Gimbal Encounter
F/A-18 Super Hornet ATFLIR footage of a craft rotating mid-air against the wind while a fleet of similar objects travels at high altitude. Declassified by the U.S. Navy and authenticated by the DoD in 2020.
Overview
The Gimbal video was recorded on January 21, 2015 from an F/A-18F Super Hornet operating from the USS Theodore Roosevelt off the East Coast of the United States. The 34-second ATFLIR (Advanced Targeting Forward-Looking Infrared) clip shows a saucer-shaped object banking and rotating roughly 90 degrees in mid-flight against a headwind described by the pilot as 'screaming wind at 120 knots'. Pilot audio captured during the recording, 'Look at that thing, dude', and the throwaway exclamation 'There's a whole fleet of them', became widely circulated. The video was first released by To The Stars Academy in December 2017 and formally authenticated by the U.S. Department of Defense in April 2020.
Timeline
- 2015-01-21
ATFLIR footage recorded by VFA-11 'Red Rippers' F/A-18F off the East Coast.
- 2017-12-16
Released by To The Stars Academy in coordination with the New York Times.
- 2020-04-27
DoD formally authenticates the video alongside FLIR1 and GoFast.
- 2021-06-25
ODNI Preliminary Assessment includes the encounter.
Known Facts
- Pilot audio comment: 'There's a whole fleet of them.'
- Object rotates 90° while travelling against a 120-knot headwind.
- ATFLIR sensor locked target throughout the recording.
- Authenticated and declassified by the Department of Defense.
- Discussed in 2023 Congressional hearings on UAP.
Media Evidence
Related Cases
Source Material
Archive Notes
One of three videos officially declassified by the U.S. Navy. Often analysed for evidence of synthetic-aperture artefacts vs. genuine object rotation.
ATFLIR sensor data with pilot audio commentary. Authenticated by DoD.
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