Black projects.
Operationally classified or theorized programs. Active, declassified, theorized, or cancelled.
Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program
Defense Intelligence Agency program funded under a US$22 million congressional appropriation between 2007 and 2012. Prime contract held by Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies. Public disclosure on 16 December 2017 in the New York Times.
Aurora
Hypothesized hypersonic reconnaissance aircraft alleged to have been operated from Groom Lake (Area 51) and Beale Air Force Base in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Existence has never been officially acknowledged. Multiple credible sightings of high-altitude pulsed contrails ("doughnuts on a rope") and unidentified sonic booms.
Have Blue
Lockheed Skunk Works demonstrator program for the F-117 Nighthawk. Two prototypes flew at Groom Lake from 1977 to 1979. Both aircraft were lost in flight test. Declassified in 1991.
MK-ULTRA
Central Intelligence Agency program of human experimentation in mind control, including covert administration of LSD and other psychoactive substances to United States citizens. Confirmed by the 1975 Rockefeller Commission and the 1977 Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (Church Committee).
Project Blue Book
United States Air Force study of unidentified flying objects from 1952 to 1969. Continuation of Project Sign and Project Grudge. Produced 12,618 case reports of which 701 remained classified as unidentified at the time of closure.
Project OXCART
CIA reconnaissance aircraft program that produced the A-12, predecessor to the SR-71 Blackbird. Operated from Groom Lake from 1962 to 1968. Declassified by the CIA in 2007.