The ‘Gimbal’ Video: The Rotating UAP off the East Coast (2015)

What happened

On 21 January 2015, an F/A-18F Super Hornet from the USS Theodore Roosevelt strike group was training off the U.S. East Coast when its ATFLIR infrared targeting pod tracked something. The recording, nicknamed “Gimbal,” shows a dark, elongated shape with a glowing halo above a cloud bank. Partway through, the shape appears to tilt and rotate while the aircrew react on the audio. The same squadron’s “GoFast” video carries the same date.

The footage

<video height=”480″ style=”aspect-ratio: 640 / 480;” width=”640″ controls src=”https://redactedweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/gimbal-video-2015-video.mp4″></video>

The file is the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) FOIA release, “2 – GIMBAL.mp4.” It is a U.S. Navy work in the public domain and runs 34.4 seconds. It was first published on 16 December 2017, by The New York Times and by To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science (TTSA), whose YouTube upload, “Gimbal: The First Official UAP Footage from the USG for Public Release,” runs 1:53:

The sources cited here give no timestamps for when the rotation happens.

Timeline

• 14 November 2004: The “FLIR1” (Tic Tac) video is recorded off San Diego.
• 2014–2015: Roosevelt aviators report repeated sensor contacts off the East Coast.
• 21 January 2015: GIMBAL and GoFast are recorded.
• 16 December 2017: The NYT publishes its AATIP report; TTSA uploads GIMBAL.
• 26 May 2019: The NYT reports the Roosevelt pilots’ accounts, including Lt. Ryan Graves’s.
• 11 September 2019: The Navy gives The Black Vault the dates and calls the phenomena “unidentified.”
• 27 April 2020: DoD formally releases FLIR, GoFast and GIMBAL.
• 25 June 2021: The ODNI preliminary assessment covers 144 government UAP reports.
• 26 July 2023: Graves testifies before House Oversight.
• Fiscal year 2025: AARO’s annual report.

What witnesses reported

The aircrew are not individually identified on the record for this clip. Graves, a former Roosevelt pilot, described the squadron’s experience to the NYT in 2019 and to Congress in 2023. Recalling the footage at the hearing, he said, according to a published transcript: “It seemed to rock a bit, and that is the last I had seen of the video.” He did not say he had personally filmed GIMBAL.

What the research found

The Navy’s position. Gradisher told The Black Vault: “The Navy has not publicly released characterizations or descriptions, nor released any hypothesis or conclusions, in regard to the objects contained in the referenced videos.” He added: “The Navy considers the phenomena contained/depicted in those 3 videos as unidentified.” He also said the Navy identifies the videos “by the respective dates of the observations/sightings,” not by the nicknames.