IllustrationPhoto: an F/A-18 Super Hornet flying over USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) in the Gulf of Oman, November 1, 2008, used here as an illustration. U.S. Navy photo by Lt. Cmdr. Johnnie Caldwell, public domain. It is not from the 2015 Gimbal or GoFast recordings.
That split matters. The three clips are often edited together online as if they were one event. They are not. They come from different years, different coasts, and different carrier strike groups, and the official record treats them separately. Reading them separately is the only way to read them accurately.
Last checked: November 13, 2026, against the Department of War's PURSUE page (Release 07, October 23, 2026, is still the latest tranche) and the official sources listed below.
What is the Gimbal video, and when was it recorded?
Gimbal is a roughly 30 second infrared video recorded in January 2015, according to the reporting and official descriptions that accompanied its release. It was recorded by a Navy aircrew from USS Theodore Roosevelt during operations off the East Coast of the United States. The clip shows an object tracked on the aircraft's infrared sensor, and the audio track carries the crew's conversation.
On that audio, crew members can be heard reacting to what the sensor is showing. One voice says there is a whole fleet of them, referring to contacts the crew described on their situational awareness display. Near the end of the clip, the object appears to rotate, and a crew member reacts to that movement on the recording. Those are the words on the released audio. What the rotation means is a separate question, and analysts who have studied the clip have offered different readings of it, including readings based on how the infrared camera itself moves and tracks. Skeptical analysts, Mick West among them, argue the rotation is a glare effect that turns as the camera's gimbal turns, not the object turning. Others read it as the object's own motion. UAP Press reports the audio as audio and the dispute as a dispute. The file does not settle it, and neither has the government: AARO's Official UAP Imagery page lists Gimbal as an "Unresolved Case," and no official analysis of the rotation has been published.
The name Gimbal comes from the camera system, not from the object. The sensor pod that recorded the clip is mounted on a gimbal, and the title follows the equipment.
What is the GoFast video, and when was it recorded?
GoFast is a short infrared video, also recorded in 2015 by a Theodore Roosevelt aircrew, according to the official descriptions. It shows a small object moving over the surface of the ocean, tracked by the aircraft's sensor, with the crew heard working to keep the sensor locked on it. The crew audio records the moment the track was established and the crew's reaction to the speed they believed they were seeing.
The word GoFast, like Gimbal, is a file label, not a finding. A central point in later analysis of this clip is geometry. An object filmed from a moving jet, at an angle, over moving water, can appear to travel faster than it does, because the background moves behind it. That effect is called parallax, and it is the main point raised by analysts who argue the object was moving more slowly than the clip first suggests. It is also the question NASA and the government's own case work later took up, which is covered below.
What the clip documents, on its own, is narrower than most headlines about it. A Navy sensor tracked something over the ocean in 2015, a crew recorded it, and the Department of Defense later released the recording and called the phenomenon unidentified. Anything beyond that needs a source, and this briefing names its sources as it goes.
When did the Navy confirm the videos, and when were they released?
The dates are the part of this story that is fully documented, and they are worth setting out in order.
| Date | Documented step |
|---|---|
| January 2015 | Gimbal recorded by a USS Theodore Roosevelt aircrew, per official descriptions and release reporting |
| 2015 | GoFast recorded by a USS Theodore Roosevelt aircrew, per official descriptions |
| December 16, 2017 | The New York Times published the Tic Tac (FLIR1) and Gimbal videos alongside its reporting on the Pentagon's earlier UAP program, an unauthorized release the Department of Defense later acknowledged |
| March 9, 2018 | GoFast was posted publicly by To The Stars Academy of Arts and Science, the group co-founded by Tom DeLonge |
| September 2019 | A Navy spokesperson confirmed to reporters that the three videos showed unidentified aerial phenomena and that they were Navy recordings that had not been cleared for public release at the time they first circulated |
| April 27, 2020 | The Department of Defense formally released all three videos, confirmed they were Navy recordings, and stated that the phenomena in them remain unidentified |
| September 2023 | NASA's independent UAP study team published its analysis of GoFast, placing the object at about 13,000 feet |
| November 19, 2024 | AARO presented its GoFast case resolution at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing |
Two distinctions in that table matter for anyone citing these clips. First, confirmation and release were different steps, seven months apart. The September 2019 statements confirmed what the videos were. The April 2020 release was the formal act that made them official public records. Second, "unidentified" was the Department's own word in the 2020 release statement. It is a statement about the state of the file, not a conclusion about what the objects were.
What have NASA and AARO said about GoFast?
GoFast is the one clip of the two that official analysts have worked through with numbers. The sensor display in the frame shows the camera's angle, the range to the object and the jet's altitude, and those figures can be run through basic trigonometry.
NASA's independent UAP study team did that in its September 2023 final report. It put the object at about 13,000 feet, not skimming the waves, and estimated that it moved roughly 390 meters in 22 seconds, about 40 mph, which the report called "a typical wind speed at 13,000 feet." The jet was flying at about 435 mph, so the ocean far behind the object swept past quickly. That's parallax, and it's why the clip looks fast.
The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, the Pentagon's current UAP office, reached the same altitude in its own case resolution and said, with high confidence, that the object didn't move at anomalous speeds. At a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on November 19, 2024, then-AARO director Jon Kosloski called the effect "a trick of the eye called 'parallax.'" Neither NASA nor AARO said what the object was, only that its apparent speed isn't real. The UAP Case File Digest tracks when AARO adds new case resolutions.
For the office itself, its mandate and its other reports, see our briefing AARO explained. For how often sightings like these get explained in general, see how many UFO sightings are reported and explained.
How do Gimbal and GoFast differ from the Tic Tac video?
| Point | Gimbal and GoFast | Tic Tac (FLIR1) |
|---|---|---|
| Year recorded | 2015 | 2004 |
| Carrier group | USS Theodore Roosevelt | USS Nimitz and USS Princeton |
| Coast | East Coast of the United States | Off San Diego, Pacific |
| What else is on the record | Sensor video and crew audio | Sensor video, radar accounts from USS Princeton, and visual accounts from four aviators |
| UAP Press coverage | This briefing | Case File 001, The Tic Tac Incident |
The comparison explains why the Tic Tac file carries more weight on this site, and why this briefing does not borrow that weight. The 2004 encounter, as documented in Case File 001, rests on radar tracks over two weeks, four aviators who reported seeing an object at close range, and the infrared clip recorded by a second crew. Gimbal and GoFast rest on sensor video and crew audio. Sensor video is real evidence, and the Navy has confirmed it is genuine Navy footage. It is also, on its own, easier to read in more than one way, which is exactly what the public argument about both clips shows.
Where can you watch the videos and read the release record?
Watch the official copies on AARO's Official UAP Imagery page or in the Naval Air Systems Command FOIA reading room, both linked in Sources, and read the wider release record in our log of the Pentagon file releases, every PURSUE tranche by date. That log shows the document stream these clips now sit inside: seven tranches of files posted between May 8 and October 23, 2026, counted record by record.
If you are new to the set, watch in this order. Start with Case File 001 for the 2004 encounter and its fuller record, then return here for the two 2015 clips. Together, the two pages cover all three Pentagon videos without mixing their files.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Defense: Statement on the release of historical Navy videos (April 2020)
- All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office: Official UAP Imagery
- Naval Air Systems Command: FOIA Reading Room (FLIR1, Gimbal and GoFast videos)
- NASA: Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Independent Study Team Final Report (September 2023)
- U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee: AARO case slides, November 19, 2024 hearing (GoFast, Puerto Rico, Mt. Etna)
- DefenseScoop: Pentagon's UAP office reviews findings on Go Fast, Puerto Rico, Mt. Etna incidents in Senate hearing (Nov. 19, 2024)
- U.S. Department of War: PURSUE, war.gov/ufo
- All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office: FY2025 Consolidated Annual Report on UAP
Questions people ask
Are the Gimbal and GoFast videos officially released?
Yes. The Department of Defense formally released both videos on April 27, 2020, confirmed they were U.S. Navy recordings, and stated that the phenomena shown remain unidentified. A Navy spokesperson had confirmed their status to reporters earlier, in September 2019.
Were Gimbal and GoFast recorded during the Tic Tac encounter?
No. The Tic Tac footage was recorded in November 2004, off San Diego, during the Nimitz strike group workups. Gimbal and GoFast were recorded in 2015 by aircrews from USS Theodore Roosevelt, operating off the East Coast. They are separate events, eleven years apart.
Does GoFast prove the object was moving at extreme speed?
No. NASA's independent UAP study team (September 2023) used the angle, range and altitude shown on the sensor display to put the object at about 13,000 feet, moving roughly 40 mph, about wind speed at that height. AARO reached the same altitude in its own case resolution and said with high confidence the object didn't move at anomalous speeds. The fast look comes from parallax, the jet's own motion against the distant ocean.
Why is the rotating movement in Gimbal debated?
Because the rotation visible near the end of the clip can be read in more than one way. Some analysts attribute it to the object, others to glare from the gimbal-mounted camera turning as it tracks. The released audio documents that the crew noticed and reacted to the movement. AARO's Official UAP Imagery page still lists Gimbal as an unresolved case, and no official analysis of the rotation has been published.
Where does UAP Press cover new developments on these videos?
In the UAP Case File Digest, our dated roundup of official releases, hearings and case reports, and in our log of the Pentagon's PURSUE file releases.
Corrections: if something here is wrong, tell us and we'll fix it and say so on this page.