SEPTEMBER 5, 2025 – The status U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground (YPG) has as the Department of Defense’s premier test and evaluation facility is greatly aided by its geographic isolation.
Possessing over 1,300 square miles of range space, the proving ground can safely test virtually every piece of equipment used by Soldiers, even inherently dangerous experimental items like very long-range artillery.
YPG’s immense ranges, larger in area than the state of Rhode Island, see hundreds of thousands of total rounds fired per year. YPG is the epicenter of testing related to the Army’s top modernization priority: long range precision fires. The Army aspires to field systems capable of accurately firing at targets 100 kilometers away, and YPG testing has already achieved significantly increased distances in test fires conducted at both the proving ground, most notably an accurate 70-kilometer artillery direct hit that was widely reported in 2019.
“Yuma Proving Ground is the artillery center of excellence for testing,” said Col. John Nelson, YPG Commander. “Every round that is procured across the country is tested here for acceptance.”
Artillery tests can take place at all hours: the high-speed cameras testers use to capture crisp images of projectiles in flight have forward looking infrared (FLIR) capability, which allows images to be captured at night without artificial light. In 2014, for instance, an emergency test of the M284 howitzer tube required 3,000 test rounds to be fired continuously across 11 straight days, with over 100 personnel working in two 12-hour shifts to accomplish it.
“At many test ranges, flexibility is very limited,” said Steve Flores, Long Range Precision Fire Cross Functional Team Integrator. “Here, we can schedule tests weeks in advance instead of months in advance.”
Whatever time of day they occur, YPG’s isolation and natural terrain bowl of mountains surrounding it on three sides usually mute the sound of these test fires so far as people who live in the populated areas of Yuma County are concerned. In closer proximity to the gun positions where this testing takes place, however, the noise of booming artillery produces more decibels that the average rock concert: loud enough to require YPG personnel to wear hearing protection while at a test site, even if they are behind thick reinforced concrete walls at improved gun positions. The report of artillery fire is ever-present for personnel at YPG, routinely rattling windows and ceiling tiles in buildings miles away from the firing front.
“Those are the sounds our YPG employees are exposed to every workday,” said Michael Demcko, YPG Mission Safety Director. “We have appropriate hearing protection to ensure they are not harmed from these occupational hazards.”
YPG’s vast size also includes nearly 2,000 square miles of restricted airspace, with clear, stable air and an extremely dry climate where inclement weather is a rarity. These factors make the post highly coveted for aviation testing, and YPG’s Laguna Army Airfield is a busy hub for air sorties for both the test mission and training by special forces operators at the Military Freefall School that has been a tenant at the post since the mid-1990s. YPG’s aviation personnel are testing some of the most cutting-edge platforms around—they have already hosted multiple demonstrations staged by the Future Vertical Lift Cross Functional Team, including the annual Experimental Demonstration Gateway Event (EDGE).
“YPG was essential for us to have the simulated threat array to conduct the experiment in at echelon that would replicate an enemy capability that we would potentially face in the future,” said Brig. Gen. Cain Baker, Future Vertical Lift Cross-Functional Team Director, following EDGE 2024. “YPG has the air space that allows us to operate at the distances we need and the instrumentation to collect the data to inform our requirements from an analytical standpoint.”
Though it has been testing drones since the 1950s, in the last decade YPG has become critically important to testing defeat technologies as unmanned aircraft have gained prominence.
“Counter-UAS efforts are so important now due to the proliferation of drones in the battle space,” said Nelson. “In the Department of Defense, the Army is the lead agency for counter-UAS development and in the Army test community YPG is the center of excellence for testing UAS. We’re turning over solutions for the warfighter every day.”
YPG’s isolation from populated areas also offers protection from interference in the radio spectrum. Things like cell phones, microwave ovens, and garage door openers all use the invisible resource that YPG testers rely on to support their highly specialized testing, from using radar and telemetry in evaluation of artillery rounds to replicating the radio spectrum as it is in various places around the world to facilitate the testing of technologies to defeat adversary unmanned aircraft.
“Counter-UAS has a lot to do with electronic warfare, and the counter-improvised explosive device mission was at YPG for two decades during the War on Terror,” said Nelson. “That really lent our range to presenting contested environments for the counter-UAS mission.”
Another crucial benefit of YPG’s geographic isolation is the lack of places for surreptitious surveillance by America’s adversaries. Unlike major military installations within city limits where spy photographers can monitor activities from adjacent houses or commercial buildings, YPG’s wide open, natural desert ranges present few places for a determined adversary to hide.
“YPG’s isolation provides a natural security buffer that protects and secures our testing,” said Jonathan Olbert, YPG Operations Division Chief. “Remaining an isolated installation is critical for national security and the security of our test mission.”
Story by Mark Schauer
U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground