Mysterious Aircraft Spotted At Area 51

[rooster]

If you're a jokester and you want to fake an aircraft picture with pixels would put the aircraft out in the open unobscured where it's easy too debunk it? Or would you obscure it with something? I know what i would do. Chicken under glass anyone?

 

[Hood]

It's not a Draken, the outer wing panels are not chunky enough and the jetpipe isn't long enough.

For all those imagining it would melt in a plastic tent, the average high temperature in Nevada in January is 57F/14C so not exactly scorching...

It seems fruitless to speculate why it was there for at least 3 days. It seems incredible it wasn't towed into the hangar a few yards away but it wasn't. Someone thought it worthwhile to put a see through plastic tent over it (which I'm sure Groom Lake doesn't have a massive stash of given its usual operational rationale). Likewise nobody was too bothered about it being seen. Either because it's so mundane it might not get spotted or because it's so small even if you do see it you won't know what it is.

It could be an NGAD demonstrator, one of Kratos' secret UCAV projects, a scale test model or a static glassfibre model.
A proper reconnaissance satellite with much better resolution would see far more detail but we're making guesses on a tiny blob of pixels.

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

According to my reading of the article the structure was there 3 days, the aircraft visible only on one day.

 

[dark sidius]

According to my reading of the article the structure was there 3 days, the aircraft visible only on one day.

So it was intentional...

 

[Hood]

According to my reading of the article the structure was there 3 days, the aircraft visible only on one day.

When glancing at daily 3-meter resolution images of the base we noticed the appearance of a roughly delta-shaped blob on the north apron of the large southern hangar. The first shot that contained this object was dated January 26th, 2022...The blob remained there in Planet Labs' low-resolution imagery through the 28th. A high-resolution Planet Labs image, dated January 29th, 2022, told a much richer story — that the blob was actually an exotic delta-shaped aircraft under an unenclosed skeleton-like structure just sitting in the middle of the apron.

To me that sounds like it was a blob for two days and only when they got a high-image on the 29th were they able to make out anything meaningful.

 

[xstatic3000]

I'm still confused as to why people are still saying that this is some sort of "transparent plastic structure". ClearSpan fabric hangars obviously have internal steel trusses, and the article clearly states that "the structure itself is a modular/temporary aircraft shelter — similar to the one below — with its rear wall up but its top covering not installed". The 1/29 satellite image was taken after the steel trusses had been erected, but before the fabric covering was in place. One of my former contractors (for an agency that is also often accused of fantastical things that are actually much more mundane) demonstrated that these shelters can be erected in a matter of hours. DOD and DHS have tons of these that are used for a variety of purposes.




For reference, this is N217FR, in storage at Mojave Airport (17 miles from Edwards AFB:



Now imagine the steel ribbing of a ClearSpan structure, minus the fabric, on top of this aircraft.



Also consider that from a satellite image of this resolution, the steel structure will cause reflections, distortions and shadows that can make us see things in the image that just aren't there.

We all want this to be something new and exciting, but this doesn't seem to be the case this time. In my opinion, the sightings of the P-ISR "RQ-180" UAV are far more interesting.

 

[flateric]

According to my reading of the article the structure was there 3 days, the aircraft visible only on one day.

The main problem is few have read the article before going into discussion.

 

[Tuna]

I can't think of a single reason what a '70's Draken would do on the USAF most secure and secret location.

Draken a 70's old fighter you see in museum.

Just to note, despite being old Drakens are in some ways more agile than any USAF fighter. Because of this, they were commonly used in aggressor squadrons to simulate Russian/Chinese light fighters, which shared some of it's qualities.

I agree, it’s clear Drakens were active in the NTTR, and maybe still are. But I would be very, very surprised if an ancient Draken, certainly a privately owned one, would be at Groom Lake. It just wouldn’t make sense.

My explanation for that is that they wanted to test something new against it.

 

[TomcatViP]

For example, It's certainly an excellent trainer for fast landing approach plane, with the safety advantage of having the ability to dump fuel to match a trainee ability regarding wing loading.
IMOHO there would have multiple reasons like this to have such airplane on the ranch.

 

[Q-nimbus]

Dear Tuna and TomcatVIP,

If this image was taken at any other base than Groom Lake I would have agreed with you. However, there is no aircraft training or agressor training going on at Groom Lake. Certainly at other places, some nearby, but Groom Lake is not an agressor or training facility - certainly not for aircraft that are half a century old.

I’m very curious why this aircraft - or whatever it is - was parked at this particular spot. There’s a hangar right next to it, and it’s parked on a taxiway, not a dedicated parking spot. What is it doing there, why wasn’t it parked somewhere on the apron or in a hangar? There’s certainly enough parking space around Area 51; hell, they could even have parked it on the dry lakebed.

It just doen’t add up. Something’s going on.

 

[quellish]

However, there is no aircraft training or agressor training going on at Groom Lake.

Yeah, those Su-27s and MiG-29s flying out of Groom are just there to…. Send a message!

https://www.lazygranch.com/groom_lake_birds.html

 

[Empire]

So lets try to work through some scenarios,

#1 If it is a draken and it broke down why cover it? Its not classified unless it was modified? (doubtful).

#2 Maybe it was a test of the shelter itself to see how it breaks up the outline of an aircraft from space? Remember the United States was testing a satellite system called Gorgon stare to continually keep an area under surveillance from space about a decade ago (I am probably wrong on time). i am sure our adversaries have a similar system coming along, So test a shelter that can be put up fast in an emergency. Note: Change gorgon stare to MOIRE's Technology.

#3 It really is a classified air frame that broke down and was photographed (doubtful) They don't make mistakes like that at area 51 I have never seen a satellite photo of a classified aircraft on the tarmac at area 51. Only after an air frame is declassified are they seen.

#4 Maybe because the Airforce announced it had tested a 6th generation air frame they lowered the classification?

#5 Sending a message? Hmm from area 51 our most secretive military base? (maybe) But the government doesn't really like to draw attention to that particular base.

 

[F-14D]

"We need to send a strong message to Putin. Should we fly some B-2s over to Europe? Maybe send a carrier fleet into the Baltic or Black Sea?"

"No - lets park a prototype aircraft in a position where it might get photographed by a satellite so an OSINT analyst might discover blurry pics of it and post it on a mildly popular website about cars. That'll really show them we're serious".

[Sorry, I can't help myself]

I agree. If we wanted to send a strong message to Putin we wouldn't just park/paint a prototype, we'd display this there instead:

 

[xstatic3000]

So lets try to work through some scenarios,

#1 If it is a draken and it broke down why cover it? Its not classified unless it was modified? (doubtful).

#2 Maybe it was a test of the shelter itself to see how it breaks up the outline of an aircraft from space? Remember the United States was testing a satellite system called Gorgon stare to continually keep an area under surveillance from space about a decade ago (I am probably wrong on time). i am sure our adversaries have a similar system coming along, So test a shelter that can be put up fast in an emergency.

#3 It really is a classified air frame that broke down and was photographed (doubtful) They don't make mistakes like that at area 51 I have never seen a satellite photo of a classified aircraft on the tarmac at area 51. Only after an air frame is declassified are they seen.

#4 Maybe because the Airforce announced it had tested a 6th generation air frame they lowered the classification?

#5 Sending a message? Hmm from area 51 our most secretive military base? (maybe) But the government doesn't really like to draw attention to that particular base.

I think that a mechanical failure is the most likely scenario in this case. If so, it may have been something simple enough to repair on the spot. If it was a landing gear issue, it could also have needed spot repairs done before towing it into one of the larger hangars on the other side of the base. The contract's Statement of Work or Performance Work Statement could specify that the Government "shall provide an enclosed area, such as a temporary sprung structure" for repairs or maintenance. We also don't know what the purpose of the "scoot-n-hide" hangar is or if it's occupied by something else. The contractor personnel tied to the Draken might not be cleared to be in there.....etc.

In most cases the least sexy scenario is the most likely one.

 

[Mugs914]

I tend to agree with the Draken theory.

Groom is basically adjacent to the Nellis Range, one of the busiest air combat training areas in the world. It would not be unusual at all for a privately operated aggressor aircraft to be in the area.

I can envision a scenario involving a mayday situation with a contracted aggressor aircraft that requires getting on the deck immediately. The "scoot-n-hide" hangar is about as far as you can get from the "busy" parts of the base and still service a broken airplane. Also note that whatever it is wasn't given access to the hangar. I'm relatively sure that Groom doesn't stock a large supply of Draken or Skyhawk parts, so it would take a couple of days to get the thing repaired and on it's way.

The rather serious security around the place would tend to dictate that they wouldn't tolerate such things, but if it meant the life of the pilot, who most likely is a retired US military pilot with a security clearance, I can see it happening. On the other hand, the folks a Groom are rather conversant with the comings and goings of the various satellites that wander the heavens, especially the commercial ones that produce open-source images. They obviously weren't too concerned with anyone seeing the thing.

So, I feel, like Xstatic said, that the least interesting scenario is the most likely one.

Besides, it really looks like a Draken to me...

Mike

 

[TomS]

Remember the United States was testing a satellite system called Gorgon stare to continually keep an area under surveillance from space about a decade ago

Gorgon Stare was a drone system for persistent surveillance, not a satellite.

It occurred to me that with the several days of 3m imagery showing the shelter and just the one day of half-meter showing the aircraft and the shelter only partially present, what we might be seeing is the shelter in the process of being taken down, after whatever issue caused it to be put up was resolved.

 

[Empire]

Thanks Tom S.
I mixed up Gorgon stare and DARPA MOIRE's technology. Thats what i get for relying on memory. lol

 

[Q-nimbus]

However, there is no aircraft training or agressor training going on at Groom Lake.

Yeah, those Su-27s and MiG-29s flying out of Groom are just there to…. Send a message!

https://www.lazygranch.com/groom_lake_birds.html

There’s no training going on, but evaluation and testing. Two different things. Constant Peg has finished long ago and it appears there’s no follow up, although we don’t know for sure it of course. It certainly isn’t happening on the scale and frequency of Constant Peg anymore.

Also, if there is anything going on like Constant Peg these days, it’s far more likely they operate from Tonopah Test Range.

 

[quellish]

There’s no training going on, but evaluation. Two different things. Constant Peg has finished long ago and it appears there’s no follow up, although we don’t know for sure it of course. It certainly isn’t happening on the scale and frequency of Constant Peg anymore.

Also, if there is anything going on like Constant Peg these days, it’s far more likely they operate from Tonopah Test Range.

That is not correct.
The foreign assets at Groom Lake and adjacent ranges are used for training as well as evaluation. For example, the foreign aircraft regularly train with USAF and USN aggressors to train the trainers. They also participate in exposures during exercises like CONSTANT PEG, but on a much smaller scale.

The HAVE IDEA threat systems are also regularly used for training.

RED FLAG started on Jan 24 and is still going on. During RED FLAG there is more activity at Groom Lake around both ground and air threat systems. There is also more activity from private contractor assets (like ATAC, Draken, MTSI, etc.).

The FME program at Groom Lake is the largest program at the facility in terms of both resources and activity - by a wide margin. While there seems to be a popular impression of Groom Lake being full of super secret stealth airplanes the reality is that the RED HATS and related programs (many of them EW) are the bulk of activity at the base.

 

[Q-nimbus]

In that case I stand corrected, thank you Quellish.

I agree with you that most of the operations at Groom Lake are FME related, and that there are a lot of systems rather than airframes being developed.

 

[Flyaway]

Make of this what you will but over on Dreamland Resort the felling seems to be it was the NG NGAD.

 

[Sherman Tank]

To my untrained eyes it looks like an F-16 with a Draken-esque wing. If it's real its probably some sort of experimental demonstrator. Nothing earthshaking but the DOD would rather keep it to themselves. That's assuming it isn't just a Draken or something like it.

So lets try to work through some scenarios,

#1 If it is a draken and it broke down why cover it? Its not classified unless it was modified? (doubtful).

Government classification schemes often make zero sense to outsiders even if there's good logic behind them. When I visited NARA 1 in Washington I had to put a little slip of paper with a declassification number on it when I photographed reports by USN attaches from the first decade of the twentieth century. Everyone involved was dead and any information contained in the reports had no possible relevance to anything but historians like myself, but I had to follow declassification procedures because that's the law.

I can only assume facilities like Groom Lake are held to higher standards than civilian naval historians like myself.

 

[Deino]

Just a minor comment concerning this strange "hangar" or whatever it is ... there is a similar one at the XAC-facility at Xi'an-Yanliang and you often see a Y-20 or Y-7s standing below, so I don't think it is necessarily a painted roof.

 

[Gjalt]

I can’t help but notice the simularities in timing between the sighting of the triangle overhead Amarillo in march 2014 and this satellite image and the once again rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

It don't look like a triangle, is more conventional shaped.
Real or not has a fuselage, a delta wing with some winglets (?) on the edges.

Frankly it resemble (more or less) a Swedish Draken, that is about the size of an F-16.

View attachment 673421

I was thinking the same, somebody has parked a Saab Draken in a greenhouse!, let's get serious in the sixties models of aircraft on a pole for RCS testing where taken inside when they knew a russian spy sattelite came over. There is no change they would leave a senitive project out in the open fore everbody to see..

 

[dark sidius]

Is it possible that the shelter could be some kinf of faraday cage ? for radar satellites ? It look a lot like the plane of the left .

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0u68p-_fsg

 

[TomcatViP]

IMOHO, there is nothing fancy to see here. The planes are parked where they don't restrict traffic flow. The hangar is just built overhead.

 

[Hanz2k]

What if temp hangar was used to isolate repair crew from the view at the base. So it was to allow people with lower clearance to perform their work, while base is operational?

 

[xstatic3000]

What if temp hangar was used to isolate repair crew from the view at the base. So it was to allow people with lower clearance to perform their work, while base is operational?

Certainly a possibility - but don't forget that it also gets pretty cold out there around this time of year!

US Government contracting rules mandate going with a LPTA (Lowest Price Technically Acceptable) approach, and maximizing opportunites for small, disadvantaged businesses. I can't imagine a lower cost per flight hour means of testing a system (either foreign or domestic) against a small, highly manuverable fast jet than using a Draken, especially since it's such a known quantity from decades of use by customers such as the Test Pilot School.

I could imagine an owner or a holding company purchasing a Draken after they went up for sale in 2015 with the intent of making their money back by leasing it to a Small Business contractor for DOD use. Far less risky and much more cost effective than using a DOD asset. For example, the cost to the government to repair a landing gear failure on an F-16 could exceed the purchase price of a Draken! I think that there's an impression among the public that DOD would use something like an F-35 or an F-22 (since it's Area 51) but everything is driven by cost reasonableness.

I might be wrong, but I suspect that this might be N35350, which is owned by a Delaware-based holding company (located about 45 min from where i live). It's FAA airworthiness certificate expires at the end of August.

Groom Lake has been romanticized through the media, but it's best to think of it as basically being a huge SCIF (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility). Most of what's happening there doesn't involve fancy, exotic new platforms. As Quellish mentioned, I'd imagine that based on DOD priorities a large amount of what is being flight tested is devoted to Electronic Warfare, surveillance and countermeasures technologies that wouldn't be readily visible to a casual observer.

 

[In_A_Dream]

What if temp hangar was used to isolate repair crew from the view at the base. So it was to allow people with lower clearance to perform their work, while base is operational?

Why would they leave a Draken next to a Scoot-n-Hide hangar and not tow it somewhere more convenient so that it doesn't impede operations?

Why would they use a fairly transparent shelter to block view of the base?

 

[Q-nimbus]

I’ve had a few hours to ponder the location of the aircraft. As I’ve said before, the location it’s in is strange; if it was used for training or evaluation I would expect it to be at the main base, not on a remote taxiway.

It’s on a taxiway, not on an parking apron which is remarkable in itself. Also, it’s facing north, with the open side of the shelter facing south, which raises a few possibilities: it was towed there, turned around on the taxiway, and the shelter was then built around it. Normally you build a shelter and then tow the aircraft in, not the other way around, for obvious reasons.

Also, if you want to to get the aircraft out of the shelter, you have to push it backwards to take down the shelter, or keep pushing it back through the scoot ‘n hide hanger. Not impossible of course, but illogical and thus unlikely.

It could also have been towed from wherever, and then through the scoot ‘n hide hangar, into the temporary shelter. But that raises an interesting question: why not simply keep it in the scoot ‘n hide hangar? With one exit blocked the scoot ‘n hide shelter largely lost it’s use as something you can quickly get in and out of. If the aircraft broke down on the spot it’s in that means it taxied out of the scoot ‘n hide hangar and then for some reason wasn’t able to continue taxiing after a few meters. Not impossible, but not likely.

It could be a Draken that had a major malfunction and had to divert to Groom Lake. It’s unlikely but not impossible. It then would need a place to get repaired. Maybe there was no hangar space available, and they had to erect a temporary shelter. Also, it doesn’t seem unreasonable to think they wanted to keep the stricken Draken away from the main base to avoid a few prying eyes. That might also explain why the shelter’s opening is facing south.

The problem with this scenario however is that it would have made much more sense for the shelter to be built to the south of the scoot ‘n hide hangar. That’s as far away from the main base you can get, and you get a big hangar to obstruct the view as a bonus.

The only reason I can think of why they wouldn’t build the shelter to the south of the scoot ‘n hide hangar is that it would block the quickest route from the runway to the hangar. But that might imply something even more intriguing: there’s a sight sensitive airframe flying around that needs to be able to enter a hangar as quickly as possible once it’s on the ground. But this is Abovetopsecret territory.

I’ve said before that in my opinion it does not look like a Draken to me, but the resolution is not high enough to say with 100% certainty.

The key to find out what we are looking at is to understand why the aircraft is at the place it is.
But taking all the above into account reinforces my opinion that we are not looking at an ordinary 50 year old Saab Draken and that something else is going on

I wish I could take a look at satellite images taken the days surrounding this event, and I’m still hoping someone took a picture from Tikaboo Peak…

 

[Hanz2k]

1. Even if it is light transparent doesn‘t mean you can take picture from it. I bet you will be not able to recognize anything outside that is more than 50m.
2. Hangar block view to the south from temp hangar - so you are not able to see what is landing or starting.
3. It is most remote location in Area51 with access to the runway and concrete pad. I do not see any better place to put broken Draken for repair. Main complex is screened with closed entry, other side protected by another hangar. Also hangar make sense as you can deliver repair crew inside temp structure. They just see what they need and nothing more.

 

[xstatic3000]

What if temp hangar was used to isolate repair crew from the view at the base. So it was to allow people with lower clearance to perform their work, while base is operational?

Why would they leave a Draken next to a Scoot-n-Hide hangar and not tow it somewhere more convenient so that it doesn't impede operations?

Why would they use a fairly transparent shelter to block view of the base?

We don't know for certain what the purpose of that hangar is. For all we know, the Draken may have been in the hangar and had a malfunction - we will probably never know for sure.

And again - it's not a transparent structure. I'm still not sure where the "clear plastic tent" thing is coming from.

 

[dark sidius]

1. Even if it is light transparent doesn‘t mean you can take picture from it. I bet you will be not able to recognize anything outside that is more than 50m.
2. Hangar block view to the south from temp hangar - so you are not able to see what is landing or starting.
3. It is most remote location in Area51 with access to the runway and concrete pad. I do not see any better place to put broken Draken for repair. Main complex is screened with closed entry, other side protected by another hangar. Also hangar make sense as you can deliver repair crew inside temp structure. They just see what they need and nothing more.

In fact it is more a Gripen like than a Draken. When you look carefuly it seem that the plane is towed there is something more silver in the front of the plane. It look a little like this shape too https://www.collinsaerospace.com/wh...lay&utm_term=leaderboard&utm_content=enabling

 

[sferrin]

Wonder if maybe a Draken, used for dissimilar training, had an emergency, had to land there, and the shelter is to keep prying eyes of the repair crew from looking OUT.

 

[In_A_Dream]

We don't know for certain what the purpose of that hangar is. For all we know, the Draken may have been in the hangar and had a malfunction - we will probably never know for sure.

And again - it's not a transparent structure. I'm still not sure where the "clear plastic tent" thing is coming from.

It's a scoot-n-hide shelter.

And look at the structure's shadow.

Wonder if maybe a Draken, used for dissimilar training, had an emergency, had to land there, and the shelter is to keep prying eyes of the repair crew from looking OUT.

Why not just use an opaque structure?

 

[Justo Miranda]

I can’t help but notice the simularities in timing between the sighting of the triangle overhead Amarillo in march 2014 and this satellite image and the once again rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

It don't look like a triangle, is more conventional shaped.
Real or not has a fuselage, a delta wing with some winglets (?) on the edges.

Frankly it resemble (more or less) a Swedish Draken, that is about the size of an F-16.

View attachment 673421

HIMAT???

 

[Foo Fighter]

If I were to entertain anything other than a joke or setup, I would wonder about sensor tests on an aircraft with a similar physical resemblance/characteristics of the actual test subject.

 

[quellish]

It's a scoot-n-hide shelter.

Just to be clear:



The area we are talking about is part of a "recent" addition at the south end of the runway.
The large structure is a scoot and hide shelter. There are a number of them, of differing designs, around the base. This shelter allows aircraft to land and get under cover quickly, without a long taxi to the base. There is not much infrastructure at this shelter, maybe not even plumbing.

The structure covering the "aircraft" is a stressed tension structure. It is a temporary structure. Photos of similar structures have been posted in this thread. Below is an image of a similar stressed tension structure being erected. The framework is put up and then the fabric is pulled over it, like a giant sock.



This is not, strictly speaking, a scoot n hide shelter.

 

[sferrin]

We don't know for certain what the purpose of that hangar is. For all we know, the Draken may have been in the hangar and had a malfunction - we will probably never know for sure.

And again - it's not a transparent structure. I'm still not sure where the "clear plastic tent" thing is coming from.

It's a scoot-n-hide shelter.

And look at the structure's shadow.

Wonder if maybe a Draken, used for dissimilar training, had an emergency, had to land there, and the shelter is to keep prying eyes of the repair crew from looking OUT.

Why not just use an opaque structure?

Maybe they're just using what they had on hand. Even a "transparent" cover would distort enough to get the job done.

 

[In_A_Dream]

This is not, strictly speaking, a scoot n hide shelter.

I appreciate the time you took to construct your post and confirming what I stated.