They patented one. Excerpted article (this was linked in the OP):the video is 100% speculation though. there isnt a single source mentioned that supports that the navy did use a hypothesized device like this
Article: The U.S. Navy has patented technology to create mid-air images to fool infrared and other sensors. This builds on many years of laser-plasma research and offers a game-changing method of protecting aircraft from heat-seeking missiles.
The Navy declined to discuss the project, but the work is described in a 2018 patent: “wherein a laser source is mounted on the back of the air vehicle, and wherein the laser source is configured to create a laser-induced plasma, and wherein the laser-induced plasma acts as a decoy for an incoming threat to the air vehicle.”
Unlike flares, the LIPF decoy can be created instantly at any desired distance from the aircraft, and can be moved around at will. Equally importantly, moves with the aircraft, rather than dropping away rapidly like a flare, providing protection for as long as needed.
The lead researcher in the patent is Alexandru Hening. A 2017 piece in the Navy’s own IT magazine says that Dr. Hening has been working on laser-induced plasma at Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific since 2012.
Article: ![]()
via that article:
Source: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1QXw3ylCYT0
True 3D Display in the Mid-Air Using Laser Plasma Technology Titled "Aerial Burton"
See post #2 for another example of this technology.
So what was the consensus here? Is it possible they’re using holograms to create plasma UFOs? I read thru every comment in this thread and it bounced from cynical to skeptical to plausible and then back. Do the questionable sources necessarily disqualify their hypotheses? I don’t think this was adequately debunked but maybe I overlooked something.
Science fiction author / scientist David Brin -- who's worked in optics and astronomy -- calls these "overgrown cat lasers," (also on his blog). The idea being that if you can excite matter at a distance and simply swivel your beam, the perceived object will move faster than a physical craft would. He notes the potential classified status of such technology, but notes the reports around military bases and links to some videos like the ones already provided above. Doesn't go into great detail about how it might work, but at least he has some background to make his arguments.Sometimes we say, "I don't know". Mick's term the LIZ (Low Information Zone) applies to more than photos. It seems there is evidence that the DoD is and was working on various devices to create targets and/or deceive people and sensors. Did something like that cause the TIC TAC? Impossible to say.
Personally, the DoD working on stuff like this seems reasonable to me. As for creating the TIC TAC, it makes more sense than a trans-medium alien from Zeta Reticule or even a super-duper Russian drone, but that's all I can safely say with the giving information.
Some of the discussion seemed to expand on the idea quite a bit crediting such devices with UFO encounters involving the general public back in the '90s. That's a bit more suspect as was the somewhat dubious source Amrie's The Military Unmasked.
Yeah, but suppose you want the exciting beams to be entirely INVISIBLE? Necessary if you want to maintain the illusion of a discrete object. Well, you might have them excite infrared shell states that add up to the one you want to glow….