Odd-looking Military Aircraft in the Alaskan Wilderness

So what we have here:

1 - 40 F-22s are stationed at Elmendorf

2 - The shape and size match the F-22 at Tyndall

3 - There is no conspiracy here.

yeh its pretty "odd-looking" all blurred and all, but nothing close to anything suspicious.

F-22 Length 62 ft 1 in. Thing in the pic - ~ 31 feet
F-22 Wing Width 44 ft 6 in. Thing in the pic - ~ 28 feet

F-22 Length to Wing Ratio - 1.28. Thing in the pic -~ 1.1


Topographic projection error? Still possible. Measurements of aircraft at Edwards AFB and Tyndall AFB are pretty much dead on.



Edit Add:

I've made several statements that we don't know the accuracy of Google Earth at high latitudes, and that one way to resolve this is by measuring objects of a well known size. I had mentioned that a 53 foot tractor trailer, or a 20 foot cargo container would be a good start. 48 feet is another common size of trailer... and all of them usually have a maximum width of 9 feet in order to meet DOT regulations. So... it appears that Google Earth is reasonably close in it's measurements. This is from an oil production field on the North Shore of Alaska.



So.. if the measurements are accurate... what are the aircraft? In shape, yes, they do resemble F-22s.. or at least that style of aircraft... but the size is far too small. (roughly one half the size).





[edit on 26-8-2009 by RoofMonkey]

Still have those pics? They would be history

We have...
1 - A DIRT runway that is UNIDENTIFIED

2 - Planes that LOOK like F-22 jets

3 - Can F-22's or any other US Fighter LAND ON DIRT? There is no grass and that dirt looks pretty rough.

4 - we have an Air Force Photographer who logged on one post ever to explain to us that she was photographing C-17's landing on DIRT, but what we see are NOT C-17's

Conspiracy? Who said conspiracy? Thread title is "Odd-looking Military Aircraft in the Alaskan Wilderness " Thread is in "Area 51 and other Facilities "



Now someone please show me one of our fighters landing on dirt


[edit on 26-8-2009 by zorgon]

reply to post by BlasteR

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Dangit!

Alright now I'm intrigued. I got too quick on the debunk trigger to notice we aren't talking about Elmendorf.

Interesting!

Fort Greely

It appears to be on Fort Greely land alright. There are also some bombing targets just a couple miles southeast of this 'airfield'.

It looks like it might be a mockup training facility, but it looks surprisingly similar to the Saab Gripen improvised landing facilities.

YouTube Link

Also, it looks like Gripens have attended Red Flag Alaska (these a/c are clearly not Gripens, though)

YouTube Link

also from the CRTC site:

"UAV Landing Strip

Our 800' runway with an adjacent maintenance and storage facility makes an ideal venue for testing UAVs in extreme cold and high-wind environments."

[edit on 8/26/09 by emsed1]

Ummm... Okay.




(Actually, this is just a controlled burn that got away from them along the interstate. Not a jet crash)

emsed1's UAV note dovetails nicely with the dimensions of the images and some of the more advanced shapes that they can have.

Okay.. that fire pic was mean of me. Here is a C-130 on approach to Hurlbert field to make up for it. (today)




[edit on 26-8-2009 by RoofMonkey]

Most Interesting!!!!!

Here are some B1's parked at nearby Eielson AFB:



Here are some F-16's (Same Base):



Here are your Aircraft:



So what can we discern from the sat pics of the Aircraft??

1. They are situated on a rough landing strip, most probably dirt with some vegetation.
2. The aircraft are V-tailed (Slanted Vertical Stabilizers) and most probably therefore, twin engined.
3. The Aircraft have very short stub wings and elongated engine nacelles extending around the cockpit (Probably leading edge extensions).
4. The Aircraft are painted a dull grey colour.
5. The 'blast shields' behind are highly reflective.

So what aircraft does this description fit??
Maybe the F-22 or some unknown prototype, but the problem is, they can only take off from 'sealed' runways.
The high reflectivity of the 'blast shields' makes one wonder if they are 'attracting' attention, maybe from satellite surveillance?

Anyway, great find, Star and Flag

[edit on 27/8/09 by starwarp2000]

reply to post by midnightbrigade

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OK, that's just silly! There are no F-302's on Atlantis! They have Puddle Jumpers! They are on their way to the Daedalus!



But seriously folks, I'm going to have to believe the poster who said it was a training facility for dirt landings. If it were a 'super secret' facility, you never would have found it on Google Earth.

Starwarp,

Those are B1's in your pic, not B2's.

Yup... took a look around the area... Lots of stuff lurking around

A bomb target, almost invisible now...



Looks like rocket launchers



Lots of TANKS



No idea...



No idea...



How to take care of 670,000 acres of Forest



I wonder if they scare off the forest critters

Heres a nice size difference photo of a X-45A ucav and F/A-18B Chase.

Yes, I realized that after I posted it.
Thanks for pointing it out

crazy suggestion;

Perhaps the runway just looks like a dirt runway?

I mean, no one would suspect we had our fighter aircraft hidden next to it as they do not take off from such runway - So disguising our runways as being dirt runways would offer great advantage and it would lower their target priority.





[edit on 27-8-2009 by Exuberant1]

I am leaning toward the possibility that they are mockups for target practice, or decommissioned a/c for target practice.

That still raises the question of how they got there. Perhaps lifted in by Chinook?

Are those blast shields or hangars?

Also no support buildings or vehicles.

I think this is a mockup for Red Flag, along with the other pics that show clear evidence of bombing.

Pretty advanced design shape for a mockup. And if we have hundreds of airframes available as they come out of AMARC 32° 9'20.72"N 110°49'44.25"W... no... the logic doesn't fit. You don't need recognition practice for a groung target... especially an aircraft. Maybe if you need the pilot to distinguish between a military verses a non military aircraft, then I could see something like that.

Now... how about the size of them? They are too small for the more common aircraft. We know that Google Earth is fairly accurate in it's measurements at this latitude... we did that check with the trailer a few posts back.

Some of the modern UAV/UCAV design looks similar to this, and it's already been pointed out that there are UAV/UCAV training facilities in the region. And.... the size is about right.

I'm sticking with the advanced UAV/UCAV idea. It's an Occam's razor sort of idea.

[edit on 27-8-2009 by RoofMonkey]

Maybe this area is just for training....like maybe a bombing range or something to that effect. Maybe the jets are so small because they are mockups, and are just used as targets for the red flag, or for other training purposes.

reply to post by emsed1

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There are targets all around this Area. And this mock airfield is right on the edge of the Donnelly Training Area West Oklahoma Impact Area.
Just north of this strip just around the bend is the Delta Creek Air Strip.

The Twin Lakes UAV Strip is not far from Donnely Dome.

Might be... I have seen mock ups on the Nevada range... I saved those GE shots somewhere Have to find them



I first thought they were hangers, but BlasterR seems to think blast shield. Can we find a blast shield somewhere else to compare?