The two videos
In January 2015, F/A-18F Super Hornets from the USS Theodore Roosevelt's air wing record two now-famous pieces of UAP footage during training exercises off the U.S. East Coast. The first, GIMBAL, captures an object rotating in mid-air as the aircraft's ATFLIR pod tracks it. The name comes from the visible rotation in the footage — an aerodynamic behavior the aircrew's voice recording calls out in real time. The second, GO FAST, shows a small object moving rapidly over the ocean surface; the title is what one of the aircrew shouts when he sees it on the targeting display.
Why they matter
GIMBAL and GO FAST are evidentially significant for a different reason than Nimitz. Nimitz had visual pilots, radar, infrared, and a 20-minute multi-witness engagement. GIMBAL and GO FAST are sensor-only — there is no narrative of pilots maneuvering to intercept. What they offer instead is unambiguous documentation: the Pentagon authenticated the footage and confirmed in April 2020 that no conventional explanation had been found. The official-acknowledgment threshold is what makes these clips foundational to the post-2020 disclosure era.
The skeptical case
GIMBAL has attracted skeptical analysis arguing that the rotation is a sensor artifact — a result of the ATFLIR's own gimbal mechanism rotating against the camera frame as the aircraft maneuvers. Mick West has produced detailed visual explanations of this hypothesis. The Navy has not formally accepted or rejected this analysis. GO FAST has similarly been argued to show an object moving with the wind, with apparent speed an artifact of the close-distance + parallax geometry. Neither explanation has been adopted as the official position; the videos remain officially unidentified.
The combined record
What makes GIMBAL/GO FAST belong in the top tier — credibility 9.5 here — is not their individual evidentiary heft but their position in the disclosure record. They are two of the three videos the Department of Defense formally authenticated in 2020. They are the moment when the U.S. government stopped saying 'no comment' on UAP footage and started saying 'we don't know what these are.'
Key Facts
- Both videos officially declassified and released by the DoD in April 2020
- GIMBAL captures an object rotating mid-flight as tracked by ATFLIR pod
- GO FAST shows a small object moving over ocean surface, name from aircrew radio call
- Pentagon stated no conventional explanation has been identified for either object
Key Witnesses
- USS Theodore Roosevelt F/A-18 aircrew
- Navy weapons systems officers