Yeah that looks like the most plausible explanation to me, given that this Gimbal video has zero additional context or info of any kind.
But I stop short of calling it "case closed" for a couple of reasons. First, the object in the Nimitz video is also very hot, and the pilot testimony is powerfully compelling imo (although I can't even say for sure at this point whether the Nimitz video that we've seen relates to the object that Cmdrs. Fravor and Slaight pursued, because it's not their gun camera footage). We've also seen reams of credible sightings involving glowing ufos - the pair that I saw as a kid seemed to be glowing quite brightly, although I can't say for certain if they actually were luminous, or perhaps simply highly reflective objects reflecting the daytime sunlight. In any case, lots of night-time sightings describe brightly radiant objects demonstrating nonterrestrial maneuvering capabilities, so this may be a common feature of such devices.
And we have no reason to believe that these objects are occupied by biological entities. And even if some of them are, the cabin could be thermally shielded from the hot outer hull. So the temperature isn't proof of anything either way.
I still find the oddly sudden rotations of the heat signature in the Gimbal video to be intriguing. I'm really hoping that one of the engineers at Raytheon will make a statement about that. Note how the rotating lens flare in his stationary example, spins smoothly, rather than in odd, sudden little rotations that quickly stop. That could be an eccentricity of the optics of that variety of FLIR camera. But perhaps not. I want to know the context and supporting evidence and testimony around the Gimbal footage - to know why the AATIP felt that it was of interest, before I reach a conclusion about it.
Like I said before, FLIR footage alone is insufficient evidence for a reasonable assessment. Ideally we should have all of the evidence and testimony that the AATIP gathered about cases like these, and the technical reports based on that evidence, to really get a clear picture of what was observed to determine whether they might be, or might not be, genuinely exotic events.
Because the FLIR footage alone is simply an instructive example of how confirmation bias works in both camps: the believers and the disbelievers.
