{"id":30498,"date":"2023-08-15T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-15T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/uncategorized\/2023\/08\/15\/the-abcs-of-the-militarys-highly-classified-area-51\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T14:06:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T14:06:14","slug":"the-abcs-of-the-militarys-highly-classified-area-51","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/intel-geoint\/isr\/2023\/08\/15\/the-abcs-of-the-militarys-highly-classified-area-51\/","title":{"rendered":"The ABCs of the military\u2019s highly classified Area 51"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Editor\u2019s note: This <\/i>commentary<\/i><\/a> was first published in <\/i>The Conversation<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the reasons people can never be entirely sure about what is going on at Area 51 is that it is a highly classified secret military facility. It was not until 2013 that the U.S. government even acknowledged the existence and name \u201cArea 51.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This information came out as part of a broader set of documents released through a Freedom of Information Act<\/a> request, which is something regular citizens and groups can do to ask the U.S. government to provide details about government activities. In this case, the request made public formerly classified CIA information regarding the historical development and testing of the U-2 spy plane. The information also revealed where it was tested: Area 51!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a national security historian<\/a>, I know there\u2019s a long history of secrets at Area 51. I also know that none of those secrets have anything to do with space aliens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The place<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The base commonly referred to as Area 51 is located in a remote area of southern Nevada, roughly 100 miles (161 kilometers) from Las Vegas. It is in the middle of a federally protected area of the U.S. Air Force\u2019s Nevada Test and Training Range, now known as the Nevada National Security Site<\/a>, which is inside the larger Nellis Air Force Range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Area 51 is the secret code name for the site. The airfield at Area 51 is called Homey Airport, and the overall facility is often referred to as Groom Lake. Groom Lake is a salt flat, or dried-out lake, adjacent to the airport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The history<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the early years of the Cold War<\/a> between the United States and the Soviet Union, both nations sought new technological developments that might give one country more power than the other. A great amount of information about scientific achievements, such as on rockets or weapons \u2013 but also even on ways to grow more food or make fuel more efficient \u2013 was kept secret as an issue of national security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A key part of not fighting another world war was, and still is, developing technologies to see what the other side is doing \u2014 that is, surveillance technologies<\/a> that can spy on the enemy. The information gathered by new and improved surveillance technologies about new innovations with planes and weapons was very important to governments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This meant that both the surveillance information and the technology to get it were closely held national security secrets. Very few people in the governments of the U.S. and Soviet Union knew about the secrets from the 1940s all the way up until the end of the Cold War in 1991.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Central to all this was the U.S.\u2019s U-2 spy plane<\/a>. It could fly higher and faster than other airplanes and was made to travel over targets all around the world to take high-resolution photographs and measurements. Area 51 was selected in 1955 to test the U-2 in part because its remote location could help keep the plane secret.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Area 51 became the test site for other secret new aircraft. This included the A-12<\/a>, which, like the U-2, was a fast-flying reconnaissance plane. The A-12 was first test flown at Homey Airport in 1962. It had a bulging disc-like center to carry additional fuel. Its shape and shiny titanium body could well have been responsible for some people\u2019s reports about seeing spherical ships, also known as flying saucers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another important \u2014 and odd-shaped \u2014 aircraft first tested at Area 51 was the stealth fighter known as the F-117<\/a>. It first flew at Homey Airport in 1981.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secrets and speculation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMore Flying Objects Seen in Clark Sky,\u201d read the June 17, 1959, headline<\/a> in the Reno Evening Gazette newspaper. Reports like this of unidentified flying objects in the 1950s and 1960s fueled controversy and attention for Area 51. This was for three main reasons:<\/p>\n\n\n\n