Base Camp: Not so friendly these days

For those that don't know about Base Camp:
Base Camp 101

New signs showed up at Base Camp.





Now granted, there were never services at Base Camp and you were never welcome there, but now I guess they really mean it. It is interesting that the signs indicate both DoD and USAF, as if one by itself would not be sufficient. [Note the proper spelling of the abbreviation for the Department of Defense is DoD, not DOD, if you are old school.] All these signs really mean is don't park at the side of Tybo Road to photograph basecamp. Legal? Who knows. It is a public road, but then again, this is DoD you are dealing with.

Activity? Well they were busy doing this:



Now what exactly "this" is is another story. I thought the guy on the right was likely to have the ladder fall on him. I would have warned him, but well, there are these signs......

"Dear USAF/DOD:
You spelled "TRESPASSING" wrong.
Please fire your signmaker.
Thank you."

I love the picture of the forklift, with antenna/radome and tipped-over ladder on the makeshift platform. I wonder if whoever fell off landed on their head.

tip go the ladder out of the forklift

Based on some email I've received, one theory is this device on the fork lift is a perimeter radar surveillance device.

example

Just prior to taking this photograph, the vehicle on the right had driven to the eastern edge of the property. The drive got out of the car and looked back at the group, then headed back. I suspect he was driving to the edge of the property to see if the device could track him. The theory being they are trying to determine just how high to mount this device so that it is effective.

What do they mean when saying "no services"? In the first picture. BaseCamp has always been owned jointly by the USAF and Department of Defense? I believing that was run by 2 or 7 people, from Nellis AFB or AFFTC. The firs photo is taken from Highway 6, what is the road?

What type of recreation exercises they doing? apart from driving quads, relaxing in the shacks, maintenance vehicle and small government aircraft ...

reply to post by rayktheon

What do they mean when saying "no services"?

By no services they mean you can't get fuel there, etc. The facility isn't open to the public.

In the first picture. BaseCamp has always been owned jointly by the USAF and Department of Defense? I believing that was run by 2 or 7 people, from Nellis AFB or AFFTC.

The USAF is part of the DoD. There is no indication AFFTC runs Base Camp, though we know there is a connection since they are on the Groom Lake EDACS trunk radio system. But Base Camp clearly is also doing special ops and CIA work based on the aircraft that have frequented the facility. It is likely the only thing Groom Lake cares about is Haligan Mesa, which is used for comm gear, and probably they consider the runway to be useful for an emergency landing. Clearly the facility is too close to the highway for any secret activity, though the traffic on route 6 is minimal.

The firs photo is taken from Highway 6, what is the road?

Tybo Road.

What type of recreation exercises they doing? apart from driving quads, relaxing in the shacks, maintenance vehicle and small government aircraft ...

Recreation is most likely a cover story. ["Why have I been assigned to Base Camp...Is there no room in hell?"] There is a "tot lot" at Base Camp, with the theory that some TDY Groom Lake personnel with kids might opt to meet their family at Base Camp for the weekend rather than hang out in Las Vegas, AKA Sin City.

I believe the well armed quads they drive are not for recreation but rather represent something used by special forces or being tested for such use.

reply to post by gariac


Seems a lot has changed around there in just 6 years from when I dropped by. I like the theory of an opt-in meeting spot for workers and family, and most of us remember the emergency landing idea from desert rat. But do they still have the aircraft tracking equipment on base? That always seems to be overlooked in these kind of posts on Base Camp. If I remember correctly, they still had it back in 2006. I need to find my old photos.

What ever happened to the "troll". :-P

reply to post by DesertWatchdog


I don't recall any aircraft tracking equipment at Base Camp itself. But Haligan Mesa has a radome, and anything goes once your gear is hidden under a radome. Base Camp has a VOR or VORTAC. They no longer have the NDB.

I was greeted twice by security there. Once by two guys in street clothes in a truck with civilian plates. The other time by an older gentleman that could have been the troll. The older guy mumbled something about not taking photographs here. I think I mumbled something like "Here...where is here.. . oh and it the paint dry on that tail number?"

Originally posted by gariac
reply to post by DesertWatchdog

 

I don't recall any aircraft tracking equipment at Base Camp itself. But Haligan Mesa has a radome, and anything goes once your gear is hidden under a radome. Base Camp has a VOR or VORTAC. They no longer have the NDB.

I was greeted twice by security there. Once by two guys in street clothes in a truck with civilian plates. The other time by an older gentleman that could have been the troll. The older guy mumbled something about not taking photographs here. I think I mumbled something like "Here...where is here.. . oh and it the paint dry on that tail number?"

Heh.

In regards to the tracking, I seem to remember a mobile unit that reminded me of a camera tracking platform. But I could be way off. I just seem to remember a similar report. I gotta dig up the photo.

reply to post by gariac


Apologies for the shabby quality. The second image is cut off because I wasn't paying much attention to it at the time.

reply to post by DesertWatchdog


I think those are astronomical observation domes or cinetheodolite enclosures. You don't want radar on the ground for a couple of reasons, safety of the poor souls outside being one of them. At the very least, radar is placed on a dirt berm to get the beam above ground objects.

en.wikipedia.org...

Originally posted by gariac
reply to post by DesertWatchdog

 

I think those are astronomical observation domes or cinetheodolite enclosures. You don't want radar on the ground for a couple of reasons, safety of the poor souls outside being one of them. At the very least, radar is placed on a dirt berm to get the beam above ground objects.

en.wikipedia.org...

Cinetheodolite is exactly what I was trying to relay (a camera tracking platform). You see more permanent versions around Edwards, as for the NTS; I really wouldn't know. So my question in a way still remains... Why have one at Base Camp?

reply to post by DesertWatchdog


My brain wasn't thinking optical tracking. As you know, the TTR has a bunch of those, but they use a flight path that is over the range. It is not very long. You can find records of launches to the east of the TTR, so maybe at times they send flying objects to the east that need more room, and thus a tracking system at Base Camp would be needed.

There is a lost rocket somewhere east of the TTR according to some document I found. The TTR also crashed some rocket near Goldfield.
www.lasvegassun.com...

I wouldn't rule out the domes being void of any military gear. It is possible there is an amateur astronomer or two at Base Camp. The conditions there are very good, and there is literally nothing to do if you are based there. They have satellite TV and internet. That's about it.

.

Originally posted by gariac
reply to post by DesertWatchdog

 

I wouldn't rule out the domes being void of any military gear. It is possible there is an amateur astronomer or two at Base Camp. The conditions there are very good, and there is literally nothing to do if you are based there. They have satellite TV and internet. That's about it.

Agreed. I'll never forget my drive back that night. Such a cold and clear night. If it is; some lucky sobs!

Ever go rocket hunting?

Is very interesting all that takes place in BaseCamp, without a doubt, here in Spain we have "Military Recreation Camps", only accessible to childrens of Army military personnel.

In Spain each military region are organized in summer camps by fortnights, depending on the age of applicants, usually children and adolescents. What happens is that the selection criteria are based on being children of staff serving in the Army, not usually open to civilians, except remaining places, which happens rarely. These camps are in high demand because they are relatively cheap, being subsidised by the army and not pursue a profit motive as other civilian camps.

It is usually carried out military practices such as diving, topography, shooting practices ... although it is totally different from recreational activities and operations carried out in BaseCamp, here is some similar.

Although I've noticed that in BaseCamp there are both military and civilian personnel. I wonder what is doing do the CIA there with their planes and their "special operations".I remember a friend was working in the Air Police at the Moron Air Base in Seville and he told me he saw planes are very similar to the ejecutive aircrafts (Beechcraft) that are in BaseCamp.

For what is seen appears basecamp security is totally different to Groom Lake and camo dudes too. Do you know anything about these guys who are close to you in normal street clothes with civilian plates? Are contractors or military?

reply to post by rayktheon


I would be surprised if Base Camp even has a person whose sole duty is security. There is probably some person who amongst whatever they do normally during the day has to take care of "visitors." But this is all conjecture on my part. There are certainly no security patrols ever seen.

Base Camp does have a commander, rank unknown. Once when they had a change of command, they had an open house for the community. Here the term community is in a very general sense since people in Rachel got invited.

We know there is at least one ex-USAF person who had worked at Groom Lake but is now at Base Camp. I don't publish his name since I don't need some well armed dude in the desert all pissed off at me. I don't recall ever seeing anyone in uniform at Base Camp.

Base Camp is essentially just some facility that was created by a land grab. The AEC (now DOE) grabbed the land to stage Project Faultless. When the project turned out to be a failure, the AEC was left with a base they didn't need and a site to clean up. At some point, the USAF, noting there was a runway established at Base Camp, obviously saw an opportunity. I figure they got the base without much of a use for it other than a backup runway near a very busy training range.

Base Camp sits under a commercial air traffic route. And I do mean "under" as in sometimes I couldn't photograph it from commercial flights because the angle was too steep. So the facility isn't all that great for secret activity. Basically think of it as an accidentally created facility. That land reservation was made and the feds didn't want to give it up. Countless aircraft fly over it, see the runway, see the VOR, and then see the Xs on the runway and wonder what's up with that place, but few people actually investigate it.

I guess apart from recreational activities that take place in BaseCamp, I think the small airstrip that has this "support facility" could also be used to transport supplies materials or refueling both helicopters and airplanes that they have in his flight route detachments like Creech, TTR and Groom, and they used to transport workers from BaseCamp to McCarran Airport and vice versa. I have no idea how they operate in BaseCamp or what their primary objectives, apart of the recreation of military and contractor personnel.

www.lazygranch.com...

I guess there are contractors operating in BaseCamp, because the photographic evidence of the tail number of small planes that are usually seen parked in BaseCamp is evident.

In Spain (specifically in Teruel) has recently built a large airfield very similar to BaseCamp, is an industrial aeronautical platform that offers the aeronautical industry a new, unique and exclusive space for long-term parking, recycling and maintenance of aircraft and other related activities such as: fitting out and painting aircraft, training pilots, VLJ maintenance, a base for fire-fighting services, aircraft assembly, aeronautical research, etc.

This said the website: PLATA has been developed by the Government of Aragón and Teruel Town Council and is renowned for being an open platform in a strategic location where aeronautical companies from around the world can base their operations and enjoy very competitive operating conditions.

www.aeropuertodeteruel.com...#

reply to post by rayktheon



For aircraft, the TTR or even KTPH is far more efficient than going to Base Camp for fuel. In the air, the time and distance is insignificant.

Other than access to Haligan Mesa, there is no function of Base Camp that isn't "spooky" in nature. Those civilian planes in the photos are owned by CIA front companies. N403VP has two personalities. It has the friendly Cessna paint job, and then it has the special ops paint job. It is used by Special Ops with tail number 96-6047. There is no way to do a link, but you can find this on the scramble.nl database. There is a photo of 9606047 on this page:
www.fencecheck.com...
It has all the mission markings on it. Note the special roll up door that makes it easy to parachute out of the plane.

Trust me, that airport in Spain is nothing like Base Camp Well unless they plan on painting Xs on the runway and use it by intelligence services and special ops.

It may be the case that 96-6047 has gone private again. (A long story.) But if you go to the FAA database, N403VP as a tail number still exists. It is as if the plane was never converted to 96-6047.