If you ever get a chance to watch an aircraft being built, take it. Walking through the aircraft hangar at Northrop Grumman’s Palmdale, CA, facility, you will see two unmanned aircraft, each with a 130-foot wingspan, parked behind yellow tape. The scale of the aircraft and the desert setting make it feel like a movie set.
While the aircraft are impressive—and massive—so is the location. Air Force Base Plant 42, which is also home to Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and NASA, is so large that getting to another location involves a 15-minute drive.