What goes on inside is extremely secret. Members of the public are kept away by warning signs, electronic surveillance and armed guards. It is also illegal to fly over Area 51, although the site is now visible on satellite images. The base has runways up to 12,ft 2. The facility is next to two other restricted military areas: the Nevada Test Site, where US nuclear weapons were tested from the s to the s, and the Nevada Test and Training Range.
The entire range covers more than 2. According to the US military, it represents "a flexible, realistic and multidimensional battle-space to conduct testing tactics development, and advanced training". Area 51 was created during the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union as a testing and development facility for aircraft, including the U-2 and SR Blackbird reconnaissance planes.
Although it opened in , its existence was only officially acknowledged by the CIA in August Although official information is sparse, it is believed that the US military continues to use Area 51 to develop cutting-edge aircraft. About 1, people are believed to work there, many commuting on charter flights from Las Vegas. Annie Jacobsen, who has written about the history of Area 51, told the BBC that some of the world's most advanced espionage programmes are at the site.
The research began with the U-2 spy plane in the s and has now moved on to drones", she says. The secrecy surrounding Area 51 has helped fuel many conspiracy theories. The outskirts of Las Vegas — casinos, strip clubs, endless billboards for personal injury lawyers — dropped away rapidly. Now there was just desert in every direction, stunning in its vastness and austere beauty. Mountains towered over the highway, surrounded by hilly plains of cacti and scrub.
Soon most human settlement was gone. There was nothing alongside the highway — no strip malls, no fast food joints, and, I noticed, worryingly few gas stations. I had at least two hours of driving ahead, though I knew I was going in the right direction: every vehicle I saw was a police car, an RV or a news satellite van.
As I drove I listened to rightwing talk radio, then Top 40, then country, then a Bible discussion call-in show, then some Spanish-language stations, then static. A talk station interviewed the mother of a police officer killed by an undocumented immigrant. It was, they pointed out, yet another sign of bias in the liberal media. The first gas station was bustling with people buying water and jerry cans of gas.
Finally, two hours north of Las Vegas, I saw the exit for State Route — also known, since its formal renaming in , as Extraterrestrial Highway. The US government owns thousands of square miles of land in northern Nevada. The area is big enough, and empty enough, to detonate a nuclear bomb — which the government has , on hundreds of occasions. Their activities are classified and the skies above are restricted air space.
Little is known about what goes on there, though the air force tests experimental stealth aircraft, which may account for some UFO sightings. Even the New York Times has reported on it. The then Nevada senator Harry Reid helped secure the funding. The reader is free to investigate further and come to their own conclusions. It was heavy on souvenir sellers, though there were some hardcore ufologists.
If anything, the ufologists were more the exception than the rule. I had expected most Area 51 Stormers to be conspiracy theorists, 4chan types, or people on the fringe political spectrum, but a lot — probably most — were normies on a lark, or foreigners in search of peak Americana.
The aliens, it seemed, were classical music buffs. Rachel came into view — a tiny, one-horse town besieged by cars and tents and camper vans. Contrary to the wild warnings about a Fyre festival 2. Festival marshals waved me along to an assigned lot. My neighbors at the parking lot-slash-campsite were a punk band called Foreign Life Form.
They were trying to find the concert organizer to get added to the billing. Getting to the actual entrance to Area 51 took another 20 minutes of driving on an unmarked, unpaved road. Clouds of chalk billowed behind the cars coming and going. At the end of the road was a drab military checkpoint flanked by concertina wire and threatening signs.
The sign prohibiting photography was clearly a dead letter. They seemed relaxed, though, and looked like they were having as good a time as the ostensible Stormers.
After all, this was an excuse for them to hang out at Area 51, too. To my knowledge, no one actually raided Area 51, besides the two Dutch YouTubers who had tried to sneak through the perimeter two weeks earlier and ended up in jail instead. What's also interesting about the most recent report is that it confirms Area 51's existence.
While the version does have significant redactions when referencing the name and location of the U-2 test site, the nearly un-redacted version from reveals much more, including multiple references to Area 51, Groom Lake, and even a map of the area. U-2 operations halted in the late s, but other top secret military aircrafts continued tests at Area You got folks claiming it's extraterrestrial when it's really good old American know-how.
And it's still going on today The flights are ongoing. In September , an Air Force Lt. It seems he was most likely flying a foreign jet obtained by the United States. Even so, the alien conspiracies gained ground in when Bob Lazar claimed in an interview on Las Vegas local news that he'd seen aliens and had helped to reverse-engineer alien spacecrafts while working at the base. Many have disregarded this as fiction and are even offended at the notion, including Merlin, who has spent years talking with former Area 51 engineers and employees angered by all the fuss about E.
Today, Area 51 is still very much in use. According to Google Earth , new construction and expansions are continuously happening. On most early mornings, eagle-eyed visitors can spot strange lights in the sky moving up and down.
No, it's not a UFO. It's actually the semi-secret contract commuter airline using the call-sign "Janet" that transports workers from Las Vegas's McCarran Airport to the base. As for what's happening these days in America's most secretive military base, few know for sure. Merlin has some educated guesses, including improved stealth technology, advanced weapons, electronic warfare systems and, in particular, unmanned aerial vehicles.
Chris Pocock, noted U-2 historian and author of several books about the matter , told Popular Mechanics he thinks classified aircraft, more exotic forms of radio communication, directed energy weapons, and lasers are currently under development at the base.
While the lore around Area 51 may be nothing more than imaginative fiction, that won't stop people from gawking just beyond those chain link fences. Fact or fiction, aliens are a big tourism draw.
In , the state of Nevada renamed Route as the "Extraterrestrial Highway," and destinations such as the Alien Research Center and the Little A'Le'Inn in the town of Rachel with a population around 54 dot the road.
To Area 51's west, there's the Alien Cathouse which is advertised as the only alien-themed brothel in the world. Geocaching also attracts visitors here since the highway is considered a "mega-trial" with over 2, geocaches hidden in the area. Then there's the actual base. While getting inside is not in the cards for most, curious civilians can actually drive up to front and back gates. Locals will direct you, and the website Dreamland Resort is a great resource full of maps, driving directions, and first-hand accounts.
However, one should be careful when planning a trek to Area It's the desert, after all, so bring plenty of water, snacks, and have proper weather gear—for the hot days and the cold nights. Phone service and GPS probably won't work, so have printouts and actual maps.
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