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Possible Locations of Classified Military Facilities
by Paul McGinnis
I've been thinking about an interesting question lately -- are there
other places that are as classified as the secret U.S. Air Force air
base at Groom Lake, Nevada, and, if so, how would someone know
where to start looking for such a place?
A way of finding classified areas occurred to me while studying
Defense Mapping Agency aeronautical charts. On a floor, I had
pieced together 3 very large Tactical Pilot Charts (TPC G-18R,
TPC G-19C, and TPC G-19D) By folding parts of the charts and
aligning them together, I had managed to create a giant map
showing the airspace over Southern California and Nevada,
Arizona, New Mexico, and a little part of Texas.
Looking at all the blue "boxes" used by our military for Restricted
airspaces and Military Operating Areas (MOAs), I realized that I
could find areas to study further by finding "boxes" similar to the
one covering the air space around the Groom Lake facility.
Hundreds of military controlled zones are listed in the DMA
publication Area Planning-Special Use Airspace. These are
published once a year, with 2 supplements. I happen to subscribe to
the Special Use Airspace publication for North and South America
(DMA item number AP/1A). The most recent edition is dated
October 13, 1994. (Defense Mapping Agency sources are listed at
the end of this report.)
I came up with some criteria that could be used in the search. I
admit that these are arbitrary choices, but they allow one to discard
most of the "boxes", thus narrowing the choices. My criteria are:
(1) The area must have a ceiling of at least 60,000 feet (18.46 km)
to prevent civilian aircraft from flying over the area. Also, this
would tend to discourage military pilots who might get curious and
try to fly above the prohibited area. (There are very few aircraft that
can fly this high.) The area over Groom Lake has an unlimited
ceiling, although one wonders how low orbiting satellites can be
stopped from passing over the area.
(2) The area must have a constant flying restriction, 24 hours a day,
7 days a week. This eliminates a number of potential areas because
flying is only prohibited by advance notice (NOTAMS), or during
daytime hours on weekdays.
This gave me the following list of potential classified areas of
interest to the U.S. military. While I realize that some of these areas
have flying restrictions because missiles are fired in these ranges,
that still leaves other locations that need further research. Also,
some of these areas are quite large. For example, R-5107B in New
Mexico covers an area of approximately 4,500 square miles (11,520
square km.) although there may only be one highly classified
activity in the "box".
U.S. LOCATIONS
- R-2306A: Yuma West, Arizona (Yuma Proving Ground)
- R-2306B: Yuma West, Arizona
- R-2306E: Yuma West, Arizona
- R-2307: Yuma, Arizona (there is also a tethered balloon on
15,000 foot (4615 meter) cables that carries a radar pointed south, used to detect drug smugglers. This is located near the northwest part of R-2307)
- R-2308B: Yuma East, Arizona
- R-2501E: Bullion Mountain East, California (Twentynine Palms Marine Corps Base)
- R-2501N: Bullion Mountain North, California
- R-2501S: Bullion Mountain South, California
- R-2501W: Bullion Mountain West, California
- R-2502E: Fort Irwin, California
- R-2502N: Fort Irwin, California (also includes NASA's Goldstone
facility).
- R-2505: China Lake, California (western part of China Lake Naval Air Warfare Center)
- R-2515: Muroc Lake, California (Edwards Air Force Base (AFB))
- R-2516: Vandenberg AFB, California
- R-2517: Vandenberg AFB, California
- R-2519: Point Mugu, California (U.S Navy - Pacific missile test
range)
- R-2524: Trona, California (eastern part of China Lake Naval Air
Warfare Center. Includes the "highly classified"
electronic warfare facility, the Randsburg Wash Test
Range, also known as "Sea Site I")
- R-2914A: Valparaiso, Florida (Eglin AFB, Air Force Development Test
Center (AFDTC))
- R-2915A: Eglin AFB, Florida
- R-2915B: Eglin AFB, Florida
- R-2918: Valparaiso, Florida
- R-2919A: Valparaiso, Florida
- R-4806W: Las Vegas, Nevada (Nellis Air Force Base)
- R-4807A: Tonopah, Nevada
- R-4807B: Tonopah, Nevada
- R-4808N: Las Vegas, Nevada (R-4808N covers both the Nevada Test Site, and the Dreamland "box" around Groom Lake, which is the rectangular region in the northeast of R-4808N)
- R-4809: Tonopah, Nevada (R-4809 covers Tonopah Test Range, used for activities such as F-117 fighter testing and Department of Energy programs, such as nuclear rocket testing in the 1960s)
- R-5107A: White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico
- R-5107B: White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico (I'm currently investigating something in this area that showed up on a satellite picture. This anomaly is east of Skillet Knob peak. R-5107B also includes Holloman AFB)
- R-6604: Chincoteague Inlet, Virginia (used by NASA's Wallops Island
rocket facility)
(the following locations might also be of interest -- they are
"educated guesses" based on the nature of the location, or U.S.
operations there.)
OTHER LOCATIONS IN NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA
- SAP6: Puerto Belgrano, Argentina
- SBP-320: Itaborai, Brazil
- CYR204: Cold Lake Air Weapons Range, Alberta and Saskatchewan,
Canada. (Well known for the large Maple Flag military
exercises.)
- SCP3: Isla Dawson, Chile
- MUP1: Havana, Cuba
- MUP2: Bahia de Cochimos (I know a little Spanish and I think
this is the infamous "Bay of Pigs" that U.S. backed
Cuban rebels tried to invade.)
- (MU)P-1002: Guantanamo Bay Naval Airspace Reservation, Cuba
- MUP5: Santa Fe, Cuba
- MUP39: Juragua, Cuba
- SFP1: Falkland Islands
- MHP1: Toncontin, Honduras
- SUD8: Punta del Este, Uruguay (Curbuelo Naval Base)
- SVP2501: Carrizal, Venezuela
- SVP2502: Maracay, Venezuela
- SVP2521: La Orchila Island, Venezuela
The DMA charts mentioned above (TPCG18R, TPCG19C, TPCG19D) are $4.75
apiece. The Area Planning - North and South America - Special Use Airspace
is $5.50 for the main edition, or $10.75 per year for the main edition plus
2 supplements (by subscription.) These items can be ordered from:
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
National Ocean Service Distribution Branch, N/CG33
Riverdale, MD 20737-1199 USA
telephone: (301) 436-6990
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