Area 69

Updated 30 October 2026 · Fan site. Not affiliated with Rockstar Games or Take-Two Interactive.

Area 69 is a top-secret government base in Bone County in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004), a parody of Nevada's Area 51. Carl Johnson breaks into it in the mission Black Project to steal a jetpack for The Truth. Outside that mission, entering or flying low over the base brings a five-star wanted level and missile fire.

What is Area 69 in GTA San Andreas?

Area 69 is a hidden military research site in the desert of Bone County, part of the state of San Andreas in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The game came out on 26 October 2004 and is set in 1992. According to GTA Wiki, the base sits just south of the old Verdant Meadows airfield, west of Las Venturas and north of Green Palms. A long approach road leaves the main highway near Fort Carson and the Lil' Probe'Inn and crosses a dry lake bed on the way in.

Rockstar kept the base quiet before launch. GTA Wiki notes that the promotional map only marked the area as a no-fly zone. In the game, the first hint comes from a radio news report after the mission Yay Ka-Boom-Boom, in which officials deny that a site in Bone County exists at all.

What is Area 69 based on?

The base is a send-up of Area 51, the secretive air force site in Nevada that has long attracted UFO stories. GTA Wiki points out that a small copy of Groom Lake, the dry lake beside the real base, lies to the south. The Lil' Probe'Inn on the access road leans on the same alien jokes. The number in the name is a crude joke typical of the series.

What is inside Area 69?

Above ground there are watch towers, a control tower, a short runway for small jets and garages for military vehicles. GTA Wiki says this is the first place in the game where military vehicles appear on their own. After later story missions, Hydra jets and Rhino tanks can be found parked here.

Below the surface is a large complex of labs, storage rooms, control rooms, a radar room and a rocket lab. It has three ways in: the launch bay, a set of blast doors and a ventilation shaft. GTA Wiki says the underground section can only be entered during Black Project. One room holds objects that look like nuclear warheads.

What happens in the Black Project mission?

Black Project is a story mission given by The Truth, the ageing hippie whom Wikipedia describes Carl Johnson befriending earlier in the story. It opens at the abandoned control tower of Verdant Meadows and becomes available after the mission Stowaway. The goal is to steal the "black project" itself, which turns out to be a jetpack.

The Truth drives CJ to the gate and leaves him there. CJ must get inside before 05:30. He can open the blast doors from the control tower, but if searchlights spot him he has to crawl in through a vent instead. Inside, he fights through soldiers and scientists, gets a keycard for the launch bay and straps on the jetpack. He then flies out through the open bay while the base's defences fire at him.

GTA Wiki notes that the mission pays no cash. CJ flies to Arco del Oeste to meet The Truth, who takes the jetpack and drives off, leaving CJ stuck in the desert. A phone call minutes later sets up the follow-up mission, Green Goo. Finishing Black Project also adds the Desert Eagle to Ammu-Nation stock.

The base has a joke or two of its own. During the escape, a loudspeaker announcement calls for someone to get "General Mills" on the line, a nod to the cereal company rather than any real officer. Area 69 also turns up in a later mission, Misappropriation. GTA Wiki says a helicopter chase in that mission can pass over the base without either CJ or his target being shot at by the SAM sites.

How do you get into Area 69 outside missions?

Getting in is possible but costly. GTA Wiki says that entering the grounds, or flying low enough over them, gives CJ an instant five-star wanted level. Four SAM sites guard the base and fire homing missiles at aircraft, and Hydras join the chase. Flying near the edge can draw fire from the closest SAM site without adding stars. The launchers can be destroyed with jet missiles, a rocket launcher or a minigun, and flares can throw off incoming missiles. Pilot school flights are exempt.

Is Area 69 in GTA V or GTA Online?

You cannot visit it. In GTA V the playable state ends at Blaine County, and the army base there is Fort Zancudo. GTA Wiki records an unseen HD version of Area 69, also in a Bone County, that is first named in GTA Online during the Brute Force File missions of the Agents of Sabotage update. In that story, an energy weapon built at Fort Zancudo is due to be moved to Area 69 for testing, and the player steals it on the way. That is the only sourced link between the two bases.