EDITORIAL GUIDE
The Three Declassified Pentagon UAP Videos — FLIR1, Gimbal, GoFast
In April 2020, the U.S. Department of Defense officially released three UAP videos previously circulating in unauthorized copies: FLIR1 (the 2004 Nimitz Tic Tac footage), Gimbal (2015), and GoFast (2015). AARO lists all three as officially unresolved. This guide explains what each video shows and what the official record contains.
How the Videos Entered the Public Record
All three Pentagon UAP videos circulated in unofficial copies before the DoD officially released them. FLIR1 was first reported by The New York Times in December 2017 alongside a feature on the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program. Gimbal and GoFast were released through the same reporting. The unauthorized circulation created significant pressure on the DoD to acknowledge the footage; the official release on April 27, 2020 confirmed the videos were genuine, unaltered, and remained under active investigation.
The official DoD statement at the time of release said the footage was declassified 'to clear up any misconceptions by the public on whether or not the footage that had been circulating was real.' The statement confirmed the objects in the videos remain unidentified. AARO subsequently listed all three as unresolved UAP cases — meaning no prosaic explanation has been officially confirmed for any of them.
What Each Video Shows
FLIR1 (the Nimitz Tic Tac footage, 2004) shows a white ellipsoid object moving against the prevailing wind with no visible propulsion signature or thermal output. The ATFLIR pod's lock-on behavior suggests the object was moving in a way that challenged the targeting system's tracking algorithms — the pod repeatedly breaks lock and reacquires the object as pilots maneuver. The object departs suddenly at the end of the clip.
Gimbal (2015) shows a disc- or oval-shaped object rotating on its vertical axis while moving into the prevailing wind at approximately 25,000 feet. The rotation is clearly visible on the thermal image and is aerodynamically impossible for any known conventional aircraft, drone, or balloon — none of which can rotate on a vertical axis while maintaining forward movement against wind. GoFast (2015) shows a small featureless object at very low altitude over the Atlantic Ocean, moving at high speed in the same direction as the prevailing wind, with no visible propulsion system and no contrail or heat signature.
AARO's Official Status and the Archive Record
AARO's public case status lists all three videos as unresolved. For Gimbal specifically, a 2026 AARO supplemental analysis note stated that 'the rotation axis and direction, combined with into-wind movement, is not consistent with any known prosaic explanation including balloon systems, drones, or atmospheric optical effects.' This official determination — that no known explanation fits the observed behavior — represents the government's own analytical conclusion, not a researcher's interpretation.
The official footage for all three videos is accessible via AARO's imagery page and forms part of the NARA RG 615 digital holdings. Now Declassified indexes the Gimbal and GoFast incidents separately from the Nimitz Tic Tac, since they involve different aircraft, different crews, and different dates — though all three are commonly grouped together as the 'Pentagon UAP videos' in public discussion.