Lockheed Skunk Works' Helendale Radar Cross Section (RCS) Range

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Winston

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Lockheed's Helendale Radar Signature Test Range Looks Right Out Of Science Fiction
Some of the biggest leaps in modern combat aircraft design have been made with the help of these facilities, many of which remain classified.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zo...test-range-looks-right-out-of-science-fiction

Excerpt:

Of all the radar cross section test facilities (aside from the DYCOMS system at Area 51 and the flying NT-43A RAT bird), one of the most elaborate is Lockheed Martin's Helendale RCS measurement facility. Conveniently located in the Mojave Desert, just 45 miles east of Lockheed's Skunk Works headquarters at Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, the installation sits where the old World War II era Helendale Airport once was, on approximately ten square miles of land. In fact, one of the airport's old runways is still in operation for smaller aircraft, like Lockheed's company operated PC-12s that ferry personnel to clandestine sites around the American Southwest, and is lit for nighttime operations. But to be clear, that airstrip is anything but public.

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Lockheed Martin Helendale RCS facility

https://www.otherhand.org/home-page...ojave/lockheed-martin-helendale-rcs-facility/

Excerpt:

At first glance, that fact that it is only a single range with just three target positions, might make one think this is a relatively simple installation. Quite the contrary is true. This is truly a remarkable facility with superbly clever engineering. We’ll start our “tour” of the facility at the south end with the operations center, and proceed downrange (northward) from there.

On the north side of the Operations Complex is the Antenna Array. This 70' high tower holds a number of different radar antennas, covering a wide range of frequencies. Hydraulic elevators on the tower move the antennas up or down, to place them in optimum positions for any given test. According to the most recently released public information, the antennas are fed by a 1 kilowatt System Planning Corporation (SPC) MK III radar unit. However the SPC MK III is no longer a “state of the art” unit, now superceded by the SPC MK IV, which is currently the most widely used radar cross section measurement radar in the country. It’s reasonable to assume the Helendale facility has upgraded to a MK IV unit by now. (The MK V radar unit, which will use a Windows (!) control system, is about to enter prototype stage.)


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The World's Most Secretive 737 Is America's Key To Better Stealth Tech
19 Feb 2107

https://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/the-worlds-most-secretive-737-is-really-the-usafs-most-1686479619

Excerpt:

Nobody knows exactly where “Rat 55" lives or precisely what technology it uses to accomplish its mission, but it sure is an exotic beast. The USAF’s secretive NT-43A testbed is a highly modified 737-200 that goes far beyond ground-based radar and infrared signature testing on stealthy aircraft by plying its trade high up in the sky in their target aircraft’s natural operating environment.

The aircraft’s massive radomes and structural modification were said to have been designed by Lockheed’s Skunk Works and were installed by the Goodyear Aerospace plant in Arizona around the turn of the century. Before that, USAF serial number 73-1155 lived its life as a humble T-43A navigational training aircraft from 1974 to 1997. It was then retired to the boneyard and stored there for over two years before being chosen for its new unique role.


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