Pentagon UFO Videos (FLIR, GIMBAL, GOFAST)
- Type: primary evidence (declassified military sensor footage)
- Author: US Navy personnel; formally released by the Department of Defense
- Date: 2004 (FLIR recorded); 2015 (GIMBAL, GOFAST recorded); 2017 (leaked to press); 2020-04-27 (formally released by Pentagon)
- Credibility: primary (authenticated by the Department of Defense)
The Three Videos
FLIR (November 2004): Recorded by Lt. Commander Chad Underwood from an F/A-18F off the USS Nimitz. Infrared footage of the “Tic Tac” object from the Fravor encounter. Underwood did not observe the object visually; he was focused on getting it on tape. He coined the term “Tic Tac.”
GIMBAL (January 20, 2015): Recorded by crew of the USS Theodore Roosevelt off the US East Coast. Shows an oblong object rotating against the wind. Audio captures pilots exclaiming: “There’s a whole fleet of them!”
GOFAST (February/March 2015): Recorded by crew of the USS Theodore Roosevelt. Shows a fast-moving object low over the ocean.
Release History
Christopher Mellon provided the videos to the New York Times and Washington Post for the December 16, 2017 stories. Luis Elizondo has also been credited with facilitating the release. The classification status was ambiguous; Pentagon spokesperson Susan Gough told Popular Mechanics that DOPSR (Defense Office of Prepublication and Security Review) “did not receive final approval from Navy” but a later investigation “determined the videos were not classified.”
According to Wired, a copy of the FLIR video had been online in a UFO forum since at least 2007.
The Pentagon formally released the three videos on April 27, 2020, stating they wanted to “clear up any misconceptions by the public on whether or not the footage that has been circulating was real.”
Additional Footage
2019 USS Russell video: Triangular/pyramidal objects. Pentagon confirmed authenticity. Mick West proposed these were out-of-focus light sources (bokeh effect from the camera aperture shape).
2019 USS Omaha video: Spherical object moving over ocean, appearing to descend into water. Pentagon confirmed authenticity.
2022-2023 MQ-9 drone footage: AARO released several clips. A Middle East “metallic orb” remained unidentified. South Asia footage initially considered “truly anomalous” was later identified as a commuter aircraft. A Western USA clip was identified as a commercial aircraft.
Skeptical Analysis
Mick West has analyzed all the videos extensively:
- GOFAST: Argued the object appears fast due to parallax effect; the object may be slow-moving (a balloon).
- GIMBAL: Argued the apparent rotation could be an infrared glare artifact.
- USS Russell pyramids: Demonstrated they are consistent with bokeh (out-of-focus lens artifact).
- USS Omaha sphere: “The simplest explanation is that it’s just a plane. It moves like a plane, it acts like a plane.”
The important distinction: the videos alone are ambiguous. They become compelling only when combined with the eyewitness testimony (Fravor, Dietrich, etc.) and the radar data. The videos in isolation do not demonstrate extraordinary capabilities; they show shapes on infrared cameras that could have multiple explanations.