Yuma Proving Ground

YumaProving Ground(YPG) is a United States Army series of environmentally specific test centers with its Yuma Test Center (YTC) being one of the largestmilitary installationsin the world. It is subordinate to theU.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command.

Yuma Proving Ground
Part ofUS Army Test and Evaluation Command
La Paz County and Yuma County, Arizona Near Yuma, Arizona
Yuma Proving Ground logo
Coordinates	33.0178°N 114.253°W/33.0178; -114.253 YPG
Type	Military proving ground
Site information
Owner	United States
Controlled by	United States Army
Website	https://www.yuma.army.mil
Site history
Built	1943
In use	1950 – present
Garrison information
Current commander	COLJohn Nelson
Occupants	U.S. Army Garrison, YPG Medical Department Activity, YPG Yuma Test Center Tropic Regions Test Center—conducted in various locations but managed out of YPG Arctic Regions Test Center—located at Fort Greely, AK but subordinate to YPG Airborne Test Force Military Free-Fall School—conducted by theJohn F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School Special OperationsTerminal Attack ControllersCourse—conducted by the24th Special Operations Wing Test Measurement and Diagnostic Equipment Support Laboratory Tethered Aerostat Radar System—operated byU.S. Customs and Border Protection

YPG's headquarters is located at its YTC in southwesternLa Paz Countyand westernYuma Countyin southwestArizona,United States, approximately 30 miles (48 km) north of the city ofYuma.

Of the four extreme natural environments recognized as critical in the testing of military equipment, three fall under the management authority of YPG. Realistic natural environment testing ensures that American military equipment performs as advertised, wherever deployed around the world. YPG manages military equipment and munitions testing at three locations: The Arctic Regions Test Center atFort Greely, Alaska;the Tropic Regions Test Center operating inPanama,Honduras,Suriname,andHawaii;and at YTC.The common link between these test centers is "environmental testing," which makes the proving ground the Army's environmental test expert.

History

The presence of the U.S. Army in Yuma goes back to 1850, whenFort Yumawas constructed on a hill overlooking the important Yuma crossing of the Colorado River. Soldiers at Fort Yuma maintained peace and protected the important Yuma crossing, which was used by thousands of travelers each year.

The Army constructed a second facility in 1865, theYuma Quartermaster Depot,to act as a supply base for Army posts throughout Arizona and parts of New Mexico. Supplies were delivered by riverboats and transported from the depot to military outposts by wagon. After Fort Yuma and the Yuma Quartermaster Depot closed in the 1880s, the Army did not return to Yuma on a permanent basis until World War II.

Yuma Proving Ground traces its history to Camp Laguna and the Army Corps of Engineers Yuma Test Branch, both activated in 1943. Located on the Colorado River, theYuma Test Branchconducted testing on combat bridges, amphibious vehicles, and boats. Tens of thousands of mechanized and infantry soldiers were trained atCamp Lagunafor duty at combat fronts throughout the world, from North Africa to the South Pacific. Abandoned campsites and tank trails can still be found on the proving ground.

Camp Laguna lasted only until the end of World War II. The Yuma Test Branch was closed in 1949 and reactivated two years later as the Yuma Test Station, under the operational control of the Sixth U.S. Army. In 1962, the station was named Yuma Proving Ground and reassigned to the U. S. Army Materiel Command as an important component of the Test and Evaluation Command. On 26 July 1973, it officially received its full name – U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground. The following year it was designated as a Department of Defense Major Range and Test Facility Base.

Since its early days, Yuma Proving Ground has been a desert environmental test center for all types of military equipment and materiel. However, developmental and a variety of other types of testing of artillery systems and ammunition, aircraft armament and targeting systems, mobility equipment, and air delivery systems, not necessarily desert environmental-related, now comprise the bulk of the workload. A heavy investment in technology and a highly skilled soldier-civilian workforce makes the proving ground a significant social and economic component of the local community.

Yuma Test Center

YTC's primary ranges: Cibola Range, Kofa Range, and the Laguna Test Area where YPG headquarters in located

YTC encompasses 1,307.8 square miles (3,387.2 km²) of the northwesternSonoran Desertand conducts tests on nearly every weapon in the ground combatarsenal.Nearly all the long-range artillery testing for U.S. ground forces takes place at the YTC in an area almost completely removed from urban encroachment and noise concerns. Restricted airspace controlled by the test center amounts to over 2,000 square miles (5,000 km²). YTC has the longest overland artillery range (40 miles or 64 kilometres) in the nation, the most highly instrumentedhelicopterarmament test range in theDepartment of Defense,over 200 miles (300 km) ofimproved roadcourses for testing tracked and wheeled military vehicles, over 600 miles (1,000 km) offiber-opticcable linking test locations, and the most modern mine anddemolitionstest facility in the western hemisphere. Realistic villages and road networks representing urban areas in Southwest Asia have been constructed and are used for testing counter-measures to the threat of roadside bombs. It is estimated that the track can be used to test about 80 percent of the Army's wheeled vehicle fleet.

More than 3,000 people, mostly civilians, work at YTC, which is the largest employer in Yuma County.

In a typical year, over 500,000 artillery,mortarandmissilerounds are fired, 36,000parachutedrops take place, 200,000 miles (320,000 km) are driven on military vehicles, and over 4,000 air sorties are flown from YTC'sLaguna Army Airfield.

About 10 percent of the YTC's workload is training. In a typical year, dozens of units come to the facility for realistic desert training, especially before deploying overseas.

YTC's clean air, low humidity, skimpyrainfall– only about 3 inches (76 mm) per year – and annual average of 350 sunny days, add up to almost perfect testing and training conditions. Urban encroachment and noise concerns are nonexistent problems, unlike at many other military installations.

YTC testsimprovised explosive devices,commonly known as IEDs, the number-one killer of American service men and women inIraqandAfghanistan.Hundreds ofunmanned aerial vehiclesfly at the proving ground each year from the six airfields located at YTC, as do helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft conducting personnel andcargoparachute drops.

Many friendly foreign nations also visit YTC to conduct test programs.

TheGeneral Motors Desert Proving Ground – Yumaopened at YTC in late July 2009. General Motors built the facility at a cost of more than $100 million after closing its desert automotive test facility in Mesa, Arizona, that had been in operation since 1953. The new facility allows General Motors and Army automotive testers to test their wheeled vehicles all year-round.

YTC offers the following for testing, evaluation, and training purposes:

• Ground weapons systems from small arms to long range artillery
• Helicopter armament and target acquisition systems
• Artillery andtankmunitions
• Cargo and personnel parachutes, including guided systems technologies
• Land minesand mine-removal systems
• Tracked and wheeled vehicles in a desert environment
• Vibrationand interference-free tests ofsmart weaponsystems
• Laguna Army Airfield complex, featuring two runways – 6,000 feet (1,800 m) and 5,150 feet (1,570 m).
• 12 drop zones and multipleairstripsfor Unmanned Aerial Systems
• A 55-mile (89 km) overland artillery range, the longest in the nation
• Over 200 miles (300 km) of improved road courses for tracked and wheeled vehicles
• State-of-the-artfiber opticssystems to acquire, reduce and transmit data in real time
• Specialized facilities for testing countermeasures for the defeat of roadside bombs, such as theNational Counterterrorism/Counterinsurgency Integrated Test and Evaluation site

Examples of the various tests and activities conducted at YTC

• 
  YTC's Ground Combat Systems test-fires aM109A6 self-propelled howitzerat a YTC artillery range.
• 
  ARoyal Danish ArmyPiranha Vinfantry fighting vehicleconducts testing at YTC'swater fordingpit.
• 
  AM1126 infantry carrier vehicleconducting desert mobility testing at YTC
• 
  AnM1 main battle tankclimbs a 60° incline, part of performance testing at YTC.
• 
  Roadsideimprovised explosive devicecountermesture testing at YTC
• 
  AnAH-64D attack helicopterconductsAGM-179 air-to-surface missilelive-fire test on Cibola Range at YTC.
• 
  TheMilitary Free-Fall School'sMSGGeorge A Bannar Wind Tunnel at YTC is the world's largest, supporting eight simultaneous jumpers.
• 
  NASA'sOrion SpacecraftCapsule Parachute Assembly System testing at YTC
• 
  Marinesprepare to breach a building during a mock helicopter raid at YTC, part ofU.S. Marine Corps Weapons and Tactics Instructor Course.
• 
  German soldierstest new assault rifles at YTC.
• 
  AnMQ-9B unmanned aerial vehicleused the Laguna Army Airfield at YTC to achieve a 48.2 hour endurance record and firstFAAcertification of an unmanned aircraft to fly in civilian air space.
• 
  U.S. Customs and Border Protection'stethered aerostat radar systemat YTC

Tropic Regions Test Centers

Examples of testing at various Tropic Regions Test Centers (TRTCs)

• 
  An M1126 infantry carrier vehicle undergoes tropical environment testing at a TRTC site in Hawaii.
• 
  Material corrosion testing at TRTC's Breakwater Exposure Site inCentral America
• 
  Joint Expeditionary Collective Protection tent testing at a TRTC site, after being tested at YTC
• 
  Soldiers evaluate the performance ofMOPP 4gear at a TRTC site in Hawaii.

Arctic Regions Test Center

Examples of various testing at the Arctic Regions Test Center (ARTC)

• 
  AnM1128 mobile gun systemundergoes cold weather live-fire testing at ARTC.
• 
  A small unit support vehicle undergoes testing on ARTC's Mobility Test Track.
• 
  A robotic vehicle undergoes mobility testing on a bump course at ARTC.
• 
  Soldiers test a new modular body armor system in the extreme cold at ARTC.

Demographics

Yuma Proving Ground
Census-designated place
Coordinates:32°51′55″N114°26′13″W
Country	United States
State	Arizona
County	Yuma
Population (2020)
• Total	313
Time zone	UTC-7(MST(noDST))

Yuma Proving Groundis acensus-designated place(CDP) covering the population of the HowardCantonmentatYuma Proving GroundinYuma County,Arizona.

It first appeared as a CDP in the 2020 Census with a population of 313.

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
2020	313		—
U.S. Decennial Census 2020

2020 census

Yuma Proving Ground CDP, Arizona – Racial and Ethnic Composition
(NH = Non-Hispanic)
Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.

Race / Ethnicity	Pop 2020	% 2020
Whitealone (NH)	171	54.63%
Black or African Americanalone (NH)	20	6.39%
Native AmericanorAlaska Nativealone (NH)	6	1.92%
Asianalone (NH)	22	7.03%
Pacific Islanderalone (NH)	0	0.00%
Some Other Racealone (NH)	0	0.00%
Mixed Race/Multi-Racial(NH)	34	10.86%
Hispanic or Latino(any race)	60	17.17%
Total	313	100.00%

Education

Yuma Proving Ground is served by theYuma Elementary School Districtand theYuma Union High School District.Yuma Elementary School District operates Price Elementary School on base.

External links

• Historic American Engineering Record(HAER) No. AZ-5, "Yuma Proving Ground, Yuma, Yuma County, AZ",39 data pages