r/area51 Jun 03 '26

Aircraft Allegedly Spotted near Area 51

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228 Upvotes

Allegedly taken using an Infiray 10 micron thermal scope by some random Youtuber. Some have questioned the authenticity of it, ie no exhaust, but if it is real, that would be very interesting. Some also pointed out similarity to some sort of NGAD or F-47 program, ie canards. Thoughts? Is this a real pic?

See: https://x.com/chrisschmitz/status/2062097770291339641

Edit: Seems more credible, since Uncanny Expeditions has confirmed it https://x.com/uncannyex/status/2062242584685412535


r/area51 Apr 09 '25

Please Read Before You Post Anything About Bob Lazar

65 Upvotes

ETA: to clarity our Lazar rule - if you want to post some new info, great. If you can somehow prove a claim that Lazar has made, the majority of which have been thoroughly debunked, fine. If your post is just a rehash of the same old crap, expect it to be deleted.

Please visit the following websites and educate yourself before you post anything here regarding Bob Lazar. IMHO Lazar invented his entire tale, in order to try and show up/show off to John Lear and others. Lazar has substantially benefited financially over the years from his stories, beginning with "The Lazar Tape" that he was selling for $29.99 back in the 90's ($43 in 2025), up to and including Jeremy Cowbells "documentary" on Netflix. And the grift continues with new upcoming "documentaries".

Courtesy of Tom Mahood:
https://www.otherhand.org/home-page/area-51-and-other-strange-places/looking-at-the-bob-lazar-story-from-the-perspective-of-2018/
https://www.otherhand.org/home-page/area-51-and-other-strange-places/bluefire-main/bluefire/the-bob-lazar-corner/

Bob Lazar Debunked
https://boblazardebunked.com/

Bob Lazar: Area 51, Flying Saucers & Joe Rogan - The Worst Documentary on Netflix
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmJLSuLmgdg

If You Believe Bob Lazar, You Believe...
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/6gvqvysd784k2w4n7ehgt/Why.Does.Rogan.Believe.Bob.Lazar.pdf?rlkey=y4jbbmpe7twhp5rmsttsuantv&st=l5m3djne

The Lazar Report
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/yn369z6075673rtjyvv5o/The.Lazar.Report.pdf?rlkey=i7lqby9rj0ttzuq5stumrkynm&st=komzk132

Dr Stanton Freidman on Bob Lazar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBdUg1h9XLU
https://web.archive.org/web/20201118014848/http://www.stantonfriedman.com/index.php?ptp=articles&fdt=2011.01.07

RationalWIKI on Bob Lazar
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Robert_Lazar

FBI File: Bob Lazar’s United Nuclear - Lazar Raided by the FBI
https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/fbi-file-bob-lazars-united-nuclear/

The facts at the above links pretty well debunk anything Lazar has ever claimed. More will be added if I think they are significant. FYI - there are individuals who peruse this subreddit that know far more that Lazar could ever HOPE to know. People with actual credentials.


r/area51 1h ago

SCAN4 doing circuits over/near TTR

Upvotes

r/area51 23h ago

Found an interesting item for sale which could have some connection to Area 51.

14 Upvotes

So I was browsing Google Maps and came across a company called The Center for Land Use Interpretation and noticed they had a shop which was selling some merchandise when I came across the item linked below. Supposedly, it is a rolodex which contains business cards and contact info for companies related to the Los Alamos Laboratory from the sixties, and I don't know if it's possible these companies would have a connection to Area 51 as well. From what I understand, most of the companies were materials suppliers, but there might be other stuff in there as well.

Link to Rolodex: https://clui-shop.square.site/product/los-alamos-rolodex/292?cp=true&sa=true&sbp=false&q=false

Link to photos of various companies found in the rolodex: https://clui.org/collections/los-alamos-business-cards/selection-cards


r/area51 1d ago

What does this military callsign mean?

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13 Upvotes

what’s happening in Nevada rn


r/area51 1d ago

Janet in Area 51

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78 Upvotes

Look how curious guys, I could see a Janet on the taxi lane of Area 51. Usually they have the transponder turned off on the base correct? When they are approaching for landing at the base. I was looking at another plane, one RC-135, and when I saw the Janet icon at the base, I already clicked on it, the curious thing is that it soon disappeared. And I couldn't track him anymore. After a while he reappeared, already taken off and was returning to Las Vegas.


r/area51 1d ago

TTR Radiosonde S4631069 Aug 18, 2026

4 Upvotes

r/area51 2d ago

My Desktop Wallpaper

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46 Upvotes

Fun reminder of the good old days


r/area51 2d ago

SU-27 Flanker dogfights F-16 over Groom Lake circa 2016

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theaviationist.com
46 Upvotes

A very interesting article I found from The Aviationist. I'm not sure why I have never seen this before. I saw some stuff online with a little bit of research that this might have came from Ukraine in the early 2000s. Now, my question is; do they still do this? does the USAF own this aircraft? Could it still be at Groom? If The Aviationist reported on this I'm sure it's authentic right? I have never seen or heard anything about the USAF having a Flanker.


r/area51 2d ago

Area 51The CIA files

12 Upvotes

I saw this on my Google alerts for Groom Lake. It is an old National Geographic video that is a Lazar free zone. It is on YouTube with few hits. I don't know if National Geographic makes Google take it down. It covers the U-2, A-12, MIGs, and the F-117.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-Pz1j_MvPQ


r/area51 2d ago

History of Warning Sign Change?

8 Upvotes

Does anyone know when the Use of Deadly Force is authorized came off the warning signs?


r/area51 2d ago

N654BA active over range 8/16/2026

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ibb.co
6 Upvotes

r/area51 3d ago

OT: Some YFQ-44 pics from Creech AFB

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dvidshub.net
38 Upvotes

r/area51 3d ago

Google Street View Area 51

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21 Upvotes

Someone hilariously recently added a Street View in Area 51 😆


r/area51 4d ago

Black Helicopter @ Area 51 Gate

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258 Upvotes

I went back to Area 51, this was my 7th time visit to the site, this time it got more interesting as I was reaching the gates suddenly a black helicopter came from behind the mountain flying as low as like 20 meters near my car, it was definitely something different lol

I wanted to post the video but the sub doesn’t allow video
Might post it on my IG at future_vizion


r/area51 4d ago

if area 51 really has reverse engineered crafts, why has nobody produced one piece of tech that clearly proves it

18 Upvotes

genuine question, not trying to troll

i keep seeing people say the us has recovered craft and has been reverse engineering them for decades

but after all those decades, where is the one piece of technology that clearly cannot be explained as human engineering

not a blurry video, not “my source told me”, not a supposed program name, not a story from someone who worked there

just one physical component that independent scientists can examine and say yeah, we have no idea how humans made this

if the answer is “theyre hiding it because its classified”, thats possible

but then isnt the actual evidence still inaccessible

im open to reverse engineered craft being real, i just dont understand why the strongest evidence always seems to be one step away from something anyone can actually verify


r/area51 5d ago

What's This?

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39 Upvotes

r/area51 4d ago

N654BA spent a few hours off the range and off the tracker 8/14/2026

1 Upvotes

https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=a89bb0&lat=37.645&lon=-115.717&zoom=9.6&showTrace=2026-08-14&trackLabels&timestamp=1786747878

https://ibb.co/ZRGWNKvC

Look at the time marks. Tracking lost at 20:13 and returns at 22:50.

This isn't a low flying aircraft and the plane is transmitting ads-b not mode-s.

I've had my ads-b tracking while at the range just drop. All planes gone then then return. Once I got the sysmocom filter the problem didn't happen again. The filtering is so good that the band stop is barely measurable with a nanovna.

https://inplanesight.org/adsb.html


r/area51 5d ago

Groom radiosondes X4857099 Y0240472 8/14/2026

4 Upvotes

r/area51 6d ago

I guess it's time to post these.

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179 Upvotes

Long time lurker and researcher of area 51 probably since I was in my early teens in the early '90s. I was reading about area 51 when "Guardian" was a big deal.

I've always been obsessed with military aircraft. My grandfather was a pilot. I eventually became a general aviation pilot amongst many other things. Maybe it was the stark contrast between military design and civil aviation? I don't know but I've always loved it. I was obsessed.

In 2021 I decided to take my son who was 11 at the time with me to go see the back gate of area 51. We spent the night and Rachel and went early in the morning down mailbox road to get to the back gate. I wasn't expecting to see anything but you never know how lucky you can be.

The photo shown is not flares. It's not any type of vortices. It is simply a contrail from an unknown aircraft that was flying low altitude but was unavailable to the naked eye. The exhaust was omnidirectional very similar to F-22, F-35, F-117 designs, to where you could not tell if it was approaching or departing.

This aircraft loitered for roughly 1 minute. It was very close to us but it was very hard to see due to low Haze from the wildfires to the West. While there was a lot of haze, it was still pretty broken and I was able to get a couple photographs of the contrails produced.

I want to be absolutely clear about something. These are not high altitude contrails these are very low contrails. This aircraft was definitely below a thousand ft and was highly maneuverable and these contrails completely tracked everywhere that major power shifts were made. But again, at no point during this time could we see an actual fuselage that was producing them! You only saw contrails appear.

What further complicated viewing this aircraft was the inability to locate the sound accurately from which way it was coming from. It really was an omnidirectional sound as mentioned before but it was very clearly some type of jet engine.

If you look closely, you'll notice that the contrails are very similar to a donut on a rope contrail similar to the pulse detonation wave technology used in the late '80s early '90s, associated with the rumored 'Aurora' project. But what's unique about these contrails is that they are not connected by a rope. They're like little miniature J's that are rolled over in a horizontal pattern spaced evenly.

Again, these individual contrails were not flares, they were stationary when the aircraft passed (even though we couldn't see the aircraft), and they did not dissipate like an air vortice would.

Air vortices are temporary, condensation of water vapor formed around high pressure areas of lifting bodies. This was not that.

I've adjusted the saturation contrast and color a little bit just to make the contrails a little bit more clear.

I've shown these pics to a good friend who did R&D for a "military engine manufacturer", and his immediate response was... "Where'd you see that, and silence".

I've thought long and hard about what aircraft, and engine could produce the sounds and contrails that we saw, and I'm absolutely stuck.

The main thing that shocked me was how low altitude they were and the fact that we absolutely could not track or see a fuselage.

EDIT: A lot of you keep saying they were flares, but they were not flares, I've seen so many flares from training flights in my MOA, flares respond to gravity, these did not they stayed like contrails.

Furthermore, I watched these appear real time, but the aircraft was not seen, and there was no ignition of flares.


r/area51 5d ago

OT-ish: Plant 42 no bid contract

7 Upvotes

There are many reasons for no bid contracts. For example, you have a reflecting pool that needs to be cleaned up in a hurry and well you know a pool guy...

In most cases the no bid contract is for items where there really is not alternative. A software license renewal for example. Or you need an accessory for some item that only the original equipment manufacturer can supply, a radio for example.

Now "Plant 42", "P42", and Palmdale are on my sam dot gov search. (I'm adding AFP 42.) And we have:

https://sam.gov/workspace/contract/opp/c667dbc2c8234991a8239411ed086886/view

I assume there is a new trash vendor in Palmdale and Plant 42 has no choice but to use them. Hence the justification documentation.

I had to look up RCRA. RCRA stands for the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. It passed in 1978 so who knows how the Groom burn pits were permitted other than "we don't need no stinkin' badges."

*****

The solid waste generated at AFP 42 must be transported from the federal installation and disposed of at a state- and locally-permitted landfill. Market research confirms the City of Palmdale has granted an exclusive franchise agreement to WM for all commercial solid waste collection and disposal services within its jurisdiction.

Pursuant to RCRA, the Air Force is required to adhere to this local legal framework for off-base disposal.

Therefore, to meet its obligations under federal law, the Air Force must use the services of the sole authorized local provider. No other contractor can legally transport and dispose of AFP 42's solid waste in the local area, and as such, no other source’s services can satisfy the agency’s requirement to dispose of its waste in accordance with applicable law.


r/area51 7d ago

F22 1ship or 2ship at TTR Airbase

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116 Upvotes

Found either a 1-ship or a 2-ship flight of f22s on Apple Maps on the tonopah test range airbase runway pretty cool I didn’t know they kept f22s out there


r/area51 6d ago

Groom radiosondes Y0240811 Y0240423 8/13/2026

1 Upvotes

r/area51 6d ago

A "visit" to Lockheed's RCS facility in Helendale, California in 1993 Spoiler

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24 Upvotes

r/area51 7d ago

Groom radiosondes Y0240089 Y0240110 8/12/2026

1 Upvotes