Message posted by Peter Merlin on July 27, 2007 at 21:05:31 PST:

The new building might serve one of two functions.

It may be an aircraft hangar (Hangar 25) for a project involving single or multiple aircraft. The unusual placement of the hangar might indicate a need for increased isolation due to security and/or safety concerns.

On the other hand, it might be an anechoic chamber (similar to the Benefield Anechoic facility at Edwards Air Force Base) to support installed systems testing for avionics test programs requiring a large, shielded chamber with radio frequency (RF) absorption capability that simulates free space. It would be an ideal ground-test facility to investigate and evaluate anomalies associated with electronic warfare (EW) systems, avionics, tactical missiles and their host platforms,spacecraft, air defense systems, and drones. Tactical-sized (single or multiple) or large vehicles could be operated in a controlled electromagnetic (EM) environment with emitters on and sensors stimulated while RF signals are recorded and analyzed.

The Benefield Anechoic Facility at Edwards consists of a 250x264x70-foot steel-plate box enclosed in a metal hangar building. The walls, ceiling, and floor are covered in 816,000 pyramidal foam cones designed to absorb RF signals. The chamber is RFI shielded to 100 dB, and equipped with a turntable (160 feet in diameter) capable of carrying objects weighing up to 1 million pounds. The turntable can rotate 360 degrees and has two hoists—each with a 40-ton capacity.

It will be interesting to see what new details emerge in future photos and satellite images.

In Reply to: The large new hangar posted by Joerg (Webmaster) on July 27, 2007 at 13:08:05 PST:

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