China Lake
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 📍 Place
Contents 6
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| Type | Place |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Naval Ordnance Test Station |
| On the Timeline | 2 events, 1966–1996 |
Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake is the U.S. Navy's largest landholding, a weapons research and test centre in the western Mojave Desert of California near Ridgecrest. It is where the Sidewinder missile was developed.[1]
History
The site was first built as an airfield in 1935 and used by the Army Air Forces from 1942. The Navy acquired it in November 1943 and established the Naval Ordnance Test Station there.[1]
Size and role
Including its ranges, the station covers about 450,000 hectares (1.1 million acres) across Kern, San Bernardino and Inyo counties — about 85 per cent of the Navy's land for weapons research and testing. Weapons developed or tested there include the AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missile, first developed in 1950, and the Shrike, HARM, Tomahawk, JSOW and JDAM weapons.[1]
Earthquakes
The 2019 Ridgecrest earthquakes severely damaged the base. A magnitude 7.1 quake on 5 July 2019, whose epicentre lay within the station, left it "not mission capable", and officials later estimated the damage at up to $5.2 billion.[1][2]
Petroglyphs
The station's ranges contain the Coso petroglyphs, a major collection of Native American rock art.[1]
On the UAP Timeline
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- China Lake surveyors' sighting (1966) (18 January 1966) — Two surveyors at China Lake see a UAP pass low overhead and maneuver.
- CSETI site list for Congress (1996) (30 August 1996) — Greer's CSETI allegedly briefs Congress with a list of sites tied to UAP.
References
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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