AUGUST 12, 2025 – U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground (YPG) is the Army’s natural environment test center.
Encompassing environments from arctic in Alaska to desert in Yuma to jungle in Central and South America, YPG’s test centers run the gamut of any condition a Solider might be likely to face.
Natural environments are uncontrollable, however: what if an evaluation must be completed in a timely way and the outdoor temperatures aren’t extreme enough to accomplish the test objectives?
YPG recently answered this with a five-day test of the All-Range Tactical Clothing system at Yuma Test Center (YTC) with participation from nine soldiers from the Army’s 11th Airborne stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.
The All-Range Tactical Clothing system, formally known as the Cold Temperature and Arctic Protection System (CTAPS), is a multi-layer collection of cold weather garments designed to provide the wearer environmental protection in temperatures ranging from 45 °F to −65 °F. The layered components include light and midweight base layer long sleeve crew shirts and thermal long underwear, a lightweight insulation jacket, a soft-shell jacket and pants, and an extreme cold weather parka and pants, seven layers in all.
When an early spring hit the usually frigid interior Alaska at Arctic Regions Test Center (ARTC), the test pivoted to a climactic chamber at YTC.
“Cold weather doesn’t suit Arizona very well, but it wasn’t getting cold enough outside to test it in Alaska at that time,” said Cullen Wilkes, YPG test officer. “YTC has a suitable cold chamber that meets OSHA standards for personnel, and we went forth from there.”
ARTC test officers Brandon Kubilus and Hannah Henry worked on the test here, along with instrumentation help from Dan Fox and Dean Lambert. The climatic chamber at YTC was conditioned to the test temperature prior to the start of each test day and maintained at that temperature for the duration of the day. The conditions in the chamber were extremely cold.
“There’s a factor of motivating people to want to do something really not fun, asking them to go into negative 65 degrees and explaining why it is important,” said Wilkes. “You have to make sure they understand they are not wasting their time.”
Each Soldier was given all components of the CTAPS system and offered the choice of layering up however they felt was necessary: Due to individual physiological differences, the Soldiers were not directed to wear one singular configuration. The Soldiers had heart rate and temperature monitors throughout the tests—if their temperature dropped below a safe level, they were removed from the chamber.
“Some of the Soldiers would do an anerobic activity moving sandbags from one pallet to the next, while the other group conducted an aerobic activity by marching,” said Wilkes. “We had them in the chamber for two-hour iterations followed by a 30-minute break.”
A period of rest with wind utilizing electric fans facing the direction of the Soldiers was used to simulate windy conditions. The testers collected survey feedback from the Soldiers each day for the five days, and the project managers asked follow-up questions based on the responses.
“I think the customer was very pleased and won’t hesitate to come back here if they have anything else,” said Wilkes.
Story by Mark Schauer
U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground