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Ex-worker describes stealth copter

A classified, black-budget stealth helicopter was being tested at the Groom Lake Air Force base as early as 1990, a former base employee said this week.

The former worker, who asked not to be identified, closely monitored daily base operations and revealed the code name for the helicopter as "T.E.-K," standing for "Test and Evaluation Project K."

That code name is consistent with those of at least two previous stealth projects tested at the classified Lincoln County air base - the F-117 stealth fighter, known as "T.E.-A," and the B-2 stealth bomber, known as "T.E.-B."

The former worker described the helicopter as drab green, angular and riveted, with gull-wing doors that flip vertically and cup underneath the body when closed.

The two-seater was loaded with telemetry gear in back and flew silently, without the loud beating of rotor blades typical of other helicopters, he noted.

The former worker said two of the helicopters were stored near the southern end of the base complex in Hangar 8, the structure where the Air Force reportedly stored the B-2 while testing that aircraft during the late 1980s.

He recalled that pilots took the helicopters for spins up to twice a day, sometimes testing them against Soviet radar systems in the Nellis Air Force Range, and sometimes simply hovering over the air base, occasionally switching directions.

"I'm not sure exactly what they were testing, but it looked like they were trying it out pretty completely," he said.

Some aspects of his description of the aircraft match details about secret high-speed stealth helicopters outlined in the Feb. 6 issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine.

Aviation experts believe plans for such aircraft have been under way for at least 10 years.

"This is a project that could be very close to completion," said John Pike, director of the Space Policy Project for the Washington-based Federation of American Scientists.

Experts say light, quiet and stealthy helicopters could be used for clandestine "Rambo-type missions," quick-in, quick-out assignments without being noticed.

"I'd say they could get a lot of use out that type of aircraft," Pike said.

Officials at the Pentagon and Nellis Air Force Base would not comment specifically on the existence of stealth helicopters or on other black-budget projects possibly being tested within the Nellis Air Force Range. They have also refused to acknowledge the existence of the Groom Lake base itself, which has been observed by thousands of onlookers from nearby mountain ridges in Lincoln County.

The Air Force has applied to withdraw those ridges as a buffer zone around the air base. That withdrawal is expected to be approved this spring.