From: skunk-works-digest-owner@mail.orst.edu To: skunk-works-digest@mail.orst.edu Subject: Skunk Works Digest V5 #283 Reply-To: skunk-works-digest@mail.orst.edu Errors-To: skunk-works-digest-owner@mail.orst.edu Precedence: bulk Skunk Works Digest Monday, 29 May 1995 Volume 05 : Number 283 In this issue: links between Groom Lake and CA's Antelope Valley See the end of the digest for information on subscribing to the skunk-works or skunk-works-digest mailing lists and on how to retrieve back issues. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: TRADER@cup.portal.com Date: Sun, 28 May 95 23:09:07 PDT Subject: links between Groom Lake and CA's Antelope Valley The links between Groom Lake and California's Antelope Valley _____________________________________________________________ by Paul McGinnis, May 28, 1995 For more than 40 years, a secret airbase has existed at Groom Dry Lake, Nevada, to test classified aircraft. Originally built by the CIA, it is now operated by the Air Force as part of the Nellis Range Complex. In the past, the U-2, SR-71, and F-117 aircraft have been tested there, among others. Recently, the Air Force managed to withdraw 3,972 acres of public land to prevent people from seeing the base from some desert ridges ten miles away. There have been reports of exotic new low observable ("Stealth") and hypersonic aircraft at the Groom facility in the last few years. Since classified aircraft don't magically appear in Nevada, perhaps some attention should be focused on where classified aircraft have been designed and built, California's Antelope Valley, on the other side of the mountains north of Los Angeles County. Palmdale is the home of Air Force Plant 42, site of Lockheed-Martin's "Skunk Works" (Lockheed Advanced Development Co., on the west side of Plant 42), Northrop-Grumman's final assembly plant for the B-2 Stealth bomber, Rockwell, and other aerospace companies. Among the other sensitive sites around the Antelope Valley, are Northrop's Tejon Ranch radar cross section test facility (at the base of the Tehachapi mountains), Lockheed's radar cross section test site north of Helendale, and the General Atomics El Mirage Flight Test Facility, where the CIA's Gnat-750 (Tier 1) and Predator (Tier 2) Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs, used for reconnaissance) are tested. To the north are Edwards AFB (classified aircraft have been tested on the northern part of the base) and the China Lake Naval Air Weapons Center, home of the Randsburg Wash Test Range, that the Navy described as "Sea Site I, a highly classified, sensitive, electronic warfare facility" in a land withdrawal handled by the California office of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in 1994. Various parts of the aerospace industry tend to concentrate around various locations. For example, reconnaissance satellites and other advanced electronics tend to be clustered around El Segundo, CA (home of Los Angeles Air Force Station, TRW, etc.) and Sunnyvale, CA (home of Onizuka AFB, Lockheed Missiles and Space Co., and others.) A significant group of airplane builders is clustered in the Antelope Valley, because of lower population densities and year-round ideal flying weather. Based on military documents, and what I've found, I believe that there are strong connections between operations in the Antelope Valley (especially Air Force Plant 42) and Groom Lake. Since many of the classified aircraft contracts in the past have gone to Lockheed's "Skunk Works", I should probably start there. Lockheed operations are located in two different parts of Plant 42 -- large hangars and other buildings on the west side of the base, known as Plant 10 Complex, and U-2/F-117 upgrade activities located in Site 7, northwest of Palmdale Air Terminal. There are two 12,000 foot (3692 meter) long runways at Plant 42. Runway 4-22 is used by Lockheed (at Site 7), and EG&G [see below]. It has been reported that occasionally, Air Force C-5 and C-141 transport aircraft have been loaded with unknown cargoes (presumably disassembled aircraft) in the middle of the night from the big hangars in Plant 10, taken to the other runway, runway 7-25, and flown to unknown destinations. Historically, Lockheed has conducted classified testing up at Groom Lake, Nevada, in programs like the U-2, SR-71, and F-117. To the northeast of the hangars and other buildings in Plant 10, one finds a large warehouse complex in Site 8, operated by Northrop- Grumman and a military contractor I've never heard of before, Pacifica Services. (Perhaps this is what Bob Lazar means when he claims he received his education at "Pacifica"...) At Groom Lake, base workers are flown in daily on 737s from a terminal at Las Vegas' McCarran Airport. This service is operated by Nevada Test Site contractor EG&G. Base workers at Groom Lake have been told to say the work for EG&G at the Nevada Test Site, rather than reveal they work at Groom Lake. Oddly enough, EG&G has a small hangar at Plant 42, located in Site 6, near the control tower, and just off runway 4-22. I have not confirmed the rumors that occasionally, Lockheed employees who live in Palmdale and Lancaster board chartered aircraft at Plant 42. I have not been able to find out what EG&G is doing at Plant 42, but it is supposed to be classified. Someday, I will have to lurk around the EG&G complex at 6 in the morning to see if any of the infamous "Janet" flights that leave Las Vegas for Groom Lake also shuttle workers from Plant 42. Speaking of the Nevada Test Site (NTS), I recently obtained NTS security manuals for 1978, 1985, and 1991. What's interesting is that this document identifies NTS badges, and indicates that if a badge has an '8' marked on it, the wearer is cleared to go up to Area 51. There is a list of sensitive sites, and the appropriate badge markings. Since the only Air Force place you can get to from NTS, along a road that has a guard station where badges are checked, is Area 51 (going north up Mercury Highway or Valley Road),it looks like they are talking about our favorite place... Here's how the '8' indication is described in various editions of the NTS security manuals. (It says that special authorization is needed to go to security area '8'.) date of manual site description - ------------- --------------- 1978 Project #51 (USAF) 1985 USAF 1991 DET 1 (USAF) DET 1 is an Air Force abbreviation for Detachment 1. Based on what I have seen in military documents, I think the DET 1 referred to for Groom Lake is Detachment 1, Aeronautical Systems Center (ASC), part of the Air Force's Materiel Command, headquartered at Wright- Patterson AFB, Ohio. This DET 1 is the organization that runs Air Force Plant 42, and I think is the same DET 1 referred to above. Aeronautical Systems Center has been involved with numerous aircraft programs that were classified at one point in time. For example, part of budget justification item submitted to Congress for Program Element (PE) 0207141F, F-117A Squadrons, states that the F-117A Development System Program Office is located at Wright- Patterson AFB, and "some development work will be performed by Wright Labs, Aeronautical Systems Center". PE 0604240F, B-2 Advanced Technology Bomber, states, "The B-2 Program is managed by the B-2 Systems Program Office, Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio." Given the ASC's past involvement with classified aircraft and their role as the leader in Air Force aircraft development and procurement programs, and their role at Plant 42, my guess is that they would have a strong role at Groom Lake. Sources used: - ------------- * Air Force budget documents released under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) or purchased from the government. These items are provided to Congress each Fiscal Year, as part of the CBJBs (Congressional Budget Justification Book). * material on Plant 42, released under the FOIA, including base maps, the briefing provided to military contractors ("California's Antelope Valley-A National Aerospace Treasure", and "Partners in Progress - LADOA & PRAC / USAF Plant 42". * "Security Instructions - Personnel Security System", for 1978, 1985, and 1991, from U.S. Department of Energy, Nevada Operations Office. (These are the NTS security manuals mentioned above.) * "Lockheed Skunk Works", by Steve Pace, 1992, Motorbooks. * Author's experiences in the Antelope Valley, and conversations with aerospace workers and government offficials. Paul McGinnis / TRADER@cup.portal.com / PaulMcG@aol.com http://www.portal.com/~trader/home.html ********************************************************************** Anonymous FTP access to files dealing with excessive military secrecy is available from Internet host ftp.shell.portal.com (IP address 156.151.3.4) in the /pub/trader directory. Read the 00readme files for descriptions of the files. Writings from Glenn Campbell, author of the "Area 51 Viewer's Guide" are available in /pub/trader/secrecy/psychospy. (America Online users can use Keyword:FTP, and Web users can use URL ftp://ftp.shell.portal.com/pub/trader/ ) ------------------------------ End of Skunk Works Digest V5 #283 ********************************* To subscribe to skunk-works-digest, send the command: subscribe skunk-works-digest in the body of a message to "majordomo@mail.orst.edu". If you want to subscribe something other than the account the mail is coming from, such as a local redistribution list, then append that address to the "subscribe" command; for example, to subscribe "local-skunk-works": subscribe skunk-works-digest local-skunk-works@your.domain.net To unsubscribe, send mail to the same address, with the command: unsubscribe skunk-works-digest in the body. 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