Gimbal Video, USS Roosevelt
Approximately 35-second ATFLIR video showing an apparently rotating glowing object filmed by an F/A-18F from the USS Theodore Roosevelt strike group, with audio capturing aircrew reactions to a 'whole fleet' of similar objects.
GIMBAL: mid-wave infrared ATFLIR video from an F/A-18F of the USS Theodore Roosevelt Strike Group, Atlantic Ocean, 2015. Released by the Department of Defense on April 27, 2020.
US Department of Defense / DVIDS
Provenance metadataFields marked “not disclosed” are transparent gaps in the release, not omissions on our end.
- Coordinates
- Off Jacksonville, Florida (exact bearing redacted)
- Altitude
- Approximately 25,000 ft (aircraft altitude); object altitude inferred from ATFLIR return, contested between analyses
- Sensor detail
- AN/ASQ-228 ATFLIR mid-wave infrared targeting pod, F/A-18F Super Hornet
- Encounter duration
- 35 seconds (published clip length; underlying full recording longer, not released)
- Witness count
- 2 aircrew (pilot + WSO), plus other VFA-11 pilots audible on radio
- Operational context
- Routine training mission
- Weather / visibility
- Not disclosed in this release
- Chain of custody
- VFA-11 Red Rippers → USS Theodore Roosevelt → CNO → DoD Public Release April 2020 → AARO
- Classification
- DECLASSIFIED, DoD Public Release April 27, 2020
Official description
Mid-wave infrared video captured during a routine training mission off the U.S. East Coast. Released to the public via The New York Times and To The Stars Academy in 2017, then formally acknowledged by the Department of Defense in April 2020.
Editor's context
Subsequent analyses are divided. Independent analyst Mick West has argued the apparent rotation is a gimbal lock artifact of the ATFLIR optics combined with a distant infrared source. The Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies (SCU) and other analysts have argued the rotation is a genuine physical motion. Both sides cite the same video.
Prevailing explanation
What scientists and analysts generally think
Among technical analysts the leading explanation is an ATFLIR gimbal-lock artifact: as the aircraft maneuvers, the camera mount reaches a rotational limit, causing a real distant infrared source (possibly a distant aircraft) to appear to rotate. This is the explanation most often advanced by Mick West and others; it remains contested by analysts who argue the object's behavior cannot be fully accounted for by gimbal mechanics alone.
In the margins
Transcribed redactions, stamps, and handwritten markings, the paratext of the file. Often the most human part of a declassified document, and worth reading on its own.
- Stampp. video headerDECLASSIFIED, DoD Public Release, April 27, 2020
- StampVFA-211 / USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT, UNCLASSIFIED
- AnnotationAircrew radio audio captured on the recording: 'Look at that thing, dude!' / 'There's a whole fleet of them, look on the SA.'
- AnnotationATFLIR display metadata visible: range, altitude, azimuth, gimbal angle. Skeptical analyses use these readouts to argue gimbal-lock artifact.
- AnnotationReferenced at both the July 26, 2023 Grusch hearing (Graves testimony) and the November 13, 2024 Exposing the Truth hearing (Elizondo testimony).
Cite the primary source
Citations center the originating government agency and link to the official record. This archive is listed as the access point, not the author.
U.S. Department of Defense. "Gimbal Video, USS Roosevelt." Released via PURSUE program, 2017-12-16. https://www.aaro.mil/UAP-Records/. Accessed 2026-08-12 via Social Media for Aliens archive, https://socialmediaforaliens.com/files/gimbal-2015.
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