Mark Dantonio
Mark Dantonio is an astronomer and the president of FX Models, a visual effects company that has held contracts with the US Navy. His professional relationship with the Navy resulted in a firsthand encounter with what naval sonar crews refer to as a "fast mover" — an underwater object traveling at speeds far exceeding any known submarine or torpedo technology — an experience Dantonio described publicly in 2017.
| Role | Astronomer; president of FX Models; US Navy contract holder |
|---|
Fast Mover Encounter
As a courtesy for FX Models' naval contract work, Dantonio was invited aboard a US Navy submarine. During the voyage, the submarine's sonar team detected an object traveling underwater at several hundred knots. By comparison, most military submarines and torpedoes operate at approximately 40 knots maximum. The sonar contact was distinctive enough that the crew specifically flagged it. The submarine's commanding officer, however, ordered the sonar operator to "log it and dog it" — a colloquial military instruction to log the event and suppress any further discussion of it, effectively burying the encounter within the vessel's routine records without elevating it for official investigation.
Confirmation of Fast Mover Program
Years after the submarine encounter, Dantonio made inquiries with a senior naval official about the "fast mover program." The official declined to discuss the program but explicitly confirmed its existence, stated that USOs were a common occurrence, and described an institutional system in place to classify, log, and determine the speeds of fast movers — with the resulting reports going into a classified vault. UAP Gerb treats this confirmation as significant: a senior naval official's acknowledgment that a dedicated classification system for high-speed underwater objects exists implies the phenomenon is well-known within relevant naval circles, even as it remains publicly unacknowledged.
UAP Gerb notes Dantonio's account is unverified testimonial and should be treated with appropriate skepticism given the absence of documentary evidence.
Significance
Dantonio's account represents one of the few instances where a civilian with active naval contractual relationships reports an in-person underwater fast mover detection, combined with a subsequent implicit confirmation from a naval official. His professional background as an astronomer and his company's verified naval contracts lend his account a degree of contextual credibility.