A YouTube video posted by the account Uncanny Expeditions seems to point out a beforehand unseen object present process testing at Lockheed Martin’s Helendale Radar Cross Part (RCS) Take a look at Vary in California’s Mojave Desert.
The footage, filmed from a distance, reveals what seems to be a darkish, diamond- or manta-shaped construction being mounted on a pole and moved throughout testing actions on the vary. The item is seen in a number of sequences from totally different angles and lighting circumstances. In a single body, a definite blue space may be noticed on its higher floor. Whereas the general form resembles a flying wing or blended-body configuration typical of stealth plane, its proportions and particulars don’t match any identified airframe.
An unidentified plane is present process testing at Lockheed Martin’s Helendale Radar Cross Part (RCS) Take a look at Vary in Southern California. pic.twitter.com/YiTCj7gEtz
— OSINTWarfare (@OSINTWarfare) October 3, 2025
This isn’t the primary time {that a} mysterious form has been noticed at Helendale. In 2021, we reported on one other unidentified article seen on the similar web site (learn that story right here).
Nonetheless, the brand new object seems to be solely totally different each in form and measurement. The form seen within the newest footage would possibly signify a radar-test article, a fuselage part, an inlet, or a modular element designed to guage radar reflectivity of particular surfaces or angles. From a sure angle, the thing resembles a “chunk” of an F-35 fuselage, mounted the other way up.
Somebody additionally seen similarities between the take a look at article and the Boeing Hen of Prey, which has typically been talked about in discussions concerning the F-47.
11 September 1996. First flight of the Boeing Hen of Prey. American black undertaking plane. It developed know-how and supplies which might later be used on Boeing’s X-45 unmanned fight air car. Lacking screws on the horizontal stabilizer led to structural failure. pic.twitter.com/CtunyHoZXk
— Ron Eisele (@ron_eisele) September 10, 2025
Positioned northwest of Victorville, the Helendale RCS Vary is one in all Lockheed Martin’s key websites for radar-signature testing. Operated by the corporate’s legendary Skunk Works division, the power consists of a number of take a look at pylons, radar arrays, and management stations that permit engineers to measure how experimental configurations scatter or take in radar vitality. Take a look at objects are sometimes mounted on a pylon designed to reduce reflections and may be rotated or elevated for exact information assortment.
Certainly, plane or take a look at articles at radar cross part services world wide are sometimes mounted the other way up, a configuration that may look uncommon however serves a particular technical goal. Mounting the thing inverted helps reduce reflections from the help pylon and the bottom, offering a cleaner radar signature. It additionally permits engineers to simulate how an plane would seem to radar techniques positioned beneath it, equivalent to ground-based air protection radars, with out requiring complicated antenna setups or underground installations. Since these checks focus purely on radar habits relatively than aerodynamics, the orientation of the mannequin doesn’t have an effect on the validity of the measurements.
Provided that the thing was seen being moved in broad daylight, it’s unlikely to signify something categorised. Delicate prototypes or production-representative stealth platforms are usually transported underneath cowl or examined solely at night time to keep away from publicity. Furthermore, it’s secure to consider the presence of a cameraman was identified to the vary personnel, that would cancel checks when a spotter is reported to be in proximity (as performed at Space 51). Extra seemingly, it is a non-flying take a look at article, a calibration mannequin, or a piece used for RCS validation and supplies testing, a part of the continual, largely unseen analysis feeding into next-generation applications. Regardless of the case, it’s actually one thing intriguing. The video is value watching additionally as a result of it reveals the pole being retracted after the testing has been accomplished.
The looks of the footage and associated screenshots on social media instantly reignited the talk about OPSEC, leaks of delicate imagery, and the recurring controversy between those that view such observations as potential espionage and people who level out that no legal guidelines are being damaged when filming from public land.
It actually isn’t, fyi. All the things like this that I seize is finished from public property, as I clarify within the video that these stills had been lifted from.
— Uncanny Expeditions (@uncannyex) October 3, 2025
Anyway, as already famous, it is vitally seemingly that the presence of the observer was identified to these working the vary. In truth, a Reaper drone even circled overhead at one level. Had the exercise been thought-about categorised or restricted, the person would nearly actually have been approached or requested to depart the realm.
