Gimbal

The Encounter

On January 21, 2015, pilots flying F/A-18 Super Hornets from the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt detected multiple unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) off the eastern seaboard of the United States. One of these encounters was recorded using an advanced Raytheon AN/ASQ-228 ATFLIR (infrared targeting pod) system, producing what became known as the "Gimbal" video.

The Video

The 1-minute infrared footage shows a dark, oval-shaped object moving against strong headwinds at high altitude. The object's most distinctive feature appears midway through the footage: the craft rotates or "gimbals" on its axis—a gimbal being a pivoted support allowing rotation—while maintaining forward velocity. Pilots in the aircraft can be heard discussing multiple objects in the area, with one remarking, "There's a whole fleet of them."

The object's behavior was perplexing: it maintained stable flight while rotating, a maneuver difficult to reconcile with conventional aircraft or balloons. The infrared signature showed no conventional heat exhaust patterns typical of jet propulsion.

Classification & Release

The video remained classified until 2017–2018, when To the Stars Academy (founded by former Blink-182 guitarist Tom DeLonge) released it alongside two other Navy UAP videos. Following initial confusion about official classification status, the U.S. Navy formally declassified and released the video on April 27, 2020, via its Freedom of Information Act portal. The Pentagon confirmed the footage's authenticity.

Explanations

Skeptics and optical engineers have proposed mundane explanations: the gimbal effect may result from infrared sensor artifacts or the ATFLIR system's own rotation compensating for the aircraft's movement. The object could also be a weather balloon, distant aircraft, or other prosaic phenomenon distorted by the infrared camera's behavior at extreme distance and atmospheric conditions.

Proponents argue that the maneuverability—particularly the synchronized rotation and forward motion—suggests unconventional propulsion or control. The pilots' training and credibility (experienced carrier aviators) lend weight to their observations.