Google Satellite Images Reveal America’s Secret Military Base (PHOTOS)

Aviation Web site Flight Global has claimed to have found a secret military base at Yucca Lake, Nevada, using Google Maps.

The Web site has said that the new satellite image of an isolated airstrip in Nevada has shown a secret and operational military base with an unmanned air vehicle test facility.

The Yucca Lake airfield is located in the heavily restricted Tonopah Test Range. It is situated on the land owned by National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a division of the Department of Energy (DoE).

Google has come under fire after Web users again proved that they can search military bases on Google Maps.

The finding of the airstrip at Yucca Lake, which is used for testing the R-170 drones similar to the one lost in Iran last week, has raised further concern.

Iranians would be most interested in operational bases because that tells them how we fly our surveillance missions, Cedric Leighton, a retired Air Force colonel told FoxNews.com.

Google is making public what was once the sole province of the military and intelligence community, making this a brave new world for the intel agencies as well, he added.

The satellite image, taken in early 2011 and available on Google Maps, appears to show a roughly 5,200 ft asphalt runway and what appears to be a General Atomics MQ-1 Predator or MQ-9 Reaper UAV being towed on the parking ramp, Flight Global Web site reported.

According to the Web site, the airfield has four hangars of varying sizes, including a hangar with clamshell doors that is characteristic of US UAV operations and other details including a parking lot, security perimeter and ongoing construction are clearly visible.

The minor details of the airfield will make it very easy for the foreign powers to find out the details about the secret U.S. spy planes.

The Web site also added that an earlier image, showing what appear to be a Pilatus PC-12 and Beechcraft King Air parked on the ramp, fuelled speculation it was used by defence firm Lockheed Martin.

Google had the right to show the images to the public, but they should not do that because it compromises military operations, Leighton added.

Earlier the U.S. military had blocked Google employees from taking images at bases for Google Earth, which requires more close-up photography, he added.

However, the questions over satellite imagery of top secret bases have raged for some time. Previous satellite images showed a secret military base location in Denver and in Pakistan's Balochistan province.