Less than 100 miles from Las Vegas, Nevada is the most famous secret military installation on the planet. Rumors swirl around this base, much like the mysterious aircraft that twist and turn in the skies overhead. Although it's known by many names, most people call it by the Atomic Energy Commission's (AEC) designation: Area 51.
There are several theories about how Area 51 got its name. The most popular is that the facility borders the Nevada Test Site (NTS). The AEC used the NTS as testing grounds for nuclear bombs. The NTS is mapped as a grid of squares that are numbered from one to 30 (with a few omissions). Area 51, while not part of this grid, borders Area 15. Many say the site got the name Area 51 by transposing the 1 and 5 of its neighbor. Another popular theory is that the number 51 was chosen because it was not likely to be used as part of the NTS system in the future (in case the NTS expanded later on).
The first documented use of the name Area 51 comes from a film made by the company Lockheed Martin. There are also declassified documents from the 1960s and 1970s that refer to a facility called Area 51. Today, officials refer to the facility as an operating location near Groom Lake when speaking to the public -- all official names for the site appear to be classified.
The name alone inspires thoughts of government conspiracies, secret "black" aircraft and alien technologies. Facts, myths and legends weave together in such a way that it can become difficult to separate reality from fiction. What exactly goes on in this installation? Why did the government alternatively acknowledge and deny its existence until the 1990s? Why is the airspace over it so restricted that even military aircraft are forbidden from flying through it? And, what does it have to do with Roswell, New Mexico?
Each question seems to have a million different answers. Some answers are plausible, while others stretch credulity so far that if someone said it out loud, you might feel the urge to back away from them slowly. In this article, we'll look at the facts as far as anyone outside of the facility can determine them and examine the more popular theories about Area 51.
Where is AREA 51?
Area 51's coordinates are 37°14'36.52"N, 115°48'41.16"W. You can get a great view of it using Google Earth. Just type "Area 51" into the "Fly To" field and the map does the rest. For decades, the base remained hidden from almost everyone, but in 1988 a Soviet satellite photographed the base. Several publications acquired the photos and published them. The secrecy of the base is still of paramount importance, but as far as satellite coverage is concerned, the cat is out of the bag.
A dry lake bed called Groom Lake borders the base. To the west is the NTS. The closest town is Rachel, Nevada, which is 25 miles north of the base. The base itself occupies only a fraction of the more than 90,000 acres it sits on. It consists of a hangar, a guard shack, a few radarantennas, some housing facilities, a mess hall, offices, runways and shelters. The shelters are "scoot and hide" buildings, designed so aircraft can quickly move under cover when satellites pass overhead. Some allege that what you can see on the surface is only a tiny part of the actual facility. They believe that the surface buildings rest on top of a labyrinthine underground base. A few claim the underground facility has up to 40 levels and that it is attached via underground railways to other sites in Los Alamos, White Sands and Los Angeles. Skeptics are quick to point out that such a massive construction project would require an enormous labor force, the removal of tons of earth that would have to go somewhere and the need for a huge amount of concrete and other construction material. The lack of evidence convinces skeptics that, for the most part, what you see is what you get. Believers, on the other hand, dismiss the skeptics' doubts.
So what goes on at this base? According to the Air Force, the facility's purpose is for "the testing of technologies and systems training for operations critical to the effectiveness of U.S. military forces and the security of the United States." All specifics regarding the facility and the projects housed there are classified. What is known is the Air Force, the CIA and Lockheed have used the base as a staging ground for test flights of experimental, secret aircraft, also known as black aircraft. The base served as the development and testing facility for cutting edge aircraft technology from the U-2 spy plane to the F-117A Stealth Fighter.In the next section, we'll look at the known security measures at Area 51.
Area 51 Security and Secrecy
o say access to the base is limited is an understatement. The base and its activities are highly classified. The remote location helps keep the activities figuratively under the radar, as does the proximity to the NTS. After several land seizures, the base is surrounded by thousands of acres of empty desert landscape. The Air Force has withdrawn lands from public use to help keep the base hidden from snooping eyes. For many years, observers could hike to elevated vantage points like White Sides Peak or Freedom Ridge, but the Air Force seized those lands as well. Today, the only way you'll catch a glimpse of the base in person (assuming you aren't working there) is to take the strenuous hike to the top of Tikaboo Peak, which is 26 miles from the facility.
For many years, mapmakers wouldn't include the facility on any maps. It fell within the borders of Nellis Air Force Range, but the road leading to the facility was never shown. Today, the location of the base is general knowledge, but for many years officials went to great lengths to obscure its location.
Everyone who works at Area 51, whether military or civilian, must sign an oath agreeing to keep everything a secret. Buildings at the site lack windows, preventing people from seeing anything not related to their own duties at the base. By some reports, different teams would work on similar projects at the same time, but their supervisors would keep each team ignorant of the other team's project. When testing a secret aircraft, officials ordered all uninvolved employees to stay inside until the test flight was over and the aircraft returned to its hangar.
Area 51 Projects
The Aurora is another project that has been associated with Area 51. Now believed to be a canceled project, the Aurora was supposedly a replacement for the SR-71. It was supposed to be a hypersonic reconnaissance jet capable of attaining speeds up to mach 6 (4,600 miles per hour). The project may have failed completely, or it may turn out that the Aurora is another kind of UAV and not a jet at all.
The Brilliant Buzzard or Mothership is another rumored project at Area 51. This large jet would carry a smaller vehicle, perhaps a UAV. The smaller vehicle is designed to launch from the larger jet while in midair.
Soviet aircraft also played a large role at Area 51. These planes came from the Soviet Union and were either captured or otherwise acquired. The Air Force and CIA used these aircraft in training exercises and war games. The use of Soviet aircraft in Area 51's airspace inspired its nickname of the Red Square.
What new projects could be underway at Area 51 today? Apart from the continued focus on UAV technology, secret project theorists suggest a few possibilities. One is a transport aircraft with stealth technology designed to move troops in and out of conflict areas without being detected. Many see a need for a vehicle with effective and stealthy vertical take off and lift (VTOL) capabilities. (The V-22 Osprey has this capability, but critics say the vehicle is not effective at meeting military objectives.) Another likely research project is a stealth helicopter. Though some people say stealth helicopters already exist and are in use, they haven't been revealed to the public. Some theorists see a need for a stealth plane that is designed specifically to neutralize ground targets. To date, most stealth aircraft are either surveillance vehicles or designed for air-to-air combat. There is also a need for aircraft that can rapidly deploy to any location worldwide in as short a time as possible. Projects like the rumored Aurora plane and other hypersonic vehicles fall into this category. Other rumored research projects range from cloaking technology to proton beams to anti-gravity devices.
Of course, these projects are only the tip of the rumored iceberg. Area 51 is arguably better known for its connection with aliens and UFOs than with any of these aircraft. In the next section, we'll take a look at the rumors and theories linking Area 51 with visitors from outer space.
Reverse Engineering at Area 51
In 1987, a man named Robert Lazar shocked the world when he went on television claiming to have been part of an operation that worked on alien technology. Robert Lazar said that the government has possession of at least nine alien spacecraft at a base called S-4, which is not far from Groom Lake. The facility even had posters showing a UFO levitating several feet above the ground with the caption "They're Here!" EG&G hired him to help reverse engineer the technology in the alien craft for use in U.S. military vehicles and power production. He discovered a rusty, heavy substance he called "Element 115" that powered the alien spacecraft. Skeptics have thoroughly investigated as many of Lazar's statements as they can, and many of them appear to be false. For example, Lazar says he holds Masters degrees from CalTech and MIT, but there's no evidence he ever attended either university. Lazar says this is because the government is actively trying to erase his existence to discredit him. Skeptics believe Lazar is merely fabricating the entire story, and point out that it's a monumental task to erase someone's identity -- they would have to remove Lazar's name in everything from official documents to school yearbooks. Even so, Lazar's statements inspired an explosion of interest in UFOs and Area 51.
One popular claim among Lazar's believers is that much of our current technology is the result of using reverse engineering on alien spacecraft. Everything from radios to superconductors falls into this category. They argue that people on their own couldn't possibly have developed these technologies so rapidly without an alien model. Some claim that pilots at Area 51 are using alien technology against aliens themselves, shooting them down so that other military crews can scavenge the parts.
A Brief History of Area 51
During World War II, the Army Air Corps (precursor to our modern Air Force) built several runways in Nevada, including a pair of small runways at Groom Lake. They named the spot the Army Air Corps Gunnery School. After the 1940s, the runways were abandoned.
In the early 1950s, the CIA entered a partnership with Lockheed to develop high altitude aircraft to use in surveillance missions. Kelly Johnson of Lockheed helmed the project. He formed a department of engineers and test pilots that eventually took on the name Skunk Works. The Skunk Works department was famous for being very secretive and nearly fanatical in the pursuit of their goals.
The CIA and Johnson both knew that secrecy was critical to their success, and so Johnson needed to find a location to develop and test secret aircraft. He wanted a location that was remote enough to avoid notice, yet still close enough to a major city so that supplying the facility would not be a monumental task. The site would need to be easily accessible by aircraft and out of the way of commercial and military flight paths. It would also need space to house a sizeable force of military and civilian employees.
In 1955, he traveled to Nevada with test pilot Tony LeVier and CIA representative Osmond Ritland to find a good place to use as a base of operations for test flights. Ritland trained at the Gunnery School and told Johnson about it. Johnson decided the location was ideal for their operations.
Four months later, crews completed the initial construction. U-2 test flights began and President Eisenhower signed an Executive Order restricting the airspace over Groom Lake. The CIA, the Atomic Energy Commission and Lockheed oversaw base operations. Eventually, control of the base would pass to the Department of Energy and the Air Force.
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