First of all, they didn't move the base. That idea that they have stopped using it is bunk. They may have new facilities and they likely use the Groom Lake area less than they used to because with the end of the cold war the focus has shifted from high-budged super high performance big aircraft to UAV's and sensors and space systems and so on.

The 'area 51' area had a couple of nuclear tests long ago, as did the rest of the Nevada Test Site. 'Area 51' was originally part of NTS but has been given to the USAF. NTS is still very much in use. They don't use it for testing nuclear weapons anymore (at least not at full scale) but it's still used for large destructive testing, radioactive waste experiments, weapons tests, materials testing and so on. The fallout from past explosions is not that big a deal anymore. It's limited to a few areas and mostly well burried.

"Area 51" is a facility at Groom Dry Lake. What do they do there? Anything and everything that needs to be done in relative secret for the purposes of national security. The base is used for general purpose fly-ins during the Red Flag event which is a war game situation run by Nellis and it uses that facility as well as Mercury Field and Edwards and others as fake bases. Some are assigned enemy and others friendly and forces drill and do practice bombing and touch-and-goes and stuff.

In the past they tested the U-2, SR-71, F-117, HavBlue etc there. They also have tested missiles, drone and UAV's in the area. They also have MIG fighters and other foreign aircraft acquired through various channels. They are flown and tested and reverse-engineered.


What do they do there now? Beats the hell out of me. If I had to guess I'd say there probably are not any amazing secret aircraft like the SR-71, but there might be. I'd guess more likely it's occasional UAV's and modifications to existing aircraft, sensors and missiles. I say this just because of the change in the battlefield focus no longer being as much favoring toward super-expensive super high performance aircraft.

There are several areas used by the United States Army, Navy, Air Force, Department of Energy, CIA, DIA and NATO forces for the purposes of testing and traing. "Area 51" is one of these, and it's one of the more secret ones. I don't have a problem with that because if it were all public then it would be possible for North Korea, China, Russia, Iran, Syria and others who range from unfriendly to kinda-friendly-but-maybe-a-bit-concerning to know. I'd rather they not know.

Other areas include Edwards AFB, White Sands, Nelis Airforce Base, China Lake, the Nevada Test Site, The Uma Provind Grounds and so on.

Area 51 is technically part of the Nellis extended range and is not actually an airforce base. It is a support facility, a government owned contractor operated (primarily) secondary facility used by Nellis and Edwards AFB.