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Tonopah Test Range is located about 70 miles (110 km) northwest of Groom Lake, the home of the Area 51 facility. Like the Groom Lake facility, Tonopah is a site of interest to conspiracy theorists, mostly for its use of experimental and classified aircraft. As such, it is not generally the focus of alien enthusiasts, unlike its neighbor.
Tonopah Test Range Airport (IATA: XSD, ICAO: KTNX, FAA LID: TNX), [2] [3] [4] at the Tonopah Test Range (Senior Trend project site PS-66) [5] is 27 NM (50 km; 31 mi) southeast of Tonopah, Nevada, and 140 mi (230 km) northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. It is a major airfield with a 12,000 ft × 150 ft (3,658 m × 46 m) runway, instrument approach ...
A bombing range and more lately a missile range centered in the south near Las Cruces, an area in the north part of the range was acquired during World War II and used for the Trinity test. An area near the Trinity site is designated the Permanent High Explosive Test Site (PHETS) and was used in the 1980s to host very large ANFO blasts for ...
The Nellis managed airspace [3]: 4–13 associated with the complex is more than 12,700 sq mi (33,000 km 2), [2] is the responsibility of the "US Air Force Virtual (USAFv), A3", and "is composed of the Desert MOA, with overlying Air Traffic Control Assigned Airspace (ATCAA), Reveille North and South MOA and ATCAA, [and] Restricted Areas": [10]
The US Federal Government controls a 6,000 sq mi (16,000 km 2) tract of southern Nevada, including the Nellis Air Force Range and the Nevada Test Site. These contain the Yucca Mountain repository, the Tonopah Test Range, and the secret Area 51 facility.
Tonopah Test Range Airport was selected for operations of the first USAF F-117 unit, the 4450th Tactical Group (TG). [43] From October 1979, the Tonopah Airport base was reconstructed and expanded. The 6,000-foot runway was lengthened to 10,000 feet. Taxiways, a concrete apron, a large maintenance hangar, and a propane storage tank were added. [44]
The tests did not involve the detonation of any nuclear weapons. Instead, their purpose was to evaluate the distribution of radioactive particles in a " dirty bomb " scenario, or an inadvertent, non-nuclear detonation of a nuclear weapon, as well as to evaluate the effectiveness of storage structures in containing the explosion and the ...
On June 28, 1949, the "Gunnery Range of the Tonopah Air Force Base" had about 30 sq mi (78 km 2) [19] and after the 1949 Las Vegas Air Force Base was renamed on April 30, 1950, a United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) committee selected the "Las Vegas Bombing and Gunnery Range" for a nuclear test site on December 12, 1950. [20]