Triangular-Shaped Aircraft Spotted Over U.S. Area 51 Base

An aircraft of an unusual triangular shape was spotted over the area of the well-known U.S. test airbase Groom Lake (Area 51).

The Aviationist reported on this.

Planespotter Anders Ottosson was observing nighttime aviation activity in the early morning hours of January 14, 2026.

During the monitoring, he captured thermal images of a sharp-angled, triangular aircraft flying in airspace near the base.

The aircraft spotted at night over Nevada bears a striking resemblance to an object photographed during the daytime over Wichita, Kansas, in 2014.

It is worth noting that although the photograph of the mysterious aircraft over Wichita was taken in February 2014, it was not made public until April, about a month after another high-profile sighting.

On March 10, 2014, Steve Douglas and Dean Mussett took a series of photographs of three unidentified aircraft flying at very high altitude over Amarillo, Texas.

Despite years of speculation, no official explanation has ever been provided for these objects. The aircraft recorded over Wichita was never publicly identified and has not appeared in open-source observations since.

The current sighting in the Area 51 region is particularly noteworthy for the striking similarity between the thermal images and the 2014 photographs, despite more than 10 years separating the two events and the footage being captured under different conditions and with entirely different equipment.

It is worth noting that the United States operates several aircraft with highly unconventional designs developed under so-called “black projects”—research and development programs with an extremely high level of secrecy.

The public learned about most of these projects only many years after their creation, while some black programs still remain on the borderline between reality and speculation.

There have also been openly “exotic” or nearly “space-like” aircraft designs, including the Northrop Tacit Blue, the RQ-3 DarkStar, and the Boeing Bird of Prey.

A vivid example of a “black project” is the experimental Lockheed Have Blue aircraft, which later became the basis for the production F-117 stealth fighter.

Strategic bombers such as the B-2 and the future B-21 followed a similar path, remaining out of public view for a long time and being classified by observers as unidentified flying objects for years.