Helendale RCS Facility

USA / California / Lenwood / Wheeler Road, 17452
 site - to be removed, radar station
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Helendale Avionics Facility
Lockheed Martin Corporation
17452 Wheeler Road
Helendale, CA 92342

The Helendale Radar Cross Section Facility is an aircraft research facility developed and operated by the Lockheed Martin Corporation. It is a secretive test range developed at an old WWII training field, used to measure the radar reflectivity of stealth aircraft designs. There are assembly facilities located underneath the old runway, and prototypical forms tested outside on the range are mounted on hydraulic pylons that rise out of the ground through doors in the runway surface. The facility is one of at least three Radar Cross-Section facilities owned by the major aerospace companies and located in the Antelope Valley area. It is at facilities such as this where stealth technologies, like the F-117 and B-2, and Joint Strike Fighter are developed.

This airfield was established in 1942 as a satellite field for Victorville AAF (later renamed George AFB).
Helendale continued to operate as a satellite field for Victorville AAF until the end of WW2.
Helendale was reused after WW2 as a private civilian airfield.
Starting in 1983, the runways were reused as a radar cross section testing range by Lockheed. It is the most mechanically sophisticated of the Mojave Desert RCS ranges,
and was expanded in 1985.
One of the 3 paved runways (4/22, 4,600') of the old airstrip is still maintained & operational, and has lighting for night operations.
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   34°49'19"N   117°18'6"W

Comments

  • There's a similar, apparently less sophisticated facility East of Orlando, FL. http://wikimapia.org/#lat=28.3756938&lon=-81.0758829&z=15&l=0&m=h&v=2
  • Additional info on the facility is available here: http://www.otherhand.org/home-page/area-51-and-other-strange-places/bluefire-main/bluefire/radar-ranges-of-the-mojave/lockheed-martin-helendale-rcs-facility/
This article was last modified 12 years ago