GIMBAL Navy Video (2015)

The "Gimbal" incident refers to a U.S. Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet FLIR (Forward Looking Infrared) video recording of an unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAP) encountered off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, in January 2015. The video, depicting an object moving against the wind while rotating, was subsequently released to the public, drawing significant attention to UAP observations by military personnel.

January 2015: U.S. Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet aircraft, operating from Naval Air Station Oceana embarked on the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, recorded the "Gimbal" video during training maneuvers off the eastern seaboard of the United States. March 2015: The "Gimbal" video was reportedly uploaded to the Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Task Force (UAPTF) database. December 16, 2017: The New York Times published an article, "Glowing Auras and ‘Black Money’: The Pentagon’s Mysterious UFO Program," which prominently featured the "Gimbal" video alongside the "Tic Tac" and "Go Fast" videos. This article also confirmed the existence of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP). September 19, 2019: The U.S. Navy officially acknowledged the videos, including "Gimbal," as authentic and unclassified, though they stated the phenomena depicted remained "unidentified." April 27, 2020: The Department of Defense (DoD) officially released the three previously acknowledged UAP videos, including "Gimbal," stating they were released "to clear up any misconceptions by the public on whether or not the footage that has been circulating was real or whether or not there is more to the videos." June 25, 2021: The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) released a preliminary assessment on UAPs, which included references to the "Gimbal" type incidents, acknowledging 144 UAP reports predominantly from U.S. Navy personnel.

The "Gimbal" video is an authentic, unclassified recording made by a U.S. Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet aircraft. The video was recorded in January 2015 off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida. The Department of Defense officially released the video on April 27, 2020. The U.S. Navy confirmed the authenticity of the video in September 2019, stating that the objects in the video remain “unidentified.” The video displays a thermal signature of an airborne object.

Personnel involved in the 2015 encounters off the USS Theodore Roosevelt's operations reportedly observed UAPs on "almost daily" occasions. Pilots reportedly described the objects as capable of rapid acceleration, sudden stops, and impossible aerial maneuvers. Lieutenant Commander Alex Dietrich, one of the pilots involved in similar 2015 encounters, reportedly stated in a 2021 interview that the objects exhibited "apparent characteristics that are inexplicable." Another pilot, Lieutenant Ryan Graves, reportedly described the objects as having no visible exhaust plumes and no discernible flight surfaces, operating consistently for extended periods. The object in the "Gimbal" video is reportedly observed rotating while maintaining its direction of travel against strong winds. The pilots reportedly referred to these phenomena as "unexplained aerial phenomena" or "unknown aerial phenomena" prior to the formal adoption of "UAP."

Lieutenant Ryan Graves and other pilots involved in the 2015 encounters off the USS Theodore Roosevelt reportedly provided extensive testimony to the press and government officials. Graves reportedly described seeing objects that "accelerated to supersonic speeds... and couldn’t be accounted for." He also reportedly stated that the UAPs would remain on station for up to 11 hours, a capability far exceeding known aerial drones. Navy officials reportedly interviewed multiple witnesses concerning these events as part of ongoing investigations into UAP encounters.

The Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), which ran from 2007 to 2012 with some residual activity until 2017, reportedly collected and analyzed UAP reports, including those from Navy personnel. The video was subsequently handled by the Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Task Force (UAPTF), established by the DoD in August 2020, and its successor, the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), established in July 2022. The ODNI’s Preliminary Assessment on UAPs (June 2021) included analysis of this type of incident, although it did not offer definitive explanations for all cases.

Official scientific analysis released to the public has been limited. The object's thermal signature in the "Gimbal" video is consistent with an airborne metallic object, but lacks sufficient resolution to identify specific features. Academic physicists and aerospace engineers have offered independent, non-official analyses. Some suggest optical artifacts or atmospheric conditions might explain the apparent rotation and movement. Others point to the reported maneuverability and lack of visible propulsion as scientifically anomalous. The term "gimbal" itself refers to the apparent rotation of the object, which is debated as either actual rotation or an artifact of the FLIR tracking system’s stabilization attempting to center the object.

Skeptical explanations for the "Gimbal" video typically focus on sensor artifacts and pilot misinterpretation. It has been proposed that the "rotation" observed is an optical illusion created by the FLIR camera's gimballing mechanism itself, which applies an angular roll to the image when tracking. The object's seemingly anomalous movement could be attributed to parallax, atmospheric inversions, or a distant conventional aircraft or drone whose true scale and speed are difficult to ascertain without more data. The 'flaring' seen in the video, characteristic of thermal blooming, can obscure definitive shape or features.

The exact nature of the object in the "Gimbal" video remains officially undetermined. Without additional sensor data—such as radar tracks, electro-optical imagery, or eyewitness accounts directly correlated with the video—the object’s identity, propulsion method, and reported maneuvers (including its ability to seemingly operate against strong headwinds while rotating) remain unexplained within the framework of known conventional or classified aircraft.