What happened
From 2014 into 2015, Navy fighter crews flying from the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt off the US East Coast reported repeatedly picking up unknown objects on their upgraded radars and targeting sensors during training. Two infrared clips from January 2015 became famous. In 'Gimbal', an F/A-18's targeting pod tracks a dark, saucer-like blur with a glowing aura that appears to stop and rotate on its side while the aircrew exclaim over it and mention a 'whole fleet' on their display. In 'GoFast', a crew locks onto a small object that seems to skim rapidly over the ocean surface. Both videos were published in December 2017, by The New York Times and The Washington Post respectively, and were later linked to the Pentagon's Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program. In September 2019 a Navy spokesperson confirmed they were genuine Navy footage, and on 27 April 2020 the Department of Defense formally released them, saying the phenomena remain unidentified. Pilot Ryan Graves later testified about such encounters before Congress.
The original account
The Department of Defense has authorized the release of three unclassified Navy videos, one taken in November 2004 and the other two in January 2015, which have been circulating in the public domain after unauthorized releases in 2007 and 2017. ... After a thorough review, the department has determined that the authorized release of these unclassified videos does not reveal any sensitive capabilities or systems, and does not impinge on any subsequent investigations of military air space incursions by unidentified aerial phenomena. ... The aerial phenomena observed in the videos remain characterized as "unidentified."
US Department of Defense statement on the release of historical Navy videos, 27 April 2020 (US government work, public domain)
The official explanation
No official explanation has been given. Skeptic Mick West argues that Gimbal shows the infrared glare of a distant jet engine, with the apparent rotation caused by the targeting pod's gimballed camera mechanism, and that GoFast's object is likely a balloon at high altitude whose apparent speed over the water is a parallax effect from the fast-moving jet. Others, including the Navy itself, have pointed to the growing number of small drones, while some analysts suggest sensor spoofing by foreign electronic warfare.
The anomalous case
These are official US Navy recordings, confirmed authentic by the Pentagon and released after a formal review that left them labelled unidentified. A Pentagon spokesperson said in 2019 that they were part of a larger issue of an increased number of training range incursions by unidentified aerial phenomena, and the Navy updated its pilot reporting procedures as a result. Pilots say the objects were detected on radar as well as infrared and were seen over long periods. Former F/A-18 pilot Ryan Graves, who served with the strike group, testified under oath to Congress in July 2023 alongside David Fravor. The 2021 ODNI report noted that some UAP appeared to show unusual flight characteristics and were detected by multiple sensors. Whether foreign drones, classified technology or something unknown, the objects entered military training airspace and were not identified.
The strongest argument that this was something genuinely unknown or classified, with each claim attributed to the person who made it.
Documents
- GIMBAL video (NAVAIR FOIA Reading Room) video, navair.navy.mil
- GOFAST video (NAVAIR FOIA Reading Room) video, navair.navy.mil
- Statement by the Department of Defense on the Release of Historical Navy Videos (27 April 2020) official, defense.gov
Sources
- Pentagon UFO videos Wikipedia
- NAVAIR FOIA Reading Room document library Naval Air Systems Command
- Navy Officially Releases Infamous UFO Videos The War Zone
- Statement by the Department of Defense on the Release of Historical Navy Videos (reposted) Christopher Mellon
Witness reports elsewhere
These archives can't be republished here, so we link to them instead.