BRIEFING - THE NELLIS RANGE COMPLEX , USAF'S FORBIDDEN COUNTRY
JANE'S DEFENCE WEEKLY
DATE: 05-Aug-1998
EDITION: 1998
VOLUME/ISSUE: 030/005
BY LINE:
Mark Farmer
INTRODUCTION:
After decades of secrecy, new details of operations and capabilities
within the vast area of the US Nellis Range Complex in Nevada are
emerging. Mark Farmer reports
Although many bases within the US Air Force (USAF) fight hard to
survive and another round of base closures looms, Nellis Air Force
Base, its associated Range Complex and embedded secure test and
evaluation installations can realistically assume that their
collective future is assured.
The complex is the 'crown jewel' of the US defence test and training
establishment, paid for with tens of billions of dollars over half a
century.
Over the past year, Jane's Defence Weekly has been allowed
unparalleled access to commanders and control facilities and has
flown extensively throughout the ranges in a Red Flag mission of the
414th Combat Training Squadron "Aggressors".
Larger than Switzerland, the 1.5 million ha live-fire, test and
evaluation ranges at Nellis operate under the aegis of military
services, government agencies and corporate defence concerns. Over
50% of the weapons that the USAF uses in live-fire exercises are
expended over the range.
Last year, over 250 units and more than 20,000 personnel
participated in a Flag exercise flying over 900 aircraft in over
11,000 sorties. A senior intelligence officer said: "Nellis is the
centre of the universe for all that flies". Tactics, weapons and
entire aircraft have been developed within the range under
conditions of tight security.
Most training and weapons firing takes place within the highly
instrumented southeast and north central ranges where most Red,
Green and Maple Flag operations take place. The landscape is dotted
with video cameras and cinetheodolites, which document training and
testing events, and target arrays simulating airfields, armoured
convoys, underground bunkers and a nuclear storage facility. Realism
is heightened by a number of electronic warfare emitters linked to
19 surface-to-air missile (SAM) radars and 18 anti-aircraft
artillery radars along with 10 unmanned threat emitters and 42
Smokey SAM launchers.
While the Nellis range is designated as a Military Operating Area
and geographically the ranges are wide-open, training flights are
constrained by the existence of several severely restricted areas.
The most notorious is R-4808E surrounding Groom Dry Lake. The
forbidden airspace is known to military pilots as 'The Box' and is
under the airspace direction of 'Dreamland Control'. The base,
referred to as Area 51, is well-known as the birthplace of the U-2,
A-12, SR-71, Tacit Blue and F-117A aircraft.
Recent evidence indicates that the base is managed by E G & G
Special Projects in Las Vegas and is actually Detachment 3 of the
Air Force Flight Test Center headquartered at Edwards Air Force Base
(AFB), California, and comes under the control of the Air Force
Materiel Command.
While not commenting on past or current operations at the sprawling
base and after over 40 years of denials, USAF officials now
acknowledge the existence of the installation.
Despite black project budget cuts, several helicopter, aircraft,
missile and electronic warfare programmes are believed to be
undergoing testing at the facility and as many as 1,500 people a day
are ferried daily to the base on unmarked Boeing 737-200s, call sign
Janet, from Las Vegas and Burbank.
The location of 'The Box' in the mid-eastern part of the complex
means that attackers in Flag exercises must enter the northern part
of the Nellis range via several chokepoints that make it easy for
Red Forces to engage and kill them. To improve flexibility in
training, Red Flag officials have called for airspace restrictions
near Groom Dry Lake to be eased, and recently there have been a
number of instances where one-time-only permission has been granted
to penetrate 'The Box'. Airspace restrictions also apply over the
Nevada Test Site at the southern end of the Nellis range. The
nuclear-testing grounds have long been the location of very
sensitive weapons and nuclear science research.
Now that underground testing has been suspended with the exception
of subcritical tests at the U1a complex 305m below the desert, USAF
and allied aircraft are allowed to overfly most of the test site at
an altitude of 19,000ft (5,790m) or above. Marines and special
operations forces use the facilities and highly varied terrain to
conduct unconventional warfare and anti-terrorist training while the
Defense Special Weapons Agency continues deep underground target
defeat and other research within areas 12 and 16.
Due to delays in decision-making by the Federal Aviation
Administration, Kistler Aerospace has moved most of its reusable
launch vehicle testing programme to Australia, although Kistler
remains confident it can eventually conduct operations from its test
site launch base.
To the north of Nellis lies the Tonopah Test Range (TTR), the home
of the F-117A fighter aircraft during the late 1980s and the site
of continued Joint Test Article studies where nuclear weapons are
test-dropped without their operational physics package.
Under the jurisdiction of USAF and Sandia National Laboratory, the
TTR is used mostly as a "pickled" [warm storage] facility though
An-2s, Mil-8, Mil-24 and five 'Scud' missiles and their transporter
erector launchers operate from the base during Flag and Joint
Suppression of Enemy Air Defence exercises. Several Janet flights
per weekday bring contractor and USAF personnel to the installation
and there are persistent though unproven rumours of some test
programmes being based at the TTR.
MiG-29s bought from Moldova were to be based at the TTR due to their
short range and lack of infrared equipment. However, it is now
unlikely that more than three of the 'Fulcrums' will be restored to
flight status, with one 'Fulcrum C' being delivered to the Threat
Training Facility "petting zoo" at Nellis AFB run by the 547th
Intelligence Squadron.
Plans are under discussion to use the TTR as the 'Motherland' of the
Flag battle scenarios. Former users of the base lament its current
condition: one former high-ranking USAF officer based there during
the F-117A's secret operations said: "the base is a national asset,
many interesting things happened there and could happen again with
the right support".
The Tolicha Peak Electronic Combat Range lies to the southwest of
the TTR and is shielded by a small mountain range to the west.
Little is known of the capabilities of the installation and no USAF
or range contractors are willing to discuss its mission or
equipment.
Of all activities within the Nellis Range Complex, the least
discussed is Site IV to the east of TTR. The USAF installation is
reported to be where 'acquired' Soviet, Russian, Chinese and 'gray'
threat radars and electronic countermeasures (ECM) equipment are
tested against US aircraft, missiles, nuclear weapons, targeting
sensors and ECM/electronic support measures equipment.
Observations indicate that the site has grown in recent years.
Throughout the range there are various small airfields and
installations of unknown purpose. One airstrip reportedly used
pop-up water sprinklers to darken the desert-coloured tarmac to
increase its visibility so that aircraft could land when no Soviet
reconnaissance satellites were within range.
The complex could accommodate testing and training of army artillery
in the southern ranges firing towards Papoose Lake. This would help
overcome firing azimuth restrictions at the National Training
Facility in southern California.
The only operational units within the complex are the 11th and 15th
Reconnaissance Squadrons equipped with Predator unmanned aerial
vehicles at the Indian Springs Air Force Auxillary Field to the
southeast of the Nevada Test Site. Some sources indicate that the
15th is having problems with its ground-control station and four
Predators.
Marine helicopters and Special Operations Forces teams work from the
field and the Thunderbird Demonstration Team practises nearby. The
complex is undergoing a prolonged environmental impact statement
process in conjunction with a forthcoming request for either an
indefinite or 25-year withdrawal of the Range Complex lands from
public land use.
The Secretary of the Air Force plans to present the plans to the
public this September. Modelled after the permanent withdrawal of
public lands in Alaska for military use, USAF officials would prefer
the indefinite withdrawal option.
Nellis AFB base itself is now safe from additional urban
encroachment with the new zoning of explosive ordnance loading areas
which should keep developers at a safe distance.
- Mark Farmer is a freelance writer based in Alaska.
CAPTION:
The Tonopah Test Range.The base was
the home of the F-117A stealth fighter aircraft and associated test
platforms during the late 1980s
CAPTION:
The Groom Lake facility. The airspace around this area is under the direction of 'Dreamland Control' Red Flag officials have recently requested that flying
restrictions be relaxed around this area.
CAPTION:
Last year, more than 20,000 personnel took part in one Flag exercise
flying over 900 aircraft in 11,000 sorties. (Photo: M Farmer/Jane's)
CAPTION:
Predator UAVs are operated by the 11th and 15th
Reconnaissance Squadrons southeast of the Nevada Test Site.
Nellis special use airspace
CAPTION:
Nellis special use airspace
Left:overhead view of the
CAPTION:
Left: overhead view of the Groom Dry Lake
CAPTION:
Below: Area 2, is the largest nuclear weapons storage area in the western USA over 200 bombs and cruise missile warheads are thought to be held there.
close Air support!
