GO FAST Navy Video (2015)

The "GO FAST" incident refers to a United States Navy encounter with an unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAP) off the Atlantic coast of the United States. This event, captured on video by a Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet's AN/ASQ-228 Advanced Targeting Forward-Looking Infrared (ATFLIR) pod, shows an object traveling at high speed over the ocean surface. The video became public following its release by The New York Times in December 2017 as part of a larger report on the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP).

2015 (specific date unknown): An F/A-18 Super Hornet aircraft from an East Coast-based Naval Air Station records an unknown object flying over the Atlantic Ocean. The pilot, whose identity remains undisclosed in public reports, states, "It's going against the wind, the wind is 120 knots out of the west. Look at that thing, dude!" referring to what he perceives as the object's anomalous movement.

December 16, 2017: The New York Times publishes an article titled “Glowing Auras and ‘Black Money’: The Pentagon’s Mysterious U.F.O. Program,” which includes the "GO FAST" video along with two other UAP videos ("FLIR1" and "GIMBAL").

September 19, 2019: The U.S. Navy officially acknowledges the three videos, including "GO FAST," as depicting "unidentified aerial phenomena." Navy spokesperson Joseph Gradisher states that the Navy "has not released the videos to the public" but confirms their content.

April 27, 2020: The Department of Defense officially declassifies and releases the three videos, including "GO FAST," reiterating their acknowledgment of the footage as UAPs.

The "GO FAST" video was recorded by a U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet's AN/ASQ-228 Advanced Targeting Forward-Looking Infrared (ATFLIR) pod in 2015. The video was captured off the Atlantic coast of the United States. The Department of Defense officially released and declassified the video on April 27, 2020. Prior to official release, the U.S. Navy confirmed in September 2019 that the video depicted "unidentified aerial phenomena." The footage shows an object moving rapidly over the surface of the ocean.

Navy pilots involved in the encounter reportedly described the object as traveling at high speed against high winds. One pilot is heard on the recording stating, "It's going against the wind, the wind is 120 knots out of the west." Media reports, citing former intelligence officials and pilots, have claimed that the object displayed flight characteristics beyond known conventional aircraft. Luis Elizondo, former director of AATIP, reportedly stated that the objects captured in these videos displayed "trans-medium" capabilities.

The primary witnesses are the Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet pilots who recorded the footage. Their voices are heard on the video, commenting on the object's speed and apparent defiance of prevailing wind conditions. One pilot stated, "Look at that thing, dude!" and questioned its movement against a reported 120-knot headwind. Further detailed testimony from these specific pilots regarding the "GO FAST" incident has not been officially released, although broader statements from Navy personnel involved in similar encounters have been reported.

The "GO FAST" incident, along with other UAP encounters, was reportedly a subject of investigation by the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), a U.S. Department of Defense program that operated from 2007 to 2012, reportedly continuing informally thereafter. The U.S. Navy acknowledged the footage as "unidentified aerial phenomena" in 2019. In 2020, the Department of Defense officially declassified and released the video. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) released an unclassified preliminary assessment on UAPs in June 2021, which included general references to Navy sightings, but did not specify findings on "GO FAST" in detail.

Public scientific analysis of the "GO FAST" video often focuses on atmospheric effects and visual distortions. Experts in optics and atmospheric physics have proposed that perceived anomalous movements or speeds could be illusions. For instance, the object's movement could be magnified by parallax effect, or the tracking system could introduce artifacts. The "speed" against the wind could be an interpretation of the object's ground speed relative to the aircraft's motion, rather than its true airspeed, or it could be a small object relatively close to the sensor. Without raw telemetry data or higher-resolution imagery, definitive scientific conclusions remain elusive.

Skeptical explanations for the "GO FAST" video generally propose that the object is not exotic but rather a conventional, albeit unidentified, aerial object. These explanations include: an optical illusion or artifact of the ATFLIR system, a balloon, a drone, or a distant conventional aircraft. The perception of high speed against strong winds could be due to the aircraft's own speed, relative motion, or an incorrect assessment of the object's actual altitude and distance. The "GO FAST" appears small and lacks distinct features, which makes precise identification difficult through visual analysis alone.

Despite official acknowledgment and release, the positive identification of the object in the "GO FAST" video remains unexplained. The object's nature, origin, and specific performance characteristics beyond what is visually apparent in the low-resolution infrared footage are not officially determined. The discrepancy between the pilots' reported perception of its movement and potential conventional explanations has not been definitively resolved by official sources.