morellt 15 hours ago

I'm a current DoD contractor employee at Griffiss, and it's a real trip to see just how much cool stuff is/was being done at the base when it was still active. There is still cool research being done but nothing at this scope for a while now. It makes me kind of sad to see all of this activity being sent away from NY to Cali, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, etc. Not a whole lot of large-scale testing/development going on up here nowadays. Getting stories from the old timers is always fun, though.

  • morellt 15 hours ago

    FUN FACT: This is the same base Woodstock '99 took place at :D

HocusLocus 10 hours ago

There (was) also ATLAS-I or "Trestle" ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATLAS-I ) at Kirtland Air Force Base near Albuquerque, New Mexico to park airplanes onto for EMP testing. The largest non-nuclear electromagnetic pulse generator in the world.

See it ( https://www.google.com/maps/place/35°01'47.3"N+106°33'27.6"W... )

craigmcnamara 3 hours ago

I used to work at AFRL as an intern and a contractor, there were pictures of these platforms in a bunch of the buildings. I also played in a golf league in Newport NY. You could see the platform from a few of the holes.

dmurray 15 hours ago

> Instead of flying the aircraft over test antennae, the airframes (usually minus their tails) are suspended upside-down, under or near the instrumentation.

Why not make a hole in the ground and put the antennae under the airplane that way?

  • KineticLensman 15 hours ago

    Because then the interesting electronic emissions would be radiating into the ground, not to nearby test equipment.

    • dmurray 12 hours ago

      I was intending to put the test equipment in the hole.

      Since "flying over test antennae" was an option, it shouldn't be a problem that there's solid ground (the bottom of the hole) underneath the test equipment.

      I think the real answer is that they need more angles than keeping the aircraft flat and level and putting the antennae below it would provide. The aircraft have to be suspended anyway, so they can be rotated and have different profiles measured.

      • ano-ther 11 hours ago

        The ground lining the hole would also reflect or absorb electromagnetic waves differently than air.

  • ambicapter 12 hours ago

    I think the intention is to radiate into the ground, not into the sky, where spy satellites can possibly sense the stray emissions.

gunian 12 hours ago

thought this was about the airforce of a newly created republic called upside down

franky47 12 hours ago

"I was inverted"

"Uh, Lieutenant. What were you doing there?"

"Communicating."

dylan604 13 hours ago

"This must be the full-service island"

I'm dead. For that to be one of the only captions, I'm just glad I wasn't taking a sip when I read it.