Message posted by Magoo on September 26, 2000 at 20:07:14 EST:

Noone is 100% sure what IS going on at Groom at the moment.

We do KNOW the base has undergone a steady expansion since the heady days of the early 1980's, including a massive upgrading of the runway and taxiway facilities there in the early 1990's. We KNOW that the U-2, A-12, YF-12, F-117, and Tacit Blue were all developed at Groom, and that the B-2 also spent some time there in its early days.

We SUSPECT that there is at least one 'fast mover' based at Groom undergoing development, and that there have been several reports in recent months of extremely noisy engine tests, and possibly some high- speed taxi tests judging by their duration and power levels.

There have been reports of at least 3 huge aircraft known by several names such as 'Brilliant Buzzard' or 'Mothership' being based there as recently as the early 90's, although it is suspected these may have been retired now. There is also the ever-present 'Aurora' rumors, although we SUSPECT any staregic recon asset that might be around is known by another name.

As for TR-3...the jury is still out on that one, although we suspect it may be a tac recon aircraft or even a UAV, rather than a buddy laser platform as has been reported elsewhere. There are also rumors of a new medium strike aircraft designed to replace the F-111 and F-15E underdevelopment, but little is known about this.

We also SUSPECT there have been weapons tests based out of Groom over the years, as well as UAV/UCAV development going on there as well. Other rumors of particle beam or laser weapons being developed at Groom seem to have some credibility, and I recommend you read Tom Mahood; excellent site for more information on these (Link from this site).

Magoo

In Reply to: views posted by GLW on September 26, 2000 at 19:41:05 EST:

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