What's Being Housed at Edwards South Base?


Message posted by MattGTO on May 21, 2020 at 8:56:58 PST:

I wanted to make a write-up based on information that came up in a separate thread (a lot of traffic off socal) about a black project currently being housed at Edwards South Base.

The user AsleepModeOn says that according to a "very very reliable source", there's what he believes to be a manned platform, possibly IRS, housed in the "large white stand alone hangar" at South Base. He also says he caught a glimpse of the program patch, and said it was black on black, with a dragon resembling the animated character Toothless in flight. Based on that description, I worked up a couple of very basic mock-ups (please excuse my lack of Photoshop ability):
https://ibb.co/2hWzTyz

The first patch was lifted straight from the B-21 Program Patch. The second is exactly what he described, a dragon in flight that looks similar to Toothless.

War Zone put out an article in March about the upgrades to EFB and South Base in particular. This article makes a strong case that the B-21 test fleet will likely be housed in the central part of the base - not in the south. It also has before/after images of the additions to South Base that we discussed in the earlier thread. In addition to hangar updates and construction, the entire large hangar complex is totally fenced off.
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/32522/edwards-afb-upgrades-point-to-unexpected-home-for-b-21-raider-and-other-secretive-programs

Now, here's the big question: What manned, possibly ISR, possibly B-21-related aircraft could be housed in that hangar? It's a massive building, so it doesn't give us any solid indication of possible wingspan. My first thought was the Penetrating Counter Air fighter as part of the B-21 program. But with planned service for that aircraft starting in the 2030's, could it be possible that it would already be in testing phases at Edwards? Alternately, the user kitped recently mentioned in a separate thread that he believes a stealth transport is currently being tested at Groom ("it has a blended wing design similar to a ‘fat’ B-2 with upturned winglets similar to a 737-800"). Or what if it's not related to the B-21 at all?


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