Person
Ryan Graves
Also known as Graves, Ryan "FOBS" Graves
- Former U.S. Navy F/A-18F pilot (VFA-11 “Red Rippers”); founder of Americans for Safe Aerospace
Ryan Graves is a former U.S. Navy F/A-18F pilot who became the leading public voice for aircrew reporting UAP. He joined the Navy in 2009, trained as an engineer, and flew with Strike Fighter Squadron 11, the "Red Rippers", out of NAS Oceana, Virginia, including deployments in Operations Enduring Freedom and Inherent Resolve.
From 2014, after his squadron's jets received the new APG-79 radar, he says crews began tracking objects off the East Coast almost daily. The tracks were confirmed on infrared and missile seekers, and the objects held position in hurricane-force winds and flew for hours. In one incident in warning area W-72, an object described as a dark cube inside a clear sphere passed between two jets, prompting a safety report. The encounters, during the USS Theodore Roosevelt's 2014–2015 workups, produced the Gimbal and GoFast videos, and Rear Admiral Tim Gallaudet says they reached the admirals as an urgent safety-of-flight issue. Graves was among the pilots who spoke to The New York Times in 2019.
He testified under oath on July 26, 2023, alongside David Fravor and David Grusch, that UAP are a routine national-security and flight-safety problem, grossly under-reported and over-classified. He founded Americans for Safe Aerospace to support aircrew witnesses such as test pilot Dan Isbell, and chairs a UAP committee of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He appears in The Age of Disclosure (2025). AARO's 2025 analysis of the GoFast video concludes the object showed no anomalous speed, though it does not identify it.
Sources: written statement and testimony, July 26, 2023 hearing · American Alchemy interview (2024) · AARO GoFast case resolution (2025) · Wikipedia
Facts and claims
- claimed In his written testimony he describes himself as a former F-18 pilot with over a decade in the Navy, which he joined in 2009, including deployments in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Inherent Resolve, and as a formally trained engineer. — Ryan Graves Source: Ryan Graves — written testimony, House Oversight hearing (July 26, 2023)
- claimed He says that in 2014, flying F/A-18F Super Hornets with VFA-11 out of NAS Oceana, his squadron began detecting unknown objects after an upgrade from the APG-73 to the APG-79 radar. Dismissed at first as software glitches, the tracks were corroborated by the infrared targeting pod and missile seekers, and sightings became so frequent they were part of daily briefs. — Ryan Graves Source: US fighter pilots witness UFO: Ryan Graves (American Alchemy, 2024) at 11:04
- documented He testified that two F/A-18s entering warning area W-72 off Virginia Beach were split by “a dark gray or a black cube inside of a clear sphere” that came within 50 feet of the lead aircraft. The squadron filed a safety report, but there was “no official acknowledgement” and no mechanism to report further sightings. — Ryan Graves Source: Hearing transcript: UAP — Implications on National Security, Public Safety, and Government Transparency (House Oversight, July 26, 2023)
- claimed He says the safety officer's survey after that near miss found four other unreported near mid-air collisions over the previous months. — Ryan Graves Source: US fighter pilots witness UFO: Ryan Graves (American Alchemy, 2024) at 18:03
- claimed Asked how he knew the objects were not U.S. aircraft, he testified that they sat at “0.0 Mach” over fixed points, “completely stationary in category four hurricane winds”, then accelerated to “1.1, 1.2 Mach” in erratic manoeuvres he could not explain. — Ryan Graves Source: House holds hearing on UFOs, government transparency | full video at 50:26
- claimed He doubts a U.S. test program, arguing it would make no sense to expose uncleared aircrew to special-access technology over international waters where adversaries watch; his first concern at the time was that an adversary might be collecting U.S. radar waveforms and tactics. — Ryan Graves Source: US fighter pilots witness UFO: Ryan Graves (American Alchemy, 2024) at 21:45
- claimed In the debrief of the Gimbal encounter he says he saw on the radar display the “fleet” of objects the pilots refer to, which do not appear on the FLIR video; a friend who recorded the GoFast video told him the crew detected four objects in line abreast, not one. — Ryan Graves Source: House holds hearing on UFOs, government transparency | full video at 1:43:20
- documented He told Congress that UAP sightings “are not rare or isolated. They are routine”, that he speaks for more than 30 commercial aircrew and military veterans, that perhaps 5 percent of pilot sightings are reported, and that “Since 2021 all UAP videos are classified as secret or above.” — Ryan Graves Source: Hearing transcript: UAP — Implications on National Security, Public Safety, and Government Transparency (House Oversight, July 26, 2023)
- claimed His written testimony says he founded Americans for Safe Aerospace, which had nearly 5,000 members and was working with more than 30 UAP witnesses, and that he chairs the UAP Integration & Outreach Committee of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. — Ryan Graves Source: Ryan Graves — written testimony, House Oversight hearing (July 26, 2023)
- claimed Asked about David Grusch's crash-retrieval claims, he says he was never exposed to such programs but that nothing in Grusch's background suggests he is lying. — Ryan Graves Source: US fighter pilots witness UFO: Ryan Graves (American Alchemy, 2024) at 38:20
- documented AARO's February 2025 case resolution of the GoFast video assesses “with high confidence that the object did not move at anomalous speeds”: it was at about 13,000 feet, not near the sea surface, moving at roughly 5 to 92 mph once wind is accounted for. AARO says it cannot definitively identify the object. Source: AARO case resolution: "Go Fast" (2025)
Connected files
Claims
- The objects Navy F/A-18 crews tracked off the U.S. East Coast in 2014–15 were not conventional aircraft, drones or balloons (asserts)
- The U.S. holds recovered craft of non-human origin and runs a secret program to reverse-engineer them (comments on claim)
Documents
- Ryan Graves — written testimony, House Oversight hearing (July 26, 2023) (authored)
- Hearing transcript: UAP — Implications on National Security, Public Safety, and Government Transparency (House Oversight, July 26, 2023) (statement about)
- AARO case resolution: "Go Fast" (2025) (disputed by) — AARO assesses “with high confidence” that GoFast did not move at anomalous speeds
Documentaries
- The Age of Disclosure (appears in)
Incidents
- Edwards AFB black triangle (Dan Isbell) (statement about)
- USS Theodore Roosevelt encounters (Gimbal / GoFast) (witness) — He says crews began tracking objects off the East Coast almost daily from 2014; a friend recorded the GoFast video
People
- Chuck Schumer (statement about)
- Dan Isbell (helped) — He came forward to Graves's Americans for Safe Aerospace, and Graves arranged an FBI interview
- Jeffrey Nuccetelli (relayed account of) — Graves had already relayed the “Vandenberg red square” account to Congress in 2023
- Tim Gallaudet (advised by) — Gallaudet became an adviser to Graves's Americans for Safe Aerospace
Hearings & briefings
Videos
- House holds hearing on UFOs, government transparency | full video (speaks in)
- Understanding UAP: Science, National Security & Innovation (House Oversight and Government Reform) (discussed in)
- Former DISA contractor Kevin Campbell: UAP seen live on MQ-9 feeds over East Asian seas (Americans for Safe Aerospace, 2026) (appears in)
- Air Force Test Pilot Saw a Silent Triangular Craft Over an English Golf Course | Dan Isbell Part I (appears in)
- Test Pilot Watched a 300-Foot Black Triangle Blot Out the Stars Over Edwards | Dan Isbell Part 2 (appears in)
- Jay Stratton's first on-camera interview, recorded 2022 (WEAPONIZED, released October 2026) (discussed in)
- US fighter pilots witness UFO: Ryan Graves (American Alchemy, 2024) (appears in)
- Top Navy Admiral: “The Ocean is FULL OF UFOs!” (discussed in)
- David Fravor: UFOs, Aliens, Fighter Jets, and Aerospace Engineering | Lex Fridman Podcast #122 (discussed in)
- Gimbal: the official U.S. Navy video (January 2015) (discussed in)
Mentioned in videos
- House holds hearing on UFOs, government transparency | full video
- Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth
- Understanding UAP: Science, National Security & Innovation (House Oversight and Government Reform)
- Jay Stratton's first on-camera interview, recorded 2022 (WEAPONIZED, released October 2026)
Mentioned in documents and records
- Upper Heyford triangle (Dan Isbell)
- House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
- National Reconnaissance Office
- Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs