Pentagon UFO Videos (FLIR, Gimbal, GoFast)

  Summary

In late 2017 the New York Times published three cockpit clips leaked by To The Stars.¹ The footage—FLIR1, Gimbal, and GoFast—shows objects that Navy crews could not identify. The U.S. Navy confirmed the tapes in 2019 and the Department of Defense released declassified copies in April 2020, noting that the objects remain unidentified aerial phenomena.²³

  Snapshot

  Video capsules

    FLIR1 ("Tic Tac")

• Intercept launched from USS Nimitz after radar tracked objects for two weeks. Cmdr. David Fravor saw a 40‑ft white oval that shot away; WSO Chad Underwood captured the clip minutes later.¹
• Rapid left dart, no heat plume, no control surfaces.
• Skeptics suggest a distant jet and camera zoom change explain the jump.⁴

    Gimbal

• Training mission off the east coast, 21 Jan 2015; pilots remarked on a "fleet" of them.
• Wingless object yaws 90° in the clip.
• Likely a hot jet with glare as the gimbal hits its limit.⁴

    GoFast

• Same Roosevelt work‑ups, 24 Jan 2015. Sensor shows sea racing by and target low over water.
• Appears hypersonic but may be a small balloon with parallax from the high‑altitude jet.⁴

  Official timeline

• 16 Dec 2017 – Videos leaked alongside revelation of AATIP.¹
• 18 Sep 2019 – Navy spokesman Joseph Gradisher confirms the clips are real UAP.²
• 27 Apr 2020 – DoD posts all three files to end speculation.³
• 14 Aug 2020 – Deputy Secretary Norquist creates the UAP Task Force.
• 17 May 2022 – Officials testify in an open House hearing about unresolved cases.

  Key technical notes

• AN/ASQ-228 ATFLIR pod: 640×480 MWIR, 0.7° narrow FOV, ±6° roll.⁵
• Classified range and angle data mean speed and size remain unknown.
• Cockpit audio shows surprise yet uses typical fighter‑pilot slang.

  Policy & intelligence impact

• Navy streamlined UAP incident reporting across the fleet in 2019.⁶
• UAPTF and later AARO now brief Congress regularly.
• Congress ordered annual public summaries beginning in 2022, listing hundreds of events.⁷

  What remains unknown

• Exact range and altitude of each target.
• Full sensor data before the publicly released segments.
• AARO's final assessments.

  Analysis

The Pentagon confirms the videos are authentic but unidentified. No evidence points to exotic technology, yet the incidents revealed gaps in sensor fusion and airspace awareness that officials aim to close.

  References

1. nytimes.com ↩ ↩² ↩³

2. navytimes.com ↩ ↩²

3. defense.gov ↩ ↩²

4. metabunk.org ↩ ↩² ↩³

5. raytheon.com ↩

6. bloomberg.com ↩

7. dni.gov ↩