What is the ATFLIR targeting pod used in Navy UAP videos?

“The AN/ASQ-228 Advanced Targeting Forward-Looking Infrared (ATFLIR) is the F/A-18 Super Hornet's primary targeting pod and the sensor that captured the 2015 Navy GOFAST and GIMBAL videos. Some apparent UAP behavior in ATFLIR footage — including GIMBAL's 90-degree rotation — may be sensor-pod artifacts rather than real object motion.”

The AN/ASQ-228 Advanced Targeting Forward-Looking Infrared (ATFLIR) pod is a Raytheon-built electro-optical/infrared targeting system carried by the U.S. Navy's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. ATFLIR combines a forward-looking infrared sensor with a CCD television camera, a laser rangefinder, and a laser spot tracker — used to identify and track ground or air targets at standoff range. Both the 2015 USS Theodore Roosevelt GOFAST and GIMBAL videos were captured by F/A-18F ATFLIR pods and declassified by the Department of Defense in 2017 and 2020 respectively. AARO's 2026 resolution of GOFAST attributed the apparent low-altitude high-speed motion to parallax artifact: 'the object is not actually close to the water, but is rather closer to 13,000 feet.' The skeptical interpretation of GIMBAL's apparent 90-degree rotation is that the ATFLIR pod itself reached a tracking-axis gimbal-lock singularity — meaning the rotation may be a sensor artifact rather than real object motion.