Air Force warns UFO enthusiasts it’s ‘dangerous’ to storm Area 51

The Air Force is warning a massive group of UFO enthusiasts against storming Area 51 in Nevada, saying that it’s “dangerous” for anyone to try to illegally enter military installations or military training areas. 

The word of caution comes as a Facebook event promoting the storming of an Air Force training range attracts mass attention. As of Wednesday evening, about 1.5 million people said they were “attending” the “Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us” event, which is set to take place on Sept. 20. 

{mosads}”The United States Air Force is aware of the Facebook post,” Air Force spokesperson Laura McAndrews told ABC News in a statement. “The Nevada Test and Training Range is an area where the Air Force tests and trains combat aircraft. As a matter of practice, we do not discuss specific security measures, but any attempt to illegally access military installations or military training areas is dangerous.”

The Air Force did not immediately respond to a request for further comment from The Hill. 

The statement from McAndrews is the second time in the past week that she issued a warning for those planning to “storm” its Nevada base. 

“[Area 51] is an open training range for the U.S. Air Force, and we would discourage anyone from trying to come into the area where we train American armed forces,” she told The Washington Post last week. “The U.S. Air Force always stands ready to protect America and its assets.”

Conspiracy theorists have over time perpetuated ideas that the government holds secret information about extraterrestrial life at Area 51. Some have also claimed that the location has been the site of frequent UFO sightings.

According to the Air Force, its Nevada Test and Training Range is the largest contiguous air and ground space available for peacetime military operations in the free world. The range is additionally used for Department of Energy testing, research and development. 

Organizers of the event have said on Facebook that their plan is to “meet up at the Area 51 Alien Center tourist attraction and coordinate our entry.”

“If we naruto run, we can move faster than their bullets. Lets see them aliens,” the event description adds. 

“Naruto” is a running style popularized by the Japanese anime character Naruto Ozumaki.

It remains unclear how many of the people who are “attending” the Facebook event actually plan on meeting at Area 51 in September.