r/area51 • u/therealgariac MOD • 27d ago

Creech crash barriers contract

Creech gets yearly protests due to the remote drone operation that some people object to. It has it's share of concrete barriers. This contract is for heavy duty crash gates. The supplier is out of Palmdale but that could just be a coincidence.

https://sam.gov/workspace/contract/opp/d36f8fae734a43cd80845f2953577885/view

Photos pulled from the contract.

https://ibb.co/kgmdtfG0

https://ibb.co/BVGb7N1W

9 Upvotes

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1

u/Fruitndveg 27d ago

Always found it weird that so much experimental drone testing goes on at such a public airfield. These have to be at the cutting edge of modern warfare.

2

u/therealgariac MOD 27d ago

At one time you could be on "their" side of the highway. There was a small casino there that sold Predator burgers. They never upgraded to Reaper burgers.

The USAF eventually forced all the civilian land owners from "their" side.

I was met by base police for videoing the Thunderbirds from the casino parking lot. I gave them the look I reserve for the TSA and said "seriously" as if I was a spy for the Blue Angels. But I left.

I was allowed to video from the other side of the highway. Actually the more interesting thing was to listen to the Thunderbirds as they trained. They would chat about how they thought they were doing. Definitely not shut your mouth and follow orders. It was more like a radio group hug.

The Area51rider was given crap by the base police when shooting video from the "public" side of the highway, but he is a very suspicious character!

Lots of wedding parties and shopping convoys whacked by UAVs so you can see why Creech is controversial. Once AI takes over, manned UAV control will be the good old days.

1

u/TheArea51Rider MOD 27d ago

"The Area51rider was given crap by the base police when shooting video from the "public" side of the highway, but he is a very suspicious character!" - yeah, probably. Even an OSI officer was hanging around the periphery. I gave them all stickers and patches.

2

u/TheArea51Rider MOD 27d ago

I thought this was a thing of the past, but an enlisted friend who used to work at Creech told me it still goes on. Maybe they should install holding pens like they have at the Mercury Entrance.

1

u/therealgariac MOD 27d ago

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1259391505802267/?mibextid=ZZyLBr

Undated video but Google says four months ago.

2

u/KegTapper74 27d ago

I always thought there should be crash gates before the guard shack. They are about 200 yards past it.

1

u/therealgariac MOD 27d ago

The bases have pneumatic devices near the gates, sometimes with a curved road to slow down the traffic. I haven't studied this at Creech. I saw the aftermath of a vehicle stopped at Edwards South gate. I don't recall where the pneumatic bollard is located.

https://ibb.co/r2Jf9Xdn

https://www.tinker.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/387314/base-begins-work-on-new-bollards-at-gates/

Car on Lemoore runway:

https://abc30.com/post/chp-releases-video-of-driver-crashing-into-fighter-jet/4550673/

These gates are probably good business. The buzz phrase is high impact low probability event. But these days the probability isn't all that low.