Message posted by CoyoteUgly on February 14, 2005 at 22:28:25 PST:
A couple of points here... 1) Why would F-111s be chasing "fastmovers"? The F-111 is a BOMBER, not a fighter/interceptor! 2) Would a "bush pilot" REALLY be able to get close to such a facility if it existed? 3) The only airport bigger than a dirt strip capable of supporting a C-130 or larger anywhere near Alice Springs is Yulara at Ayres Rock, some 200 miles to the south-west. The land surrounding Alice Springs is almost all privately owned grazing land or national park (BLM) land. 4) Pine Gap is a facility for the downloading of IMINT and SIGINT and other 'intel' from satellites and other airborne assets. The site is run by the CIA, NRO, DIA and the NSA, and is supported by weekly USAF C-17 and leased civil aircraft flights into Alice Springs itself. It has about 12 large radomes up to a couple of hundred feet in diameter, and is not a secret (hidden) base. 5) There would be little strategic value in locating a secret flight test facility in the centre of Australia or basing F-117s in Australia. Imagine the logistical nightmare in supporting a secret flight test program 10,000 miles away from the manufacturer's or the unit's home base! Australia really only has a geographical value to the US in its relatively uncluttered airspace for training in. 6) Someone wanna tell me where they would get enough water in the dry centre of Australia to clear a cheshire type airstrip every time a plane wanted to land, and even if they could, how such a system would work??? But then again...maybe I'm just getting cynical in my old age! CU
In Reply to: Go ask Alice posted by Steve Douglass on February 14, 2005 at 19:12:53 PST:
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