Nellis AFB Threat Training Facility

There’s a small piece of Nellis Air Force Base that holds many secrets… Our enemies’ secrets! The Threat Training Facility on Nellis AFB officially did not exist until just a few years ago, but now anyone who can get on the base can see the weapons systems on display. While the Threat Center is now open to anyone with base access, it is still an active training facility and a vital source of intelligence to current U.S. military servicemen.

In my time as a user and editor on F-16.net, I’ve been fortunate to meet a few of the other people from that great website. One of those people is a friend of mine named Mark. Mark just happens to work as a civilian contractor with the Air Force on the F-22A Raptor fighter jet and was in town for some classes on the Raptor. It was awefully nice of him to invite me on base back in February to check out the Threat Training Facility!

We started out in the main building which houses two current front line Eastern Block fighters – a MiG-23 Flogger and a MiG-29 Fulcrum. You can walk right up to them, touch them, take pictures, and even sit in the cockpits!

My impression of the MiG-29 was that it is a pretty simple, heavily built aircraft that can operate out of unimproved airfields. The engines have been removed and I don’t want to speculate where those are right now! Sitting in the cockpit, my impression was that it has too many switches and dials after seeing current U.S. military jet cockpits. Overall, I think the Fulcrum is just what it was designed to be – a fairly low-tech fighter that is able to operate out of unimproved airstrips without much in the way of ground support equipment.

The Flogger shared some similarities with the Fulcrum, but I could tell it was an earlier design and that I wouldn’t want to go into combat in it! I thought the Fulcrum had lots of switches and dials, but the Flogger has even that beat! On top of the endless switches, the Flogger’s visibility out of the cockpit is horrible – my friend’s 1975 Corvette coupe had this thing beat all around! Add in the complexities of swing wings and a moving ventral fin for more clearance on the ground and you’ve got yourself one complicated aircraft with lots of cockpit tasks – maybe it would be good as an unmanned target?

I started two different discussions on F-16.net about these MiGs and the Threat Center. The people on F-16.net are some of the most thoughtful, knowledgable people I know who shed quite a bit of light on these aircraft!

Click on the links below to go to those discussions.

Nellis Threat Training Center – I Finally Made It!
Questions about MiGs – why did they…?

After spending some quality time with some foreign fighter jets, Mark and I wandered outside and spent some more quality time with enemy surface to air missile (SAM) systems, anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) guns, radar systems, armored vehicles and helicopters. I had a great time in the Mi-32 HIND helicopter – you know, it’s the one from Rambo! We couldn’t go inside the Mi-8 Hip helicopter due to a radiation warning in the cockpit, but such is life ;-) .

I only went inside one armored vehicle – a Russian T-72 main battle tank. It was quite a squeeze getting in there, but I managed! All I can say is that it felt like it was designed for midgets – virtually no room at all! Getting out of the turret was another chore and made me wish I hadn’t eaten during the Holidays! I now have a thorough dislike for the T-72 as it tore one of my favorite shirts!

Once we were through at the Threat Center, Mark and I made a cople of last stops on base at the Thunderbirds’ hangar and museum and the air park near the main gate. I had been in the T-Birds’ hangar and museum once before during the Nellis air show, but I had forgotten to read what was written on the plaque on the wall with a stuffed alligator head on it wearing a leather helmet and a white scarf. I finally found out that this was “Aviatior Al” and was a gift from the Louisiana Airshow organizers back in 1994. Museums have the strangest things!

The Nellis AFB Air Park is a nice family park where you can spend time with your kids, barbecue, and look at some neat historic planes. It was neat to see the F-105 Thunderchief (AKA the “Thud”) – not too many of those around – and there’s also the first ever F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter. While we were looking at all these neat airplanes, we were lucky enough to watch a B-2 Spirit stealth bomber take off for parts unknown, probably on a mission involving the Red Flag exercise that was going on at the time. If you’ve never seen over $1 Billion take to the air in the shape of a giant shadow of a flying wing, you’re missing out!