GoFast

The GoFast is one of three unclassified Navy UAP videos; it appeared in March 2018, after the two videos the New York Times published in December 2017 (December 2017 New York Times AATIP Report).¹ Politico reported in 2021 that Washington Headquarters Services had approved the videos "for unlimited distribution" inside the government, and the Pentagon stated on April 27, 2020 that it authorized the release of three unclassified Navy videos "circulating in the public domain after unauthorized releases in 2007 and 2017."¹² The Office of the Secretary of Defense file released to The Black Vault under the Freedom of Information Act in August 2019 contains an August 23, 2017 email in which Luis Elizondo asked Michael Russo of the Defense Office of Prepublication and Security Review to "consider our request for unrestricted release"; an August 24, 2017 reply from Russo that if the service-level classification authority verified that removing the metadata made the videos unclassified, "please feel free to move forward with release"; and a DD Form 1910 whose publication-data block reads "Not Applicable. Not for publication. Research and analysis ONLY and info sharing with other USG and industry partners for the purposes of developing a database to help identify, analyze and ultimately defeat UAS threats." Joseph Gradisher, a Navy spokesman, said in 2019 that neither the cognizant Navy offices nor the review office had a record of correspondence responding to a request for unrestricted release of the videos in 2017.³ The video, which was captured by the crew of an F/A-18 Super Hornet from the USS Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group in 2015, shows a small, fast-moving object that appears to be traveling at an incredible speed just above the surface of the water.⁴

The Sighting

The GoFast video was recorded during the same series of encounters as the GIMBAL Video, which took place off the coast of the Southeastern United States. The video shows a small, round object that is being tracked by the aircraft's targeting pod. The pilots can be heard expressing their astonishment at the object's speed, with one exclaiming, "Whoa, got it! Whoo-hoooo! What the f--- is that thing?"⁴

Analysis and Significance

The GoFast video is significant because it appears to show a UAP exhibiting hypersonic velocity at a very low altitude, a feat that is not possible with any known conventional aircraft. While some analysts have suggested that the object's speed may be an illusion caused by a parallax effect, the pilots who witnessed the event were clearly impressed by its velocity.⁴

The release of the GoFast video, along with the Tic Tac and GIMBAL videos, was a crucial moment in the UAP disclosure movement. It provided another piece of credible evidence that the U.S. military was encountering objects with extraordinary capabilities, and it helped to fuel the public and congressional demand for greater transparency on the UAP issue.⁴