinction between the plane's signature and the unknown contacts. Wiggins spoke to reporters and lawmakers as an individual, not as a representative of the Navy.

Wiggins' testimony came at the third public hearing convened by the House Transparency Task Force to examine unidentified anomalous phenomena. Lawmakers at that session also viewed video that the panel described as showing a Hellfire missile strike on an aerial object.

The account offered an example of how multiple sensor sources — visual observation, tactical reporting and radar imaging — are being presented in some UAP investigations. Wiggins' description echoes earlier publicized encounters involving so-called "tic-tac" objects, most notably a widely reported 2004 incident off the coast of Southern California that prompted Pentagon interest and subsequent reviews of anomalous aerial reports.

The Navy and the Department of Defense have previously acknowledged programs and offices tasked with collecting and analyzing reports of unidentified aerial phenomena. Senators and representatives have pressed for more transparency, greater interagency coordination and better methods to correlate visually reported events with sensor data.

Wiggins, who has three children and is an active-duty sailor, told the committee he moved to the bridge wing to perform a visual confirmation after seeing the contact on radar because he wanted to rule out clouds, atmospheric effects or other benign explanations. He emphasized the rapidity of the object's ascent and the lack of familiar aircraft characteristics as central to his assessment.

The Sapphire video clip shared publicly and in congressional settings shows an oval-shaped radar return that the Navy servicemember says moved with apparent speed and agility before disappearing from the display. Wiggins and others who have testified or briefed lawmakers say such multi-sensor material complicates simple explanations and has been a driver of continued congressional interest.

The Department of Defense did not immediately provide a public comment on Wiggins' testimony. The House task force indicated the hearing was part of an ongoing effort to gather witness accounts, sensor records and agency briefings to better understand and document anomalous aerial reports.

Wiggins' testimony marks a continuation of high-profile congressional scrutiny of UAP encounters and underscores the role that shipboard sensors and firsthand observation are playing in those inquiries. Lawmakers have said they will continue to subpoena records, seek classified briefings and hold public hearings as part of a broader effort to establish a more complete record of anomalous aerial events.