Black Project

Updated 2 November 2026 · Fan site. Not affiliated with Rockstar Games or Take-Two Interactive.

Black Project is a desert story mission in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004), given by The Truth. CJ breaks into the secret Area 69 base at night, fights his way down to a launch bay and escapes with an experimental jetpack. It is one of the best-known missions in the game because it hands the player the jetpack for the first time.

What happens in Black Project?

The Truth, the paranoid hippie CJ first met in the countryside, turns up at CJ's new airstrip at Verdant Meadows. He is convinced the government is hiding something in the base down the road, Area 69, and he wants CJ to go in and take it.

CJ has to get inside after dark. The usual route is through the blast doors, opened from the control tower, or through an air vent if that route is shut. Once the alarm goes off, the base fills with soldiers and CJ battles his way through several underground floors. In a lab, a scared scientist gives up a keycard, and that card opens the launch bay. The secret weapon turns out to be a jetpack.

CJ straps it on and flies out of the silo, then sets down at Arco del Oeste to meet The Truth. True to form, The Truth takes the jetpack, loads it up and drives away, leaving CJ on his own in the desert.

Who gives Black Project and what does it unlock?

The Truth gives it from the old control tower at Verdant Meadows once Stowaway is finished, according to the GTA Wiki. There is no cash payout, but the Desert Eagle goes on sale at Ammu-Nation for $1,200. A few minutes later The Truth phones CJ, which opens Green Goo, the follow-up mission. Both are listed on our San Andreas missions page.

How do you get into Area 69 in Black Project?

The GTA Wiki says the entry point is marked on the radar, and the job fails if CJ has not got inside by 05:30 or if he leaves the base area before the jetpack is his. A quiet approach is possible: sneaking in without tripping the alarm is rewarded in The Definitive Edition with the achievement They Can't Stop All of Us. Go in with full health and armour, because once the alarm sounds the corridors are crowded.

Why is Black Project famous?

For most players it is the moment the jetpack enters the game. The setting, a hidden military base in the desert, and the mission plays up the conspiracy mood that runs through all of The Truth's jobs. The GTA Wiki also spots two small jokes: the lab scientists speak with German-style accents, which may point to Operation Paperclip, and a crowbar lies on a lab table as a nod to Half-Life.

Where does the mission fit in the story?

Black Project belongs to the desert act, when CJ runs the airstrip and takes dangerous jobs from Mike Toreno to help free Sweet. The Truth's jetpack missions are a side thread inside that act. CJ gets the jetpack back for good at the end of Green Goo, after which it waits for him at the airstrip.