5 most secret military bases on the planet

World powers maintain many secret military bases whose functions and missions are not made public.

Nuclear submarines stationed at Yulin port. Photo: SCMP.

The great powers all maintain secret military bases to develop advanced weapons, as well as to conceal their forces and surprise their opponents when war breaks out. There are currently 5 bases in the world with a high level of security, with no information released to the outside, according to War History.

Yulin, China

Located south of Hainan Island, the Yulin Naval Base is home to China’s nuclear submarines. The base’s presence was first made known to the public through satellite imagery taken in 2008.

This is considered a strategically located base, located near important sea routes such as the Straits of Malacca, Sunda and Lombok, helping China control sea trade routes and ships passing through Southeast Asia.

The underground caves at Yulin are capable of holding up to 20 strategic nuclear submarines, while the wharf area is large enough to accommodate an aircraft carrier. The US Department of Defense estimates that China has deployed five Type-094 submarines at Yulin, each capable of carrying 12 JL-2 intercontinental ballistic missiles. The two 950-meter-long piers and three smaller piers can accommodate two aircraft carrier strike groups or amphibious ships at the same time.

Area 51, USA

Located about 130 km northwest of Las Vegas, Area 51 is one of the most mysterious places in the world. Many people believe that this place is hiding the wreckage of a flying saucer that crashed in the US in 1947. Area 51 does not appear on any US cadastral map, and no one knew of its existence for decades.

Area 51's central airport. Photo: Popsci.

The existence of Area 51 has been the subject of much speculation. Some have speculated that it is an alien landing site, a time machine, or a base for building flying saucers that use non-physical energy for the US military. However, the reality at Area 51 is much simpler.

In 1955, Area 51 was chosen as the testing site for the U-2 spy plane program after an aerial survey by the CIA and the US Air Force. A series of secret US aircraft such as the U-2 and A-12 were tested here. Their strange shapes have been the source of rumors about aliens. The official name of Area 51 is the Nevada Test and Training Range at Groom Lake.

Pine Gap, Australia

The facility in central Australia is believed to have been the site of a signals intelligence and reconnaissance program code-named ECHELON. The project was launched in the late 1960s as a joint effort between the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. ECHELON’s purpose was to monitor military and diplomatic communications between the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies during the Cold War.

Nominally, Pine Gap is a satellite ground station operated by Australia, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and other agencies. It is also known asJoint Space Defense Research Facilityor Joint Defense Base Pine Gap.

Kasputin Yar, Russia

Kapustin Yar is the most secret military base in the world, even more mysterious than the US Area 51. The base was established on May 13, 1946 to serve the Soviet space program as well as ballistic missiles. The base is located more than 804 km south of Moscow, deep in the Soviet Union.

Missile test site at Kasputin Yar. Photo: Global Security.

This is the research site of German scientists who were recruited by the Soviet Union after World War II. They were tasked with developing and testing rockets for the space exploration program, helping Moscow stay ahead of Washington in the space race. In addition, Kasputin Yar was also the testing site for many new aircraft and weapons systems.

Porton Down, England

This “military science park” is located very close to the British Ministry of Defense’s Boscombe Down airbase, surrounded by areas marked as dangerous on maps. Boscombe is home to QinetiQ, a military contractor affiliated with the UK’s Defence Evaluation and Research Agency.

The 2,873-hectare Porton Down base is used by the UK government's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, which develops chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons.

According to VNE