What is the GIMBAL video?

“GIMBAL is a 35-second 2015 Navy F/A-18 ATFLIR clip showing a saucer-shaped object rotating in mid-air over the Atlantic, with audio of pilots reacting in real time: "Look at that thing! It's rotating!"”

GIMBAL is one of the three Navy ATFLIR (Advanced Targeting Forward-Looking Infrared) clips officially declassified by the Department of Defense in 2017–2020. Recorded in 2015 by F/A-18F Super Hornets from the USS Theodore Roosevelt strike group operating off the East Coast of the United States, the clip shows a smooth, saucer-shaped object hovering against a strong head-on wind, then rotating 90 degrees while remaining in place. Pilot audio captures real-time reactions: "Look at that thing! It's rotating!" Skeptics, including AARO contributors, have proposed that the apparent rotation is a gimbal-lock artifact of the ATFLIR pod itself rather than a physical rotation of the object — hence the clip's name. As of 2026 the case is not formally resolved by AARO; it sits between unresolved and anomalous depending on the analyst.