The U.S. Air Force has a warning for the more than 1 million people who have signed up to “storm Area 51” in search of aliens as part of an internet joke that has gone viral.
“Any attempt to illegally access the area is highly discouraged,” the Air Force said in a statement Wednesday.
The Air Force said it does not discuss its security measures and that the test and training range, known as Area 51, provides “flexible, realistic and multidimensional battle space” for testing and “advanced training in support of U.S. national interests.”
The Facebook event “Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All Of Us,” invites people to attempt to run into the mysterious site at 3 a.m. September 20.
“If we Naruto run, we can move faster than their bullets,” the event description says, referring to a Japanese manga character known for running with his arms stretched out backward and his head forward.
Area 51 is part of the vast Nevada Test and Training Range. It has been the subject of conspiracy theories that say the U.S. military keeps aliens and UFOs there.
After decades of government officials refusing to acknowledge Area 51, the CIA released declassified documents in 2013 referring to the 20,700-square-kilometer installation by name and locating it on a map near the dry Groom Lake bed.