GREMLIN: AARO's portable sensor suite for UAP detection. What it is: - Deployable sensor kit developed with Georgia Tech and DOE labs - 2D/3D radar + electro-optical + infrared telescopes - Multi-spectral data collection across visual, radar, and thermal bands What it does: - Establishes "pattern-of-life" baselines at sensitive sites - Detects and tracks objects that don't match known signatures - Captures data on objects moving at unusual speeds/trajectories - Currently deployed at classified national security locations for 90-day collection cycles How it works: Unlike fixed radar installations, GREMLIN is portable. It can be deployed to military bases, nuclear facilities, or wherever incidents cluster. It watches. It records. It builds a dataset AARO doesn't have to FOIA from the Air Force. The catch: If you're building a sensor to find weather balloons, you don't need 3D radar and IR telescopes. You need binoculars. They're not looking for balloons.

AARO's GREMLIN system? Built with Georgia Tech and DOE labs. Kept in-house. But the $512M Raytheon radar contract for 'moving target indication'? That's infrastructure for tracking objects that don't file flight plans. They're building two systems: one for transparency (GREMLIN), one for capability (Raytheon/Northrop). Guess which one gets the funding.

The 2026 NDAA mandates UAP disclosure. What they don't mention: the same bill increases funding for 'advanced aerial threat identification' by 340%. You don't buy new radar to find weather balloons.