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".
Area Number Description and comments ___________ _______________________________________________________ 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.)
Area Number Description and comments ___________ _______________________________________________________ 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, VenezuelaThe 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: