New Runways at China Lake

Please forgive me if it's already been covered here, but I'm looking for any information on what look to be 2 runways , one of which may be close to 10,000 ft., located at China Lake. They don't appear in aerial photos of the area as late as 2003, and they are almost completely obscured by a single lonely cloud on Google if you try to get close; they are not there in any wider views.

They look like they may be temporary metal-mesh runways. I haven't been able to find any hard information about them.




Thanks.

reply to post by rand


The strip doesn't appear on the USGS satellite images. However, it is not in the restricted airspace of China Lake. The strip is at
N36.1478 W117.534 on Google Earth. If you look at this location on a topo map, this location is north of Maturango Peak. If you look on the FAA sectional, Maturango Peak is not in the restricted airspace, so it follows this strip is outside the range as well.

The strip is about 1.5 miles to the west of Argus Sterling Mine.

According to the latest SUA (PDF), R-2505 extends further northeast, to
36°14'00"N, 117°25'03"W (36.233333, -117.417500), which would put the strips well inside restricted airspace.

*whispering* the MIB's ALWYAS POST IN 3's!! Could it be maybe a temp airstrip for equiptment to be air delivered for maybe mining or another reason? Not familiar with the area, but maybe someone who is could shed some light?...Is there a mining operation in the area?

reply to post by rand


I made a kmz for the lower strip and the R2505 boundary:
www.lazygranch.com/temp/r2505.kmz

Hint:

www.globalsecurity.org...

Originally posted by mtmaraca
Hint:

www.globalsecurity.org...

gariac: I have to reinstall GE, I'll let you know. Thanks.

Originally posted by mtmaraca
Hint:

www.globalsecurity.org...

gariac: I have to reinstall GE, I'll let you know. Thanks.

Originally posted by mtmaraca
Hint:

www.globalsecurity.org...

gariac: I have to reinstall GE, I'll let you know. Thanks.

Originally posted by mtmaraca
Hint:www.globalsecurity.org...

I don't know what happened to the first reply (or why I'm getting 3 times the replies for my money), but anyway, are you saying the strips are connected to the Junction Ranch facilities? Do you know that or just speculating?

gariac: Thanks. All it took was a new kernel, find and wget the right libraries, locate the newest ATI drivers for Linux-64, and reinstall Google Earth. Now I can be puzzled in 3-D.

Originally posted by mtmaraca
Hint:www.globalsecurity.org...

I don't know what happened to the first reply (or why I'm getting 3 times the replies for my money), but anyway, are you saying the strips are connected to the Junction Ranch facilities? Do you know that or just speculating?

gariac: Thanks. All it took was a new kernel, find and wget the right libraries, locate the newest ATI drivers for Linux-64, and reinstall Google Earth. Now I can be puzzled in 3-D.

Originally posted by mtmaraca
Hint:www.globalsecurity.org...

I don't know what happened to the first reply (or why I'm getting 3 times the replies for my money), but anyway, are you saying the strips are connected to the Junction Ranch facilities? Do you know that or just speculating?

gariac: Thanks. All it took was a new kernel, find and wget the right libraries, locate the newest ATI drivers for Linux-64, and reinstall Google Earth. Now I can be puzzled in 3-D.

reply to post by rand


Hats off to you if you can get 3D drivers to work in linux, let alone google earth.

I should point out that the restricted airspace doesn't necessarily correspond to the restricted land border. Usually the restricted air space is larger than the physical border.

Originally posted by rand

are you saying the strips are connected to the Junction Ranch facilities? Do you know that or just speculating?

I'm only speculating. I have no real information about what they are, but I happened to notice that they were very near Junction Ranch and I know I've seen similar structures in association with RCS testing sites in the US. See this link for some examples, particularly the Boardman RCS range.

Ok, that makes sense. The pads are aligned North/South and the runways are visible from the entire valley. Since getting GE working, I can tell they're not temporary flightlines: the big one, at least, has a raised roadbed which looks to be up to 10m (35ft) thick in some places. Also, there are what look like landing lights installed, but are only one edge and on an outrigger; if this is a radar test rig, I'd guess they're field strength or backscatter detectors or such.

Cross your fingers: I think the triple-post problem is in remission.

Ok, that makes sense. The pads are aligned North/South and the runways are visible from the entire valley. Since getting GE working, I can tell they're not temporary flightlines: the big one, at least, has a raised roadbed which looks to be up to 10m (35ft) thick in some places. Also, there are what look like landing lights installed, but are only one edge and on an outrigger; if this is a radar test rig, I'd guess they're field strength or backscatter detectors or such.

Cross your fingers: I think the triple-post problem is in remission.

Ok, that makes sense. The pads are aligned North/South and the runways are visible from the entire valley. Since getting GE working, I can tell they're not temporary flightlines: the big one, at least, has a raised roadbed which looks to be up to 10m (35ft) thick in some places. Also, there are what look like landing lights installed, but are only one edge and on an outrigger; if this is a radar test rig, I'd guess they're field strength or backscatter detectors or such.

Cross your fingers: I think the triple-post problem is in remission.