Close up of landing strip at Area 51?

Large Picture ahead
external image


external image


Any opinions as to what this could be?

This is Lockheed Martin's radar cross-section (RCS) measurement facility at Helendale, California. Airplanes, components, and scale models are raised up on pylons and turned at various angles to the radar.

Thanks Shadowhawk, I knew I saw these pictures somewhere before but for the life of me couldn't recall it, now I remembered

That doorway looks big enough to drive a vehicle into Im sure it's an entrance to an underground area of some sorts, very good hiding place though.

Test articles are prepared inside the building and then moved out and mounted on the large pylon. There is a substantial amount of subterranean infrastructure to raise and lower the pylon on a hydraulic jack. I have seen some blueprints. It's pretty impressive.

The most recent testing I have seen at the site involved signature measurements for the X-35/F-35A Joint Strike Fighter.