What Are These Two Sites on Groom Lake Road?

Just spotted two sites located to the west of the Papoose Mountains on Groom Lake Road. I dont know whether these are still within Area 51 or in the Yucca Flats area but as far as I know no one has posted about them before.

The first one is located at 37.199°, -115.933°. Here is a pic:

It is a patch of excavated land about 270m square. You can even see the tractors/bulldozers still there! Why would they jsut smooth out the land in the middle of no where?

The second place is located at 37.228°, -115.886°. Here is a pic:

To me this looks like a radar dish about 35m across. What would that be doing there?

As far as I know this valley cant be seen at all from public land, unlike Groom Lake, making it even better for covert activity. If you look around more in the valley, there are a few other new sites that seem to be springing up.

Something to do with this maybe?

Cheers guys

[edit on 25/1/07 by gfad]

The fenced area with the earth-movers parked inside appears to be a gravel pit or another landfill, similar to the one near the engine test cells on the south end of the base.

Based on its shadow, the radar appears to be a Russian Oborona (TALL KING C), successor to the P-14 TALL KING A early warning radar. The Oborona has a wider reflector than the P-14, compensation antennae behind the parabolic reflector and a "stork's nest" at the tip of the pylon.

Are the radar installations in Emigrant Valley used to evaluate the survivability of the test subjects at Groom Lake?

The Soviet-type radars started showing up around the Groom Lake area in the 1970s under Project HAVE GLIB. Some were actual Soviet hardware while others were working replicas.

They were initially used to evaluate hostile threat systems and develop countermeasures. Later they served to refine the radar cross-section (RCS) values for U.S. stealth aircraft.

I have been told they were set up to simulate a Soviet-style air defense network.

They serve as components of an airborne range, in conjunction with the Dynamic Coherent Mesurement Sustem (DYCOMS), for measuring the RCS of stealth aircraft. Operational aircraft (F-117A, B-2) sometimes need to have their RCS re-verified following modifications. Technology demonstrators (Bird of Prey) and new production aircraft (F-22A) are similarly tested.