USS Nimitz Atlantic Triangle Events 2017

In the spring of 2017, F/A-18 Super Hornet pilots from USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) conducting pre-deployment workup exercises in the Virginia Capes operating area off the East Coast encountered unidentified objects on multiple occasions over several days. The encounters produced two of the three officially authenticated UAP FLIR videos — the 'Gimbal' and 'GoFast' footage. The Gimbal footage shows an object performing a rotation maneuver with no visible propulsion. The GoFast footage shows an object moving at extremely high speed at very low altitude over the ocean. Lieutenant Ryan Graves, who led the investigation within the squadron, subsequently testified before Congress that encounters were occurring almost daily during this period and that pilots were operating in airspace that had become populated with unexplained objects. East Coast NORAD radar tracked multiple anomalous contacts in the Virginia Capes operating area during this period. The encounters prompted the Navy to update its UAP reporting protocols — the first such update in decades — leading directly to the creation of what would eventually become AARO.