| Nevada Test and Training Range | |
|---|---|
| Part ofNellis Air Force Base Complex | |
| Nye,Lincoln, andClark counties, Nevada Near Las Vegas in US | |
 AnA-10 Thunderbolt II releases its munitions during aclose air support training mission on September 23, 2011 | |
| Site information | |
| Owner | Department of Defense |
| Website | www |
| Location | |
 | |
| "Nellis Air Force Range" and nearby federal lands | |
| Coordinates | 37°31′36″N116°11′53″W / 37.52667°N 116.19806°W /37.52667; -116.19806 |
| Area | Land: 4,531 sq mi (11,740 km2) in 2012 Airspace: 5,000 sq mi (13,000 km2) restricted[1], 7,000 sq mi (18,000 km2) shared (MOA) |
| Site history | |
| Built | established September 29, 1940 |
| Garrison information | |
| Occupants | 2011:NTTR military unit 2001:98th Range Wing |
| GNIS code 2511961 | |
TheNevada Test and Training Range (NTTR) is one of two military training areas at theNellis Air Force Base Complex inNevada and used by theUnited States Air Force Warfare Center atNellis Air Force Base. The NTTR land area includes a "simulated Integrated Air Defense System", several individual ranges with 1200 targets, and 4 remote communication sites.[1] The current NTTR area and the range's former areas have been used for aerial gunnery and bombing, fornuclear tests, as a proving ground and flight test area, for aircraft control and warning, and for Blue Flag, Green Flag, andRed Flag exercises.
The Nevada Test and Training Range land area is mostlyCentral Basin and Range ecoregion (cf. southernmost portion in theMojave Desert),[4]: 3–1 and smaller ecoregions (e.g.,Tonopah Basin, Tonopah Playa, and Bald Mountain biomes) are within the area of numerousbasin and range landforms of the NTTR.
The NTTR is at the serpentine section of theGreat Basin Divide in southern Nevada and uses numerous landforms for military operations, e.g.,Groom Lake near the northeast NTTR border is the airstrip forArea 51, the 1955 Site II west of the lake's WWII field.Tolicha Peak andPoint Bravo are the sites of for electronic combat ranges, and theMercury Valley is the eponym for aCold War camp that becameMercury, Nevada. TheTonopah Test Range, within the boundaries of the NTTR (e.g., "Nellis Range 75"[5]) includesAntelope Lake, Radar Hill, and the "Cactus, Antelope, andSilverbow Springs".[6]
TheNorthern Range includes theTolicha Peak Electronic Combat Range (TPECR, e.g., Range 76 targets 76–03, -05, -11, & -14)[7] andTonopah Electronic Combat Range (theWildhorse Management Area encircled by the Northern Range is not part of the NTTR.)[8]
TheEastman Airfield Target (Target 76–14,[7] Korean Airfield,37°22′N116°50′W / 37.367°N 116.833°W /37.367; -116.833 (Eastman Airfield Target 76-14)[citation needed]) is a Range 76 target 4.3 miles (6.9 km) northwest of the TPECR. The target has a northeastern taxiway loop, characteristic for the formerSoviet Air Force base atJüterbog Airfield inEast Germany, and three ramps in front of hangars on the western side of the loop. The other taxiways have a similar layout to Jüterbog, although the runway is about 1,300 feet (400 m) shorter. There are two accompanyingSAM sites, one 1.6 miles (2.5 km) northwest of the airfield, and one 3.5 miles (5.6 km) northwest just like the original.[9]
TheSouthern Range includes thePoint Bravo Electronic Combat Range.[citation needed] An area of about 1,276 sq mi (3,300 km2) of the Southern Range that was withdrawn from theDesert National Wildlife Range is co-managed by theUnited States Air Force (USAF) and theUnited States Fish and Wildlife Service.[8]
In addition toNellis AFB, areas outside of the current NTTR land area are used for related activities, e.g., about 1,107 sq mi (2,870 km2) of the former military range land (relinquished 1942, e.g. ranges 46–56,[10] andc. 1953) is under the Nellis "Area A" airspace that is aMilitary Operations Area (MOA).[11] TheFormerly Used Defense Site north and northeast of the NTTR with "Stone Cabin,Hot Creek,Railroad,Tikaboo, andSand Spring valleys" is a "former portion of the Tonopah Bombing Range", includes "Permit Required Confined space", and prohibits vehicles in "suspected ordnance impact area[s]" (e.g., "green markings" indicate chemical agents).[2] Most areas adjacent to the NTTR are managed by theBureau of Land Management for limited non-residential use such as grazing.[2]: 3–1 Temporary sites, e.g., forPatriot Communications Exercises (about "21 days per exercise"), are in the "ADA activity area" east of the NTTR with 13 empty "500 feet by 500 feet" sites for mobile electronic equipment on BLM land in the "Sand Springs Valley,Coal Valley,Delamar Valley, andDry Lake Valley" ("general area" of the Key PittmanWMA) and "under MOA airspace".[4]
"Tertiary age" lava flows formed 5 erupted groups in the area, and block faulting such as theSiebert and Mizpah faults formed the ranges and valleys.[12]: 68 Precambrian andPaleozoic marine sediments form an "almost uniform thickness of 40,000 feet", and surface geology is "typically theCenozoic Era continental deposits and somePaleogene volcanic rocks".[2]: 3–3 Located at the southern tip of theGreat Basin tribes area, the eventual range area was crossed by theOld Spanish Trail (trade route), was south of thePony Express route, and was split by the37th parallel north of the1850 New Mexico &1863 Arizona territories' northwest corner. In the 1930s the land had been used as anAnimal Sanctuary where theDepartment of the Interior made it a wildlife reservation. However, in 1942 during World War II the region restricted it from public access for the War Department to use.[13] The original bombing range had been used for the1900–1921 silver rush (e.g.,Tonopah Mining District[12] & TonopahManhattan Stage Route),[14] and the region was subdivided into smaller numbered management areas (e.g.,Area 2,Area 5,Area 11,Area 12,Area 25,Area 27,Area 52), which are used for names of some of the range installations (e.g., "Area 3 Compound"[5] and "Area 51" for "Groom Lake Field").
TheTonopah Bombing Range was designated on federal land "withdrawn ... October 29, 1940, from the public domain"[15] and in June 1941, the "Tonopah Gunnery and Bombing Range" was split at "37 degrees and 30 minutes" latitude into the "Tonopah General Range" and "Las Vegas General Range".[2] On October 28, 1941, "United States v. 1,855,720 Acres of land ..." (US Fifth District) was initiated toseize private land,[16] and in July 1942 theFourth Air Force Bombing and Gunnery Range Detachment from "Muroc Lake" arrived as the 1st unit. SeveralNevada World War II Army Airfields were established, e.g., the August 1942Tonopah Army Air Field in the north area and in the south,Indian Springs Auxiliary Army Airfield and its additional fields, e.g., atArea 18 (Aux. Field#4) andArea 51 (Aux. Field#1). In February 1943, Indian Springs AAF was being used for the82d Flying Training Wing for air-to-air gunnery training, and Indian Springs AAF closed in January 1947.[citation needed] In June 1947 Tonopah AAF was declared excess along with its 3 auxiliary areas (Mizpah andButler housing terraces andColumbia Junction gasoline unloading station).[17] The Indian Springs main facility[specify] re-opened in January 1948 and on June 13, 1949, Air Training Command merged the Las Vegas Bombing and Gunnery Range and the Tonopah Bombing and Gunnery Range.[18] On June 28, 1949, the "Gunnery Range of theTonopah Air Force Base" had about 30 sq mi (78 km2)[19] and after the 1949Las Vegas Air Force Base was renamed on April 30, 1950, aUnited States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) committee selected the "Las Vegas Bombing and Gunnery Range" [sic] for a nuclear test site on December 12, 1950.[20] The land was ideal for training aerial gunners because the land was far from people and contained dry lake beds, which worked perfectly for target practices.[21]
A 680-square mile section of the Nellis Air Force Gunnery and Bombing Range was designated theNevada Proving Grounds (NPG) on December 18, 1950.[22] The new NPG included "Yucca andFrenchman Flats,Paiute andRainier Mesas". Thepresidential order also established Groom Lake Field (colloq. "The Pig Farm") at the WWII installation.[citation needed] The first NPG nuclear test was forOperation Ranger on January 27, 1951, and the Indian Springs main facility (renamed an Air Force Base in 1951) supported NPG testing afterARDC General Order No. 39 on July 16, 1952.[citation needed] The NPGCamp Desert Rock "military support facility" (now the privateDesert Rock Airport) operated September 1951-October 7, 1957 (electricity was from AEC'sCamp Mercury) and closed June 18, 1964.[23] In 1955 on the southwest corner of Groom Lake, a survey team laid out the 5,000-foot (1,500 m) north–south "Site II" runway forProject AQUATONE. The 1stLockheed U-2 (Article 341) left theSkunk Works in aC-124 Globemaster II cargo plane for the AQUATONE site in July 1955 and first flew on July 29 during a runway test.[24] TheTonopah Test Range (TTR) land was withdrawn from public use in 1956[6] to replace nuclear test sites at the "Salton Sea Test Base" and theYucca Flat site, and in 1957Sandia Laboratories began TTR operations atCactus Flat.[6]
From 1956 to 1969–70, theLas Vegas Air Force Station andTonopah Air Force Stations providedReno Air Defense Sector radar tracks and in 1957, the "instrumented AEC range at Tonopah" was used byNAS Fallon andPoint Mugu pilots.[25] "A safety experiment (Project 57 No. 1) with ground zero coordinates of N 932646, E 688515 was detonated on April 24, 1957" in "Area 13"[26] at the northeast NTTR boundary. In 1958, theTonopah Test Range Airport was planned with a single runway of 19,000 ft (5,800 m).[25] In 1960, Camp Mercury was a base camp forProject 5.5 that studied nuclear detonation effect on theNorthrop F-89D Scorpion (a similarProject 6.5 was for effect of nuclear detonations on theNike Hercules missile system).[27] A 1961Public Land Order transferred USAF land to the AEC, and after the 1962RBS Express #2 near theHawthorne Naval Ammunition Depot was used forRadar Bomb Scoring of flights over the range, theHawthorne Bomb Plot radar station operated inBabbitt untilc. 1993.Operation Roller Coaster was a TTR nuclear test series in May and June 1963[6] and in November and December 1965,B-52Combat Skyspot testing at the range used the only CONUSAN/MSQ-77 developed for theVietnam War.[28] Planning to integrate the range with theFallon andHill/Wendover/Dugway ranges to create theGreat Basin's "Continental Operations Range" ended in 1975,[29] the first year for a Nellis rangeRed Flag exercise.
TheNellis Air Force Range (NAFR) was used to bury wreckage of the1978 Groom Lake & 1979 NAFRLockheed F-117 Nighthawk crashes, and additionalCold War accidents at the range included the1975 NAFR TR-1 crash,[30] the1979 Tonopah MiG-17 crash during training versus anNorthrop F-5, the1984 Little Skull Mountain MiG-23 crash, which killed a USAF general,[31] and the 1986 NAFR crash, which "Air Force sources" identified as an "F-19" stealth fighter.[32] Circa 1980, NAFR received806L "Range Threat" systems forelectronic warfare simulation and from 1983 to 1985, the area ofSouth Antelope Lake was used for twoTomahawk missile targets.[33] NAFR range operations transferred to the99th Range Group at the end of theCold War (the range received variousRadar Bomb Scoring electronic systems fromStrategic Training Ranges, e.g., Nellis had 5 AN/MSQ-77s by 1994).[34] In 1999 the range's land withdrawal[quantify] was renewed[35] and the unused portion of the original Tonopah Bombing Range was redesignated aFormerly Used Defense Site.[2]: 2–1
| External image | |
|---|---|
 map at UFOmind.com |
In 2001, NAFR was renamed the Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR) and in October 2001, the range group personnel and assets for range operations transferred to the 98th Range Wing.[36] In 2005, Indian Springs AFAF was renamedCreech Air Force Base and in 2010, the NTS was renamed theNevada National Security Site.[37] The NTTR had four tracts in the2010 U.S. census.[38] In 2011, the 98th Range Wing was redesignated with the same name as the range (NTTR).[1]
In June 2019, a jokeFacebook event was created rallying the public to storm the training range on September 20 that year. Over two million people responded as "going" to the event, with another 1.5 million "interested".[39] The county commission chairman estimated that approximately 40,000 people would turn up on 20 September.[40]
On July 10, speaking withThe Washington Post, Air Force spokeswoman Laura McAndrews said officials were aware of the event, and issued a warning saying that the area was "an open training range for the U.S. Air Force, and we would discourage anyone from trying to come into the area where we train American armed forces", adding: "The U.S. Air Force always stands ready to protect America and its assets".[41] A public information officer atNellis Air Force Base toldKNPR that "any attempt to illegally access the area is highly discouraged".[42]
This site is located approximately 60 miles east of Tonopah, adjacent to the current Nellis Air Force Range.
{{cite report}}:|author= has generic name (help)The Air Force Combat Command be assigned jurisdiction of' the Tonopah Range area north of 37° 30', and this area designated as the Tonopah General Range. 2. TheWest Coast Training Center be assigned exclusive jurisdiction of the Tonopah Range area south of 37° 30', and this area designated as the "Las Vegas General Range".
{{cite report}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) [just N ofRachel, Nevada]CAS TA-55-002-TAB2 (Bomblet Target Areas) consists of six separate locations [that] include Mid Target,BLU-63 area,SAC Target, South Antelope Lake, andTomahawk Targets 1 and 2 ... CAS RG-52-007-TAML (Davis Gun Penetrator Test) consists of Davis Gun testing locations onAntelope,Brownes,Pedro, andMain Lakes, andAntelope Tuff 1, Antelope Tuff 2,Sidewinder Tuff,Myers Ridge, andMt Helen (Nellis Range 75). The only location with land use restrictions is Antelope Lake.
Executive Order No. 9019 was executed on January 12, 1942, to redefine the boundaries of the Tonopah Bombing and Gunnery Range. As a result of this Executive Order, lands included in Townships 1 and 2 North, Ranges 46 through 54 East and Townships 1 through 7 South, Ranges 54 through 56 East were returned to the public domain.... Executive Order No, 10355 executed in 1957 returned an additional 155,645 acres of land to the Bureau of Land Management
373136N 1161153W
Tonopah Bombing Range, Nevada. This reservation comprises approximately 3,560,000.00 acres and was withdrawn by Executive Order No, 8578 dated October 29, 1940, from the public domain.
The former target area is now public property administered by the Bureau of Land Management.
Pursuant to the authority contained in PAF Regulation 85-3,... this command has no longer a military need for Tonopah Amy Air Field and its auxiliary facilities,... Tonopah Army Air Field contains 21,912.09 acres of land, government-owed, transferred.to the War Department, from the Department of Interior, There are two (2) asphalt concrete runways 8910' long, 150' wide ... auxiliary facilities are declared excess: (1) Mizpah Housing Terrace (2) Butler Housing Terrace (3) Columbia Junction (gasoline unloading station) ... for retention: (1) Tonopah Bombing and Gunnery Range
The Gunnery Range of theTonopah Air Force Base is approximately fifteen miles East of the City of Tonopah, Nevada, and is bounded on the South by U.S. Highway No. 8. The Gunnery Range consists of approximately thirty square miles and is all open flat desert[specify]
A part (known as Tonopah) of the Las Vegas Bombing and Gunnery Range, was made available to the Navy in February of 1957.... the NAMTC at Pt. Mugu uses the instrumented AEC range at Tonopah.... acreage made available to the Navy was 1,791,891.69. Of this, 369,280 acres is under permit to the AEC and 213,443 acres is outside of Restricted Area 271.... constructing a minimum staging base at Tonopah [with] Single runway (19,000') ... Fallon...Target B-16...B-19...B-20...B-21 ...
{{cite press release}}: CS1 maint: others (link)the onlyground directed bombing equipment in the Continental United Stateswith a 200 nautical mile capability.
{{cite report}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) (partial transcription at 1stCombatEvaluationGroup.com)Archived June 6, 2013, at theWayback Machine{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)