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This is a case resolution report from the U.S. Department of Defense's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), dated February 6, 2025. It covers the January 2015 "Go Fast" infrared video that a Navy F/A-18F recorded off Florida. AARO worked only from the public video and found the object was at about 13,000 feet, not near the ocean surface, and moved at roughly 5 to 92 mph. The report attributes the apparent high speed to motion parallax and states with high confidence that the object showed no anomalous performance.
“Go Fast”9 pages
UNCLASSIFIED 3 UNCLASSIFIED Figures 1 and 2 can be used to find the object’s speed and heading compared to the wind for any direction of the F/A-18F’s travel relative to the prevailing wind direction. As examples, the object’s apparent speed and direction is summarized here for four scenarios: headwind, crosswind from the left, tailwind, and crosswind from the right. 1. Headwind (aircraft flying into the wind): The object moved 2.0 m/s (5 mph) faster than the wind, at a heading of ° 5° off-wind. 2. Left Crosswind (wind coming from the left side): The object moved 26.5 m/s (59 mph) faster than the wind, heading 31.5° off-wind. 3. Tailwind (aircraft flying with the wind): The object moved 41.3 m/s (92 mph) faster than the wind, heading 12.3° off-wind. 4. Right Crosswind (wind coming from the right side): The object moved 27.7 m/s (62 mph) faster than the wind, heading 9.5° off-wind. The object’s performance characteristics are consistent with historical wind conditions in each scenario. AARO assesses the object did not demonstrate anomalous performance characteristics. The object’s apparent high speed is attributable to motion parallax. Motion parallax is an optical effect that induces an observer to perceive that a stationary or slow-moving object is moving much faster than that the subject object’s actual speed when viewed from a moving frame of Figure 2: The y-axis represents the difference between the object’s heading and the wind direction at 13,000 feet. The x-axis represents the wind’s heading relative to the F/A-18F’s airframe geometry (0° is a headwind). The curve represents the object’s range of possible directions compared to the wind. The tailwind, headwind, and crosswinds are denoted by the colored lines. The maximum deviation in the UAP’s direction of travel from wind direction is 32.1°.
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