Justin Bullock, FISM News
The US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd J. Austin III, is reported to have visited one of the most secretive US bases in the world aboard one of the most secretive military aircrafts ever made. Austin is said to have visited Tonopah Test Range Airport (TTR) after flying aboard one of the U.S. Air Force’s E-4B Nightwatch aircraft, which are also known as National Airborne Operations Centers (NAOC). The reason for the visit is unknown but it has fascinated both military aficionados and conspiracy theorists alike.
NAOCs are massive aircrafts designed for long term flight. This means that they can serve as a consistent base of operations and communications for the US military and broader government in the event of a doomsday scenario. They are also the normal aircraft used to transport the Secretary of Defense as he visits foreign nations around the world.
Normally a contingent of the press would be on the aircraft accompanying the Secretary of Defense, but it is highly unlikely that such a press contingent was aboard the NAOC this time since it landed at the highly secretive TTR. In many respects the TTR base is equivalent to the legendary Area 51 base. Like Area 51, TTR is a part of the larger Nevada Test and Training Range area. This area is where a large majority of the military’s top-secret programs are initiated and run. As a result public access is either totally forbidden or heavily restricted at any of its constitutive bases.
According to the open-source flight data website ADS-B Exchange, the NAOC landed at TTR and then departed approximately three hours later before it landed in Alaska. This was later confirmed by the Secretary of Defense who tweeted that he had just landed in Alaska.
Wheels down in Alaska. pic.twitter.com/vjrpLW8LF3
— Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (@SecDef) July 24, 2021
The Secretary of Defense is set to visit Asia on a number of diplomatic missions, so the ultimate destination of Alaska is normal protocol for such visits. It is also theorized that the brief stop over at the TTR was for the Secretary of Defense to be briefed about some unknown program currently in development by the military. Regardless, there has never been a recorded visit by the Secretary of Defense to TTR, specifically aboard a NAOC.