USS Roosevelt: Gimbal and GoFast Encounters (2015)

January 2015, the USS Theodore Roosevelt’s air wing trained off the East Coast when Super Hornet crews began logging UAP contacts. Two glimpses, later named GIMBAL and GOFAST, would become the public’s window into those sorties. In grainy ATFLIR infrared, GIMBAL shows a bright shape seeming to rotate above clouds as aircrew remark on a “whole fleet” populating their radar. GOFAST appears to skim ocean waves at breathtaking speed. The Pentagon eventually released both clips, labeling the targets simply: unidentified.

Strip away the aura, the article follows the data. GOFAST’s own symbology, jet speed, altitude, line-of-sight angles, lets analysts solve the geometry. NASA and the DoD’s AARO place the object around 13,000 feet, drifting with winds; the drama is parallax, not prodigy. GIMBAL is thornier. Some engineers argue the rotation is optical, glare from a conventional source seen through a derotating gimbal. Others, echoing pilot recollections, model close-in maneuvers that imply unconventional performance. Without range and radar tracks, both stories persist.

Threading through is pilot safety. Pilots reported near-misses, training disruptions, and a reporting system that only matured in 2019. The piece ends bluntly: GOFAST looks solved kinematically; GIMBAL doesn’t. Release the missing data, and let the sensors speak, for pilots and the public alike today.

Executive Summary 

• What’s undisputed: The Department of Defense officially released three Navy cockpit videos on April 27, 2020, confirming two were recorded in January 2015 during work-ups with USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) off the U.S. East Coast. The DoD characterized the phenomena as unidentified and pointed to the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) FOIA reading room for the original files (“GIMBAL” and “GOFAST”). U.S. Department of War 
• Where and when: Roosevelt began COMPTUEX off Northeast Florida/Virginia warning areas in January 2015; military press and DVIDS imagery place the strike group at sea on January 21, 2015 the same date often attached to the GIMBAL/GOFAST clips. HISTORY USNI News
• Who saw what: Multiple Roosevelt-era aircrew, most publicly Lt. Ryan “FOBS” Graves (VFA-11) reported persistent UAP contacts in 2014–2015 across radar/IR/visual, including a close “cube inside a clear sphere” hazard in Warning Area W-72 and repeated safety-of-flight concerns. House Oversight Committee
• Government framing since: The ODNI 2021 Preliminary Assessment logged 11 near-misses and emphasized safety and data gaps. AARO (the DoD’s current UAP office) later published a parallax primer and, in 2025, a GOFAST Case Resolution memo assessing the object near ~13,000 ft moving slowly (tens of mph) i.e., not skimming the waves. AARO’s 2024 Historical Record Report broadly argued most UAP can be resolved with better data. Reuters Director of National Intelligence AARO

Everything else, what the objects were, and whether “GIMBAL” shows true rotation of a craft, remains contested. Below we unpack the data, the sensors, and the leading models.

What is publicly known

1. DoD confirmation & official release (April 27, 2020).
   The Department of Defense authorized release of the three “historical Navy videos,” stating the footage “remains characterized as ‘unidentified’,” and linked to NAVAIR’s FOIA page for the files. This is the authoritative provenance of GIMBAL and GOFAST. U.S. Department of War
2. NAVAIR FOIA entries (video files).
   NAVAIR’s reading room lists GIMBAL and GOFAST under UAP-related disclosures. These are the canonical file sources for analysis. Department of the Navy Secretary
3. Navy acknowledges the clips as UAP imagery (2019).
   Navy spokesperson Joseph Gradisher confirmed the videos show UAP; the service’s move to UAP terminology emphasized flight-safety and range incursions rather than speculation on origin. The Washington Post TIME 
4. Roosevelt operating area & timeline.
   USNI and local Florida press document COMPTUEX in January 2015 off Jacksonville and Virginia warning areas; DVIDS images record activity on Jan 21, 2015. USNI News
5. Pilot testimony from the Roosevelt work-ups.
   Ryan Graves’ 2023 House testimony describes persistent 2014–2015 UAP on multiple sensors, near-midair hazards in W-72, and safety-driven mission impacts. (His statement is an official congressional exhibit.) House Oversight Committee
6. Safety reporting surge & guidelines.
   The ODNI (2021) report notes no standardized reporting existed until the Navy established one in March 2019, and logged 11 near-misses. Media contemporaneous with 2019 document the Navy drafting new guidance. Director of National Intelligence HISTORY 
7. AARO & NASA technical framings.
   AARO’s 2024 parallax paper, AARO’s GOFAST resolution card (2025), and NASA’s 2023 independent study report provide specific kinematic estimates (notably ~13,000 ft altitude and non-extraordinary speeds for GOFAST) and context on perception/sensor artifacts. AARO 
8. Scholarly & technical counter-analyses.
   Competing modeling of GIMBAL includes a 2023 arXiv reconstruction arguing some kinematic solutions match eyewitness claims of abrupt reversal and rotation at close range; skeptical technical forums propose IR glare/derotation hypotheses based on targeting-pod gimbal behavior. arXiv Metabunk 

Sensor context: what the jets were seeing (and how)

The platform & pod

Roosevelt’s carrier air wing flew F/A-18E/F Super Hornets with the Raytheon AN/ASQ-228 ATFLIR targeting pod, an EO/IR system integrating a mid-wave IR (MWIR) sensor, low-light TV, and laser rangefinding/designation. Public documentation describes long slant ranges (tens of miles) and air-to-air tracking capability. ATFLIR imagery is stabilized on a multi-axis gimbal with continuous roll, and includes internal derotation to keep the image upright as the line of sight slews.

Why it matters: derotation mechanics can create counterintuitive visual effects if a bright IR source produces asymmetric glare on the optics; as the sensor assembly rolls, the glare (not necessarily the object) can appear to rotate relative to the stabilized frame. This is central to the “glare/derotation” interpretation of GIMBAL. (Industrial patents and technical notes describe such gimbal/derotation architectures in EO/IR pods.) Metabunk

The radar

Graves and other east-coast aviators have described improved detection after a radar upgrade (AESA APG-79 class) around 2014, correlating radar tracks with IR and occasional visuals. (The government has not released Roosevelt-specific radar logs for GIMBAL/GOFAST, and those data remain the single biggest gap for public kinematic reconstruction.) House Oversight Committee

What the symbology shows

• GIMBAL (IR mode, “white hot/black hot” toggling): The overlay provides zoom/FOV, azimuth/elevation, track mode, aircraft bank, and other pod parameters. Range to target is not displayed in the released clip, which prevents simple speed/size extraction. The crew audio references wind aloft and “a whole fleet of them” seen on the SA (situational awareness/radar) display information not in the FLIR picture itself. Department of the Navy Secretary
• GOFAST (IR mode): Symbology includes ownship altitude and groundspeed, pod line-of-sight angles, and time ticks. NASA and AARO show how these values, with basic trigonometry and historical winds aloft, solve to ~13,000 ft target altitude and modest velocity, attributing the dramatic “swoop” across the screen to parallax from the fast-moving jet and sensor slewing. NASA Science

Event anatomy

The Roosevelt operating picture (early 2015)

Roosevelt and CVW-1 departed Norfolk Jan 8, 2015, for COMPTUEX (graduation exercise) off Northeast Florida / Virginia prior to a March global deployment. Local press and DVIDS confirm heavy flight ops over Jacksonville throughout January; DVIDS imagery marks Jan 21, 2015 aboard TR commonly linked to the GIMBAL/GOFAST recording date. DVIDS USNI News

“GIMBAL”: what’s in the clip

• The video: A high-contrast IR object above a cloud deck, with the WSO/crew commenting on rotation and winds “120 knots to the west,” and noting “a whole fleet of them” visible on the radar/SA display. The target seemingly yaws/rolls relative to the frame before the cut. (Only ~34 seconds are public.) Department of the Navy Secretary
• The missing data: No range, radar track file, or extended timeline is released publicly. Without these, absolute size, speed, and distance are underdetermined; analysis must assume ranges or reconstruct via environmental constraints. Department of the Navy Secretary

“GOFAST”: what’s in the clip

• The video: A small, cold IR target with the ocean in background; the pod transitions through track modes and FOVs as the operator cheers “Got it!” The object appears to skim the waves at very high speed, but that appearance is central to the debate. Department of the Navy Secretary
• The missing data: Again, no independent range or multi-sensor raw data are public. However, the published symbology (ownship altitude, groundspeed, line-of-sight angles) is sufficient for third-party and official reconstructions. NASA Science

Alt-interpretations: where the models fight

GOFAST: parallax vs. “fast & low”

Official/technical model (AARO + NASA):
Using pod angles, ownship state, and historical winds aloft, NASA’s 2023 study calculated the object at ≈13,000 ft, ~4.2 miles from the ocean behind it, with apparent speed largely an artifact of parallax i.e., the fast aircraft/pod motion relative to a distant object. AARO’s 2025 case card further bounded speeds to ~5–92 mph intrinsic, with strong winds (~69 mph at 13k ft) explaining most of the motion; they assess no anomalous performance. NASA Science

UAP-leaning counterpoint (data-driven skepticism of the “solve”):

• The conclusion depends on assumed winds and modeling choices; the object’s identity (balloon? bird? something else?) remains unresolved.
• The clip is highly cropped; radar corroboration and longer duration remain withheld, leaving room for alternative kinematic fits.
• That said, the best-documented math favors the slow/high-altitude solution; UAP advocates should grapple with this rather than repeat “sea-skimming at hypersonic speeds.” NASA Science

UAPedia assessment: On GOFAST, the parallax/slow-object read is presently the most defensible given the shared data and official calculations. The classification of the object itself is still unproven.

GIMBAL: rotating craft vs. rotating glare

Glare/derotation hypothesis:
Technical analysts have long argued that GIMBAL’s rotation is caused by ATFLIR’s optical path and image derotation as the turret rolls, with the asymmetric IR glare from a conventional jet’s hot exhaust rotating in the stabilized frame. Industrial patents and pod notes show exactly these gimbal/derotation schemes, and community modeling demonstrates how a glare bloom can rotate while the underlying source does not. Metabunk Google Patents

Close/high-performance hypothesis:
A 2023 arXiv reconstruction matched certain short-range (~≤10 nm) solutions to pilot recollections (e.g., abrupt reversal visible on the overhead radar “SA” with near-zero turn radius; apparent rotation consistent with a body maneuver), arguing that, for those ranges, anomalous kinematics better fit the data than a distant airliner tail-on. This model leans on eyewitness context that is not in the 34-second clip. arXiv

UAPedia assessment: Unlike GOFAST, no official AARO “GIMBAL case card” exists publicly as of this writing, and the released video is too short to clinch the cause of rotation. The glare/derotation explanation is plausible and consistent with known pod behavior; however, aircrew reported multiple returns (“a whole fleet”) and SA-display dynamics that the glare model does not by itself address. Absent the radar track files and full-length video, GIMBAL remains contested.

Testimony & safety context

• 2014–2015 hazard reports and near-misses.
  FOIA’d Navy safety reports around the east-coast ranges document close encounters with unknown objects/drone-like intruders, adding weight to the aviation safety framing. (The Roosevelt cases sit within this broader risk picture.) The War Zone
• Graves’ W-72 near-collision and routine range incursions.
  Congressional testimony details a “cube in clear sphere” stationary against winds at a chokepoint, forcing evasive action; frequent range impacts were briefed daily. This speaks to operational burden, regardless of ultimate identification. House Oversight Committee
• ODNI 2021: 11 near-misses; data standardization needed.
  The government’s own assessments call out safety of flight as immediate priority and acknowledge sensor/reporting shortfalls. Director of National Intelligence

What the instruments can and cannot tell us (yet)

1. IR is not identity.
   MWIR contrast encodes temperature and emissivity, not intrinsic shape. Glare blooms, saturation, and post-stabilization can distort apparent geometry.
2. Derotation is a double-edged sword.
   Stabilized images are crucial for targeting, but derotation optics introduce relative frame effects that can rotate glare separate from the source. This is the backbone of the GIMBAL “glare” model. Metabunk
3. Kinematics demand range.
   Without independent range (laser, radar, triangulation), speed and size remain elastic. GOFAST is a rare case where ownship + angles enable a constrained solve; GIMBAL is not.
4. Multi-sensor is king.
   When radar tracks, IR tracks, and visuals converge with time-aligned telemetry, ambiguity collapses. That package has not been declassified for these Roosevelt clips.

Implications

• Aviation safety and training readiness: The DoD and Navy now treat UAP primarily as airspace safety and counter-intrusion problems, which aligns with the Roosevelt pilots’ experience and the ODNI 2021 framing. Streamlined reporting (post-2019) is a net win. Director of National Intelligence
• Sensor-forensics doctrine: The GOFAST resolution shows how open symbology + winds can solve flashy clips; conversely, GIMBAL highlights that short, de-ranged video is insufficient for final judgments. The lesson is not “it’s all solved,” but “release more raw, time-synchronized data.” AARO
• Policy transparency: AARO’s 2024 Historical Record asserts no evidence of “off-world” tech in the historical record while acknowledging unresolved cases. For Roosevelt’s 2015 cases, that means **non-prosaic interpretations can’t be ruled in, or out, until fuller data is public. U.S. Department of War

What would settle it

1. Full-length, time-coded GIMBAL & GOFAST video segments with all pod metadata intact.
2. Synchronized radar (track files) from the shooters and E-2D (if applicable) during the events.
3. Contemporaneous air picture (civil/military traffic & NOTAMs) for the GIMBAL timeslot to test “distant tail-on jet” hypotheses.
4. Winds aloft & weather model snapshots archived for the event windows (AARO surfaced some for GOFAST do the same for GIMBAL). AARO

Key takeaways

• GOFAST looks solved kinematically (slow/high, likely wind-driven), but identity still unknown and that matters for airspace security. AARO
• GIMBAL is not settled. Competing models remain viable without range/radar. Releasing time-synchronized multi-sensor data would likely break the tie. Metabunk 
• Safety is the throughline. The Roosevelt period catalyzed the Navy’s shift to formal UAP reporting and the broader AARO apparatus; the rationale is clear in ODNI 2021 and pilot testimony. Director of National Intelligence 

Bottom line

GIMBAL and GOFAST are not the same kind of mystery.

• GOFAST: The weight of released data points to mundane kinematics (though not a specific identity), underscoring that dramatic IR clips can be optical/kinematic illusions without ground truth. AARO
• GIMBAL: Competing models, glare/derotation vs. close-in, high-performance object, remain live. Only multi-sensor declassification (full clip + radar) will decide. Until then, “unidentified” is not a dodge; it’s a statement of insufficient public data.

For policymakers, the Roosevelt period validated the safety-first approach and spurred formal reporting. For scientists, GIMBAL remains a high-value test case for rigorous, transparent, multi-sensor release and adjudication. For the public, the lesson is to embrace the math when we have it (GOFAST) and demand the rest when we don’t (GIMBAL).

References

• DoD: Statement by the Department of Defense on the Release of Historical Navy Videos (Apr 27, 2020). U.S. Department of War
• NAVAIR FOIA Reading Room (GIMBAL, GOFAST entries). Department of the Navy Secretary
• USNI & local press: Roosevelt COMPTUEX off Florida (Jan 2015). USNI News 
• DVIDS: TR underway imagery Jan 21, 2015. DVIDS
• Navy confirmation (2019) of UAP terminology for the videos. The Washington Post
• Ryan Graves House Oversight Testimony (July 26, 2023). House Oversight Committee
• ODNI: Preliminary Assessment: UAP (June 25, 2021) near-misses & 2019 reporting change. Director of National Intelligence
• NASA: UAP Independent Study Team Final Report (Sept 2023) GOFAST trigonometry. NASA Science
• AARO (DoD): Effect of Forced Perspective and Parallax on UAP Observations (2024). AARO
• AARO: GOFAST Case Resolution Card & Methodology (Feb 2025). AARO
• AARO: Historical Record Report, Vol. 1 (Mar 8, 2024). U.S. Department of War
• ATFLIR context: Public summaries/specs of AN/ASQ-228 and gimbal/derotation tech. 2Naval Air Systems Command 
• GIMBAL modeling (pro-anomaly): Reconstruction of Potential Flight Paths for the January 2015 Gimbal UAP (arXiv, 2023). arXiv
• East-coast hazard reports: War Zone FOIA reporting on Navy safety incidents. The War Zone

Appendix: Alternative interpretations (technical notes)

• Glare/derotation mechanics (GIMBAL): IR glare lobes can align with the optical train; as the pod rolls, the derotator keeps the horizon fixed but the glare’s orientation rotates relative to the stabilized scene. This predicts rotation without a rotating object. (Patent literature and EO/IR engineering briefs document such architectures.) Metabunk

• Parallax geometry (GOFAST): With ownership at ~25,000 ft, >400+ mph, small changes in line-of-sight angle produce large apparent target motion on the stabilized display if the target is farther and higher than it seems. NASA/AARO show that the math yields ~13,000 ft altitude for the object in GOFAST, with the “skimming” impression a forced-perspective illusion. NASA Science AARO 

Claims taxonomy

Claim A: The 2015 Roosevelt videos are authentic U.S. Navy sensor footage.
Classification: Verified.

• DoD’s 2020 release; Navy’s 2019 UAP confirmation; NAVAIR FOIA provenance. U.S. Department of War The Washington Post 

Claim B: GOFAST depicts an object moving at extraordinary speed just above the ocean surface.
Classification: Misidentification (per current best evidence).

• NASA (2023) and AARO (2025) analyses indicate ≈13,000 ft altitude and modest speeds, with parallax driving the dramatic appearance. Object identity remains unknown. NASA Science 

Claim C: GIMBAL shows a craft physically rotating and performing abrupt maneuvers outside conventional flight envelopes.
Classification: Disputed.

• Pro: Eyewitness context and some kinematic reconstructions allow anomalous fits at short range.
• Con: Glare/derotation offers a non-exotic explanation for the apparent rotation; absence of released radar/range makes either model unconfirmed. arXiv 

Claim D:  Roosevelt-era UAP posed real aviation hazards and disrupted training.
Classification: Verified.

• Pilot testimony under oath; ODNI 2021 documentation of near-misses; Navy’s formalization of reporting in 2019 addressed a real safety problem. House Oversight Committee 

Claim E:  The U.S. government has concluded the Roosevelt 2015 UAP were adversary craft or non-human technology.
Classification: Misidentification (no).

• No such conclusion in official releases; AARO 2024 emphasizes lack of empirical evidence for exotic origin in the historical record while keeping some cases unresolved. U.S. Department of War

Speculation Labels

• Hypothesis: GIMBAL shows a physical body executing a low-radius reversal while rotating about a body axis (novel control/propulsion).
  For: Eyewitness SA-display accounts and arXiv reconstructions admit such a solution at short ranges. Against: Lack of released radar/long clip; derotation glare can mimic rotation. Status: Unresolved. arXiv
• Hypothesis: GIMBAL is a distant conventional aircraft tail-on; rotation is IR glare rotating due to pod derotation.
  For: Matches known pod behavior; doesn’t require exotic kinematics. Against: Doesn’t explain “fleet” on SA; needs a specific traffic deconfliction match that hasn’t been publicly demonstrated. Status: Plausible but incomplete. Metabunk
• Hypothesis: GOFAST is a wind-borne object (balloon/debris) at ~13k ft; fast motion is parallax.
  For: NASA (2023) math and AARO (2025) case card. Against: Identity unknown; larger dataset still classified. Status: Probable. NASA Science

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