We think we understand your point now but we see the incident differently.
A cruise missile flying high--either in a shallow parabola or a horizontal sort of flight--then dropping down closer to the water before striking a target--still traveling parallel to the earth/water--is one thing.
That was NOT the description of the behavior of the UFO in this case.
The craft was at higher altitude. Then, like a QUICKLY falling yoyo or rock or spear thrust straight down--headed very fast straight down. Then it stopped abruptly just above the water. Then it zipped off at a high rate of speed, IIRC.
Cruise missiles don't come close to behaving that way.
Sorry to disagree but that's our perspective.
The USS Princeton couldn’t see that.
Can you please read the article again.
Separate out what the fighters could see versus what the USS Princeton could detect.
Hindsight is 20/20.
“During an exercise, commanders ordered Fravor to intercept an object that was appearing at 80,000 feet — above the range of Ticonderoga-class cruiser USS Princeton’s SPY-1 air-search radar — before dropping suddenly to 20,000 feet.”
What do you think Anti-Ship Cruise Missiles do?