Check Out This Rare Footage Of Red Eagle MiGs At Tonopah Test Range Airport

Updated Dec 15, 2019 9:16 PM EST

Maybe the most prominent program to emerge from America’s shadowy foreign materiel exploitation (FME) ecosystem was Constant Peg . During the late 1970s and 1980s, the U.S. was flying captured, found, and otherwise reconstituted Russian tactical jets against its own in extreme secrecy. The program also gave birth to the enigmatic Tonopah Test Range Airport as we know it today , which eventually would also house the F-117 Nighthawk force while it remained cloaked in secrecy . The base continues to host the F-117 today in its semi-retired state and a large number of other programs that are shrouded under deep classification. The video below gives us a very rare look not only at a U.S. operated MiG-23 Flogger preparing for a mission, but also into one of the original hangars built on the base for Constant Peg that still stand today. It is one of three hangars that are the largest on the base, with 160-foot wide hangar doors.

Note that in the video, the base’s highly unique fenced apron is clearly visible. The contents of the facility were so sensitive in the 1980s that double-rowed security fencing was installed along with floodlights and other security measures more common at a maximum-security prison than an airfield. The arrangement was used to separate the runway from the rest of the base. Sliding gates open to let approved aircraft through. So, even if an uncleared plane were to land of the strip, the occupants couldn’t make it any farther than the runway.

The video is having issues embedding, this link will take you directly to it on Youtube.

You can read more about this historic program and watch a great mini-documentary about it in this piece of ours .

A budding Tonopah Test Range Airport in 1982. , DoD

Tonopah Test Range Airport today. , Google Earth

Although the original Constant Peg program was shuttered in 1990, follow-on programs in which foreign tactical aircraft, such as Su-27 and MiG-29s, are flown by American pilots and against American assets continue on in secret to this very day. Even the 4477th Test and Evaluation “Red Eagles” Squadron that conducted Constant Peg over 30 years ago lives on at least in the lore and iconography of the units that still conduct similar missions the Air Force’s clandestine flight test center near Groom Lake, better known as Area 51.

Contact the author: Tyler@thedrive.com

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更新于美国东部时间2019年12月15日晚上9:16。

或许，美国神秘的外国物资开发（FME）体系中最引人注目的项目就是“恒钉”（Constant Peg）计划。在20世纪70年代末和80年代，美国极其秘密地使用缴获、找到或以其他方式重新组装的俄罗斯战术喷气式飞机，与自己的飞机进行对抗。该计划也催生了我们今天所知的神秘的托诺帕试验场机场，该机场最终也成为了F-117“夜鹰”战斗机部队的驻地，而当时F-117的部署仍然处于高度保密状态。如今，该基地仍然驻扎着处于半退役状态的F-117战斗机，以及许多其他高度机密的项目。下面的视频让我们得以一窥美国运营的米格-23“鞭挞者”（MiG-23 Flogger）战斗机正在为任务做准备，以及基地内为“恒钉”计划建造的原始机库之一，该机库至今仍然屹立。它是基地内最大的三个机库之一，机库门宽达160英尺（约49米）。

请注意，视频中可以清晰地看到该基地独特的围栏停机坪。由于该设施在20世纪80年代的性质极其敏感，因此安装了双层安全围栏，并配备了泛光灯和其他安保措施，这些措施在最高安全级别的监狱中比在机场更为常见。这种设计旨在将跑道与基地其他区域隔离开来。只有获得批准的飞机才能通过滑动门。因此，即使未经许可的飞机降落在跑道上，机上人员也无法离开跑道。

视频嵌入出现问题，点击此链接即可直接在 YouTube 上观看。

您可以阅读我们这篇文章，了解更多关于这个历史性项目的信息，并观看一部关于它的精彩迷你纪录片。

1982年，托诺帕试验靶场机场正在建设中。（美国国防部）

今天托诺帕试验场机场。（谷歌地球）

尽管最初的“恒力钉”计划已于1990年终止，但后续计划仍在秘密进行，这些计划使用苏-27和米格-29等外国战术飞机，由美国飞行员驾驶，攻击美国目标。甚至30多年前执行“恒力钉”计划的第4477测试评估“红鹰”中队，至少在那些仍在格鲁姆湖附近空军秘密飞行测试中心（即著名的51区）执行类似任务的部队的传说和象征中仍然存在。

联系作者：Tyler@thedrive.com

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