TITLE:  EX-WORKER DESCRIBES STEALTH COPTER

SUBTITLE:  The Air Force has been testing the high-tech craft at 
Groom Lake, a former base employee contends.

PUBLICATION:  Las Vegas Review-Journal

DATE:  February 26, 1995

AUTHOR:  Susan Greene

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 Hanger 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 helicopter 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 match details about secret high-
speed stealth helicopters outlined in the Feb. 6 issue of Aviation 
Week and 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 of 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 aircraft 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.

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