Selected Activities of Interest

Boeing is cleary one of the active prime defense contractors at AFFTC DET 3. Below is a job requisition with some of the tasking description highlights:

Flight Operations Mechanic

- "Inspect explosive and armament installations."
- "Inspect drag chutes and wing tip tanks as required."
- "Inspect the construction and modification of experimental aircraft."
- "Perform crash crew duties as directed."
- "Direct the aircraft in, chock the aircraft, putting up the boarding ladders, install essential safeties and unlock and fold wings."
- "Install and remove aircraft doors (excluding electronic access doors) and EROS pods."
- "Assemble prototype such as Model 119."

McDonnell Model 119 - PPRuNe Discussion

It sounds as though one model of the 119 (220) was ever built, to compete for the 1956 USAF contract which was won by the Lockheed Jetstar. Could it be that in the image below?

McDonnell Model 119 - Image

Also, I noticed in the job tasking, there is an EROS pod on one of the aircraft of interest.

EROS Pod

Doesn't it strike you that this job description is a bit too extensive. That is, do all these skills reside in one person.

And then note that FCC comment. Just exactly who will inspect that the work is done by someone with a FCC license.

The other thing I find odd is the seating the radar observer. We don't have too many two person aircraft these days, at least for new aircraft. Now possibly the radar observer is in a chase craft like N105TB.

I agree, the job req seems a bit extensive.

However, I once worked for an (unnamed) organization that asked me for my skillset and listed exactly what I sent them, to ensure I was the only person that fits the job. I am saying the job may be wired for a specific person. This gets around the HR red tape.

The fact they are "seating" the pilot and radar observer may imply that the aircraft crew station is cramped, as opposed to a G2/G3 biz jet you mentioned, or the McDonnell "Model 119"?

What do you think acronym in the comment "Personnel may be required to have customer and MDA driver permits." implies?

MDA means a lot of things. My guess is material disposal.

If the job didn't require US citizenship, I swear it reads like those phony employment ads for jobs held by someone applying for a green card. That is, you make up an ad so specific that nobody can qualify for the job, even if much of the job description isn't relevant. [Find me anyone refused a green card because somebody "qualified" applied for the job.)

I wouldn't obsess on model 119.

I can dig up the photo, but you can get a view of the back area of Phantom Works by driving the fence line. The facility goes as far as to put a sound shield over air vents. Typical are RF filters in the vents, but the sound shield was odd enough that I had to ask a person that does Tempest testing to tell me what the covering did.

Phantom Works photo1

Phantom Works photo 2

reply to post by gariac


My understanding is that MDA is 100% materials disposal, regardless of what else you hear.

Another area I've been researching lately are undisclosed activities found on Federal Spending:

Federal Spending

I was looking through several of the let contracts for the years 2000 through 2009 and found some of the following links:

"Domestic" Activities ($7.7B total)

"Classified" Activities ($2.4B total)

"Undisclosed" Activities (>$1.0B total)

"USAF Miscellaneous" Activities (>$1.0B total)

Some of the names of the companies listed are somewhat cryptic and humorous. I find the names for the USAF "Miscellaneous Items" interesting such as "Undisclosed Domestic Contractors" for $3.3B or "Classified Domestic Contractors" for $700M+. There is clearly a sensitive world of government operations, you just need to know where to look.

May be slightly off-topic:

State Department Warns Employees About New Website Highlighting Top Secret Facilities

The State Department is bracing for a potentially explosive new feature on the Washington Post website that would publish the names and locations of agencies and firms conducting Top Secret work on behalf of the U.S. government, according to the copy of an email obtained by The Cable.

I came across this posting on Reddit, you may find this of interest. It describes some of the Flight Test Procedures at the NCTF:

Test Flight Procedures at Area 51

The link discusses Security Category 3, Security Category 4, White Room, Cantonment, NIGHTSHOT Condition, Condition WATCHDOG, among other topics. The posting states "As a rule, all test flights should be conducted during the first hour or so after dawn to minimize the chance of an unauthorized sighting of the test article." The posting also states that in 1994, Glenn Campbell forced the waive-off of two aircraft using call signs CAMINO 04 and CAMINO 48.

reply to post by TAGBOARD


I trawl reddit (as opposed to troll), and saw that post. I think that came from Glenn's UFO Mind website, perhaps from a Desert Rat newsletter.

Maybe Peter can comment on it. Having spent many mornings on Tikaboo, I can tell you they don't roll out the flying saucers in daylight. They do fly aircraft that they don't care that anyone sees. There are a few photographs on the internet of the SU-27 at Groom. I have some video (not shot by me else I would post it) of what looks like a MIG-29, but given the quality, it could also be a SU-27. In addition I have photographed the F-117 at Groom. During the day, after the Janets arrive, the pilots do proficiency flights, based on the radio chatter. I have a recording of what sounds like dynamic RCS testing since they were dropping balls from aircraft, presumably to tune up the RCS gear.

The only test I ever saw done at Groom was at night with no moon. I am relatively certain all secret aircraft testing is done on moonless nights. In fact, for this test, the moon showed up behind me as the test aircraft was landing. All I could see was the white light on top of the plane. The military uses what is basically like a civilian collision avoidance light, though they have more features. For one thing, they can just flash IR. Even stranger, they can just flash upwards, as if to signal to a plane flying above it.]

The base radio system has been encrypted for years. The only radio in the clear is in the aviation band. Today, they wouldn't call it a red stripe plane. The terminology is "large cargo" (737) and "small cargo" (Beech). They have several "keyhole" and "media day" flight patterns. I know that when you visit the NTS, you will not see any "large cargo" or "small cargo" planes overhead. So one flight restriction is when the tours are done on the NTS, but Keyhole and "media day" occur much more often than the NTS tour days. (if you know logic, it is the different be "if" and "If and only if".)


"Pyramid" is still in use. I used to think this was the PYD NDB, but once it was determined where the PYD NDB was located, I think Pyramid is something else. Glenn thinks it is a pyramid shapped mountain.

Current flights use a squawk of format 033x, where X is a single digit. The 3031 squawk could be a typo. You can see the squawk codes on a mode-s receiver. All the 737s have dual mode-s. One of the Beech has mode-s, but I would have to dig up my logs to tell you which one.

Groom Lake birds
Groom Lake navigation beacons

A number of the fixes used by Groom Lake have been made public. I have a post on ATS somewhere. I did a FOIA on this and the FAA doesn't have the location data (they claim):
FAA: we know nothing....noth-ing

I can't find the post I did on ATS with the newly declassified locations for some of the fixes. When the TTR flight patterns were finally posted, the powers that be revealed some of the fixes.

TAGBOARD
The posting also states that in 1994, Glenn Campbell forced the waive-off of two aircraft using call signs CAMINO 04 and CAMINO 48.

Not to doubt the illustrious Glenn Campbell, but who other than Glenn heard this transmission? I find it hard to believe the pilots of test aircraft would know him by name. C'mon.

FosterVS

TAGBOARD
The posting also states that in 1994, Glenn Campbell forced the waive-off of two aircraft using call signs CAMINO 04 and CAMINO 48.

Not to doubt the illustrious Glenn Campbell, but who other than Glenn heard this transmission? I find it hard to believe the pilots of test aircraft would know him by name. C'mon.

Here is my interpretation of this transcript. The person doing the recording has the Groom VHF frequencies. They aren't hard to find since the VHF aviation band is very small and easy to band scan (try all possible frequencies), plus you can lock out known local frequencies. The tower and approach/depature is simulcasting on VHF and UHF. The VHF signal is for the benefit of any Janets in the area, i.e. situational awareness of comms to military aircraft. The military aircraft back in the day generally only had UHF radios. (Post 9/11, they added VHF radios.) The person who did the recording did not have the UHF frequencies since they are much harder to find since the band is larger.

All that said, the transcript is only of the ground based personnel. Now your "professional" radio user, other than SWAT, doesn't use the names of personnel over the air. You get a big enough organization, and you will have too many Joes, Franks, Marys, etc. So generally nobody uses proper names on the radio. But after all, there only is one Glenn Campbell, so I don't think it is impossible ground personnel would call out his name directly. It could even be a psychological game to make Glenn feel paranoid. "We know who you are!"

I really don't think they do early morning testing anymore. The best time to see a plane at Groom Lake from Tikaboo is in the early morning, and photographers are setting up gear before sunrise. The Janets themselves are arriving at oh dark thirty.

A research project would be to find the date that Glenn made it to "K-mart", i.e. Freedom Ridge, and see how it relates to this transcript.

gariac
Here is my interpretation of this transcript. The person doing the recording has the Groom VHF frequencies. They aren't hard to find since the VHF aviation band is very small and easy to band scan (try all possible frequencies), plus you can lock out known local frequencies. The tower and approach/depature is simulcasting on VHF and UHF. The VHF signal is for the benefit of any Janets in the area, i.e. situational awareness of comms to military aircraft. The military aircraft back in the day generally only had UHF radios. (Post 9/11, they added VHF radios.) The person who did the recording did not have the UHF frequencies since they are much harder to find since the band is larger.

All that said, the transcript is only of the ground based personnel. Now your "professional" radio user, other than SWAT, doesn't use the names of personnel over the air. You get a big enough organization, and you will have too many Joes, Franks, Marys, etc. So generally nobody uses proper names on the radio. But after all, there only is one Glenn Campbell, so I don't think it is impossible ground personnel would call out his name directly. It could even be a psychological game to make Glenn feel paranoid. "We know who you are!"

I really don't think they do early morning testing anymore. The best time to see a plane at Groom Lake from Tikaboo is in the early morning, and photographers are setting up gear before sunrise. The Janets themselves are arriving at oh dark thirty.

A research project would be to find the date that Glenn made it to "K-mart", i.e. Freedom Ridge, and see how it relates to this transcript.

Here is the relevant posting from the archived ufomind website:
www.ufomind.com...

If P.M. is the "aviation journalist" in the post, perhaps he can confirm.

This from Glenn in 2009:
I don't remember anything more about the incident than you read in the posting. I don't remember who the journalist was who made the recording. Although the incident happened on Oct. 31, 1994, I apparently didn't publish it until 1997 because I didn't want to reveal the fact that I had their frequencies.

reply to post by FosterVS


Glenn never identified the journalist who made the recording. The voices heard on the tape were Tower and Ops people. I don't believe they knew that Glenn was monitoring their transmissions.

Most test flying is conducted during daylight for safety reasons and for engineering documentation (photo/video) purposes. Night testing is usually undertaken only when it pertains to operational requirements. Basic testing of the F-117A took place in daylight, but operational testing took place at night because the airplane was designed for nighttime combat operations.

There are photos and videos of formerly classified, advanced technology prototypes/demonstrators undergoing daylight flight-testing at Area 51, including Aquatone (U-2), Oxcart (A-12) , Have Blue, Senior Prom, YF-117A, Tacit Blue, HALSOL, and the YF-118G Bird of Prey.

reply to post by Shadowhawk


I've only watched one test, and it was at night. IIRC, the video that DLR used to sell was a night test. Then there is the Groom Lake "documentary" where the guy records what is obviously a test at night. You can see the runway lights go on and the base darken. The base stays dark until the test aircraft lands. It is like they have the bade on a breaker. I presume this is to reduce light spill over from the base illuminating the test aircraft.

Of the list of planes, only th BOP is of shall we say modern times. Maybe the base is comfortable with testing on moonless nights now.

Look at it this way. Everyone that photographs Groom Lake to the degree where you can see anything does so in the early morning starting after sunrise. But nobody has photographed anything other than Janets in the early AM. The non-Janet flights start around 9AM.

Based in scanner activity, it is obvious some sorts of testing is done during the day, buy these flights could be of released aircraft. For instance, there is video of the SU-27 being tested over the base in addition to the still that I took. But most scanner intercepts have been of night testing.

reply to post by gariac


I would have to agree with the night flight ops for the bulk of testing in recent years. I will reference my post earlier in the thread:

EROS Pod Discussion

I understand situational awareness is important during daylight, but I'd imagine the need is heightened in the dark.

TAGBOARD
reply to post by gariac

 

I would have to agree with the night flight ops for the bulk of testing in recent years. I will reference my post earlier in the thread:

EROS Pod Discussion

I understand situational awareness is important during daylight, but I'd imagine the need is heightened in the dark.

It is a controlled airspace, so midair collisions shouldn't be an issue.

The test I saw amounted to some very low altitude flights over the runway, with a solid white light on the plane and the runway lights still on. So hitting a mountain side is more likely than hitting another plane. More than likely a UAV test.

A pilot I know likes to fly at night VFR. The claim is you can see the things that matter a lot easier at night.

SAR as night may be an issue, but that is why they have a chase plane.

I recently ran across a video from Lockheed

Lockheed Martin Advanced Aeronautics

Interesting concept shown in minute 2:16.

TAGBOARD
I recently ran across a video from Lockheed

Lockheed Martin Advanced Aeronautics

Interesting concept shown in minute 2:16.

Anything in particular? The DoD has been talking about swarms for some time. A quick look yield DARPA talking about swarming UAVs by 2009, but I bet it goes back further. All my privacy plugins are causing google issues (surprise!) so I can't pin down a particular paper, but uav swarm darpa will get you hits.

I am beginning to wonder if there's a link between my original post in this thread:

Boeing Model 119

And the latest aircraft photographed over Wichita:

Wichita’s Mystery in the Sky

If you are able to review the original Boeing job description to work at a "remote facility" in Nevada, it discusses armament installations (Strike Aircraft), boarding ladders (Manned) and unlock and unfold wings (Navy variant). All of which seem to describe some of the characteristics of the following aircraft on pages 119 - 123 of this document:

Boeing 988-123

Boeing 988-123 3 View

Is the "Boeing Model 119" a derivative of the "Boeing 988-123"? Is this the aircraft we saw over Wichita? Wichita is certainly within the operating radius of the Boeing 988-123, from the NCTF or China Lake NAWS. If you review the eyewitness report, the aircraft was fairly agile in performing S-turns. On a related note, if you review the document listed, it dicussses "yaw affectors" in increase agility.

Control effectors include the yaw thrust vectoring exhaust nozzles with +45 degrees of deflection, upper and low Yaw Vane pairs integrated with the nozzle and lower surface, and four elevons per semi-span. Elevons are single panel at the most outboard and inboard position, with the two mid-span panels being split on the wing reference plane.

Boeing Model 119 Discussion: Secret Projects Forum

Boeing Secret Strike Aircraft Announcement at Farnborough in 2010

How is this related to all of the cryptic DoD Contract Announcements to Boeing "performance in Texas" - Global Strike Dallas? Is there some relation to "performance in Texas" and the recent Amarillo sighting? Notice all of the statments "...date of performance completion is May 30, 2014"? Is it just a coincidence we are spotting aircraft over Texas this past month, because the deadline is upon us this coming month to fulfill the contracts?

May 11, 2009

McDonnell Douglas Corp., St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded a maximum $84,611,624 firm fixed price, sole source contract for parts. Other location of performance is in Texas. Using service is Navy. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There was originally one proposal solicited with one response. The date of performance completion is May 30, 2014. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pa., (N00383-06-D-004H-THA2).

May 15, 2009

McDonnell Douglas Corporation, St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded a maximum $84,611,624 firm fixed price, sole source contract for parts. Other location of performance is in Texas. Using service is Navy. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There was originally one proposal solicited with 1 response. The date of performance completion is May 30, 2014. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Philadelphia (DSCR-ZC), Philadelphia, Pa., (N00383-06-D-004H-THA2).

May 27, 2009

McDonnell Douglas Corp., St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded a maximum $15,124,055 firm fixed price, sole source contract for parts. There are no other locations of performance. Using service is Navy. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There was one proposal originally solicited with one response. The date of performance completion is May 30, 2014. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Philadelphia., (DSCR-ZC), Philadelphia, Pa., (N00383-06-D-004H-THA3).

June 18. 2009

McDonnell Douglas Corp., St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded a maximum $8,995,550 firm-fixed-price, sole source contract for parts. There are no other locations of performance. Using service is Navy. There was originally one proposal solicited with one response. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The date of performance completion is May 30, 2012. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Philadelphia (DSCR-ZC), Philadelphia, Pa., (N00383-06-D-001J-TH02).

The timelines from the DoD contract announcements to the Farnborough press release appear to also match up. There appears to be too many coincidences to dismiss.

Without anything to establish scale, the Wichita sighting could be a number of planes. Some claim Phantom Ray, but I think it less that likely they would fly a UAV out there without chase.

The link to Aviation Leak 404s.

I've long learned not to try to read the tea leaves. Anyone who knows isn't going to be talking.