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The funding in question had risen from $25 million in 1987 to $150 million in 1988, $325 million in 1989, and halfa billion dollars in 1990, propulsion. 78 REVELATIONS much of the information they censor so jealously had to come from the real world in the first place. It generally remains available to any re- searcher who takes the trouble to dredge it up through independent, objective channels. The mysterious objects seen and filmed at Groom Lake are a case in point. A financial analysis of the Lockheed corporation published on May 16, 1990, by the brokerage firm of Bateman, Eichler, Hill, Rich- ards had this to say about the "Skunk Works" activity: Sales have remained relatively robust despite the removal of the SR-71 [spy plane] from Air Force service and the pending comple- tion of the production portion of the F-117A Stealth Fighter program . . . We speculate that much of the decline has been absorbed by Aurora. indicating a major technological effort. So what is Aurora? An element of an answer may be found in the February 1990 issue of /nteravia, where expert Bill Sweetman reported that a radically new aircraft, possibly unmanned, was being tested at Groom Lake. He speculated that it cruised at Mach 6 and used ramjet Were the rumors of flying saucers at Area 51 deliberately planted by the military in an effort to thoroughly discredit the reports made by anyone who would observe the strange maneuvers of this advanced aircraft, a development which they knew could not be effectively hid- den from civilians in the vicinity? The people who came forward with claims that they were "exposing the cover-up"—like Moore, Condor and Falcon, Lear and "Dennis"—may well have been dupes. They may have become part and parcel of the real cover-up. The motive would be very plain: protecting a half-billion-a-year investment in a radically new intelligence platform. The whole operation may have absolutely nothing to do with the UFO problem, or with the government's larger interest in it.