US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth secretly visited the remote Area 51 air base for a ‘mysterious show-and-tell,’ a study of flight-tracking data suggests.
Joerg Arnu, an aviation enthusiast and founder of an online forum about the top-secret Air Force base in the Nevada desert, claims he has ‘proof beyond a doubt’ that Hegseth spent 90 minutes there on June 1.
Arnu suggested that the rare high-level visit likely marked a ‘milestone’ in the development of America’s fearsome new F-47 fighter jet – a next-generation warplane rumored to include hypersonic missile systems, laser weaponry and AI-powered drone swarms.
Such capabilities, coupled with the aircraft’s stealthy angular shape, have drawn comparisons to the alien spacecraft that UFO conspiracy theorists say are studied in Area 51’s labs.
A Pentagon spokesman told the Daily Mail that the Trump administration official stopped at Nellis Air Force Base on June 1, but declined to comment on any onward journey to Area 51.
Hegseth, 45, has previously expressed an interest in alien life, but since becoming defense chief, however, he has refused to disclose anything about Area 51 when asked.
Arnu, 63 – a German-American who lives in Rachel, Nevada, eight miles from the gates of Area 51 – monitors the base and runs the DreamlandResort.com forum about its military secrets.
‘I have been monitoring Area 51 for over 25 years and my analysis of flight records offers proof beyond a doubt that Hegseth visited it on June 1,’ Arnu said.
‘The Defense Secretary’s visit was likely related to a milestone in the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) project, in particular America’s new 6th generation cyber jet F-47.’
Arnu’s assessment was supported by other members of the forum, although some noted there was no evidence of Hegseth being aboard the plane in question.
Arnu used ADS-B Exchange – an open-source platform that tracks civilian aircraft, including the Boeing E-4 ‘Nightwatch’ jets used by top US brass as an Advanced Airborne Command Post – to make the assessment.
One of these flying war stations, designated TITAN29, departed from Singapore’s Paya Lebar Air Base on May 31 – the same day that Hegseth was in the city for the annual Shangri-La Dialogue, where he warned of a potential Chinese attack on Taiwan.
The jet landed hours later on June 1 at Nellis Air Force Base, outside Las Vegas.
It was greeted on the tarmac shortly afterwards by three ‘Janet’ planes – part of a top-secret airline used to shuttle defense personnel to Area 51.
Arnu speculated that Hegseth and his entourage boarded one of the Janets, which left for Area 51 around 7:40 am and returned about 90 minutes later. He claimed that the ‘Hegseth’ plane then continued to Washington, DC.
Arnu also claimed that Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, joined Hegseth at Area 51, though he traveled on a different aircraft.
Such high-level visits to Area 51 are, he said, ‘extremely rare.’
‘They do not visit unless there is a good reason. Often that involves funding,’ Arnu claimed.
‘It is probably not a coincidence that, a few days after the visit, the Pentagon allocated $4 billion for the F-47 and NGAD, and at the same time cut the number of fifth-generation F-35A orders for 2026 in half.’
Air Force engineers are understood to be hard at work on next-generation weapons, such as the F-47, which analysts predict could harness laser energy weapons and AI drone systems.
‘Military aviation enthusiasts like myself are very excited about this new generation of hardware that will keep our country safe for years to come,’ Arnu said.
‘We are fascinated by the integration of new technologies like full AI control, fully networked manned and unmanned components that will allow an unprecedented situational awareness and new technologies such as laser weapons and hypersonic missiles.’
The Pentagon only acknowledged the existence of the highly classified Area 51 flight testing facility, with its ominous ‘keep out’ signs and armed guards, in 2013.
The mysterious site has long fascinated alien and UFO conspiracy theorists.
A ‘whistleblower’ in 1989 went public about efforts to ‘back-engineer a downed alien spacecraft’ at Area 51, sparking wild theories about the site and inspiring a deluge of movies and TV shows, like Doctor Who, the X-Files, and Independence Day.
‘Secretary Hegseth stopped at Nellis Air Force base in Nevada briefly while returning from the Shangri La Dialogue in Singapore,’ a Pentagon spokesman said in a statement.
‘While at Nellis AFB, the Secretary received briefings from senior Air Force leaders.’
Hegseth, who was in Washington, DC, this week helping President Trump decide whether the US should join Israel’s air campaign aimed at ending Iran’s nuclear program, has previously expressed interest in extraterrestrial life.
As a Fox News host in 2023, he famously asked former intelligence chief John Ratcliffe, ‘Are aliens real?’
And last month Hegseth was asked by a former Fox colleague about ‘what is going on at Area 51’?
‘I don’t know,’ the former National Guardsman replied, laughing.
‘If I told you that, I’d have to kill you.’
Area 51, located some 80 miles northwest of Las Vegas, takes its unusual name from maps of the Atomic Energy Commission.
The base itself measures just six by 10 miles, but a much wider area, and the airspace above it, are permanently locked down.
The remote site was selected in 1955 to test the U-2 high-altitude spy plane, and it has since been used to test the A-12, the stealth F-117 Nighthawk and other warplanes.
But the secret testing program was only revealed in 2013, thanks to a public records request.
Before that, Air Force chiefs merely referred to a ‘variety of activities, some of which are classified’, being carried out in the area. Officials have kept relatively quiet about it since.
