On August 30, Facebook user Lela Kikilashvili shared a video that, according to her claim, shows the “HAARP climate weapon” installed near the village of Pantiani, allegedly responsible for destroying thousands of pine and fir trees. A screenshot from the video, with the same description, was also shared by another Facebook account – Levan Tavdishvili. The video was also circulated in several groups (“No to Controlled Digital Currency,” “Anti-Freemasonry. The Antichrist’s New World Order (NWO),” “Anti-Ecumenism,” and “Corona Mafia.”
In reality, the video shows a meteorological radar, which is used for forecasting weather conditions and identifying the risks of natural disasters. It is also false that the HAARP station, intended for ionospheric research, is a weapon capable of triggering natural processes or that it is located in Georgia.
The structure that the post author refers to as the “HAARP climate weapon” is, in fact, a meteorological radar. Myth Detector identified its location using satellite images from Google Maps and Google Earth, near the villages of New Pantiani and Kiketi.
Google Maps
Source: Parliament of Georgia
What is the function of a meteorological radar?
In 2022, the National Environment Agency of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture purchased a meteorological radar worth GEL 4,241,336 and installed it in Eastern Georgia, near the village of Kiketi. The radar was manufactured by the Finnish company VAISALA.
According to the National Environment Agency, the radar enables the detection of the amount and intensity of expected precipitation across almost the entire territory of Eastern Georgia. This allows for the timely delivery of forecast and warning information regarding possible natural disasters to the relevant authorities.
A similar radar was purchased by the National Environment Agency in 2021, with financial support from the United States government, and was installed near Kutaisi.
What is HAARP and why was it created?
HAARP is the High-Frequency Active Auroral Research Program, created in the 1990s on the initiative of the U.S. Air Force and Navy. The HAARP station, designed to study the ionosphere, a layer of the atmosphere located about 50 kilometers above the Earth’s surface, is located in Alaska. The station allows scientists to observe changes in the ionosphere by heating specific areas with high-frequency radio waves. Researchers also use HAARP to study polar lights. Until 2014, HAARP was owned by the U.S. military; since then, it has been operated by the University of Alaska. Scientific research at the facility continues today.
HAARP has been the subject of numerous conspiracy theories, including claims that it is a secret weapon capable of influencing the weather or even controlling people’s minds. However, scientists consistently explain that HAARP has no capability to affect weather systems or human minds. According to Umran Inan, a professor at Stanford University who has worked with HAARP, although the facility transmits energy into the atmosphere, the emitted power is minuscule compared to the energy generated by a single lightning storm. Moreover, the HAARP station opens to the public once a year, which contradicts numerous disinformative claims spreading about the HAARP station.
The disinformation about HAARP (the High-Frequency Active Auroral Research Program) has been previously debunked by Myth Detector:
Facebook user Lela Kikilashvili has a history of posting false information already fact-checked by Myth Detector, including conspiracy theories about COVID-19, the “New World Order,” the human papillomavirus vaccine, and other topics.
Facebook user Levan Tandishvili has also repeatedly shared disinformation posts. False information disseminated by him has been fact-checked multiple times in the past by Myth Detector. The user mainly spreads visual manipulations.
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