Inside Skunk Works

Lockheed Martin’s newest Skunk Works facility spans 215,000 square feet in the California desert. | Courtesy of Lockheed Martin  

Politico: Inside Skunk Works, Lockheed’s super-secret weapons facility  

The world's largest defense contractor opens the gate to its aircraft factory in the desert. 

PALMDALE, Calif. — Sixty-two miles north of Los Angeles, this desert town known as America’s Aerospace Valley is home to one of the most secretive aircraft design and production programs on the planet. 

Few are allowed in, but the sky is littered with clues of the work being done behind the high fences topped with barbed wire. 

It’s routine to spot a U-2 spy plane or a Janet 737, a highly classified fleet of aircraft used to shuttle military and contractors between Palmdale and places such as Area 51, the storied Nevada base. 

Back on the ground, at the corner of Sierra Highway and Avenue N, sits an empty lot with a flagpole in the center. 

Jet spotters and spies from all over the world gather here to catch a glimpse, clicking away as the newest, most top-secret aircraft soar above Skunk Works, Lockheed Martin’s research and development facility. 

It’s their only chance to see them; there’s no view of the runway or the planes sitting on the tarmac.  

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WNU Editor: The place is huge.