Air Force, "tested advanced radar sensors and new ideas in stealth technology." This unusual plane, with curves reminiscent of a to-go box, flew 135 times before the program ended in 1985. One aircraft that he said we could learn more about is the Northrop Tacit Blue, a battlefield surveillance aircraft that, according to the National Museum of the U.S. It's a challenge to theorize about the contents of secret documents, but Richelson's best guesses were that the public might gain additional information about stealth-drone programs, such as the RQ-170 and RQ-180, and other exotic aircraft that were tested but never produced in significant numbers. Specifically, Richelson theorized that further declassification of Area 51 documents could fill us in on what has gone on there after the U-2, OXCART (the successor to the U-2), F-117 and SR-71 Blackbird secret aircraft projects, which were featured in the 2013 document release. By his estimation, further details about the different aircraft programs that have connections to Area 51 would be the most likely results of any actions Clinton would take to declassify documents about the facility. After all, it is a well-known yet super-secret base that has many strange aircraft fly in and out of it, Richelson said. What is real, added Launius, is the facility's involvement in highly classified aerospace research and development.Īrea 51's connection to experimental aircraft may be a reason why people have connected it with extraterrestrial cover-ups. "That piece of it is a folklore that has no bearing and no relationship to any reality whatsoever." The scoop on spy planes Launius, associate director for collections and curatorial affairs at the National Air and Space Museum. "It's important to separate from what most people think of when they think of Area 51: that that's where there is alien technology, a crash that had occurred somewhere that had been picked up by the military and kept there in a super-secret base, and all that kind of stuff," said Roger D. Over the years, people who have worked (and claimed to have worked) at Area 51 have added fuel to the UFO fire with claims of working with aliens or having access to alien technology gathered from spacecraft crash sites. Its official name is the Nevada Test and Training Range, which is part of the Edwards Air Force Base. Located in Nevada about 80 miles (130 kilometers) northwest of Las Vegas, Area 51 is a military base that is restricted to the public.
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(Image credit: SipaPhoto (opens in new tab) (opens in new tab)) Warning signs tell people to stay away from Area 51.