U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground's primary mission differs from most military installations

Courtesy Photo | The most recent comprehensive study of all of Arizona’s military installations by The Maguire Company in November 2017 found that U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground's annual direct, indirect, and induced economic impact is in excess of $1.1. billion annually. Of the nearly $700 million in direct annual impact, nearly $250 million was the product of wages paid to the more than 2,000 civilians who work here. While impressive, these numbers were compiled prior to the creation of the Army Futures Command (AFC) in 2018. Since then, YPG has actively supported six of AFC’s Cross Functional Teams (CFTs) building the Army's future force, which seeks to retain overmatch with near-peer adversaries in a high intensity conflict. In the summer of 2020, YPG’s hosting of Project Convergence (PC), the Army’s largest capabilities demonstration of the year, brought in well over 900 visiting support personnel for as long as six weeks. The 2021 iteration of PC promises to be even larger.  

YUMA PROVING GROUND, ARIZONA, UNITED STATES

03.29.2022

Story by Mark Schauer 

U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground

Unlike most military installations that exist primarily to train troops, the main mission of U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground (YPG) is to test the equipment Soldiers use to ensure it works as it should wherever in the world they need it.

“A place like Fort Hood is used primarily for training: Here at YPG, we do some very limited training events, but it’s not our primary mission,” said Larry Bracamonte, YPG Technical Director.

The equipment under test on any given day ranges from ground combat equipment to unmanned aerial systems. YPG personnel integrate weapons systems into helicopters and test both cargo and personnel parachutes.

YPG’s developmental test mission includes evaluations of the most cutting edge equipment. For example, YPG conducts developmental testing of multiple facets of Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA), from the artillery shells to the longer cannon tube and larger firing chamber an improved howitzer will need to accommodate them. YPG’s ammunition plant has been instrumental in building multiple experimental formulations, shapes, and configurations for new propelling charges to accommodate the improved projectiles.

“The troops at training ranges are usually using systems that have already been accepted into the Army’s inventory,” said Bracamonte. “Everything they are using has been certified as safe, and probably at some point was tested at a test center.”

YPG often boasts of its large land area, capable of testing scores of different items every day without a conflict for space. Most of these tests require the most accurate measurements possible, and YPG’s Engineering Support Branch has long characterized every centimeter of YPG’s vast range. This level of measurement is unique to a proving ground like YPG.

“We have to locate calibration targets, cameras, radars, optical tracking systems, transponders: anything that needs to be located as part of a test,” said Ruben Hernandez, engineering technician. “We measure very precisely the elevation, angle, and distance to that point.”

In fielding the best equipment possible, testers are particularly interested in inspecting mortar and artillery tubes for anomalies as the systems undergo testing. YPG’s Physical Test Facility is regarded as second-to-none: In the area of cannon laser bore mapping, for instance, YPG has developed a variety of apparatus to map even the most microscopic crack or abnormal wear inside a cannon under test. The lab’s most ultra-precise stationary machine can measure an object accurately within 50 millionths of one inch.

“We can characterize tube wear and anomalies as we test,” said Bracamonte. “We can figure out how a tube is doing as a result of shooting different types of propellant or projectiles.”

With the sheer volume of YPG’s artillery test workload and size of its test range, however, being able to take measurements in the field is vitally important. The lab’s portable laser bore mapping capability is accurate to within two-tenths of one thousandth of an inch, and is rugged enough to take bouncing around on an unimproved road or in the cargo hold of an aircraft enduring turbulence.

“With respect to developmental test, we have a lot of diagnostics and instrumentation that you wouldn’t see at a training base,” said Bracamonte.

Since items under test are oftentimes inherently dangerous weapon systems, the safety of evaluators is a key factor. All of this means that many of the fixtures and components to support this vigorous testing are not available on the commercial market, or need to be extensively modified for YPG’s needs. Whether it is a mock helicopter to serve as a target or a specialized mount to hold a machine gun under test, YPG oftentimes has to rapidly conceive of and build elaborate test fixtures to make possible a critical evaluation that Soldiers are counting on.

“Our machine shop has the capability of making hard stands,” said Bracamonte. “Sometimes we will fasten those hard stands to a piece of armor to serve as a platform, or fasten it with bolts to concrete. Early on in testing, they may not have the system ready to accept whatever we’re testing, and these stands can serve as an interim and keep the program moving forward while they design the system the weapons will eventually be mated to.”

Another key difference between a test facility like YPG and typical military installations is an extra emphasis on safety. Given the experimental nature of many of the items tested at the proving ground, munitions are typically fired remotely as personnel take cover behind reinforced concrete bombproofs.

“We always make the assumption there could be a catastrophic failure, particularly with developmental items because we don’t know how they are going to perform,” said Bracamonte. “If a system does have a catastrophic failure, we know that everyone supporting that test is going to be safe—we may have minor structural damage, but that is something we can repair.”

Though only a small portion of YPG’s overall workload, the post still supports training for Soldiers, whether a tenant unit like the Military Free Fall School that trains special forces parachutists, or transient units assisted by YPG’s Training and Exercise Management Office (TEMO).

“The whole reason TEMO is here is to support testing,” said Luis Arroyo, TEMO chief. “We synchronize activities to make sure the priority always goes to test. We don’t say no to training, but find efficiencies to be able to make it happen.”

Oftentimes this means scheduling training events on weekends or other times when test ranges are not in use. Sometimes, however, training events occur simultaneously to dozens of tests in progress across the post’s vast ranges.

“The majority of times training activities are invisible to test,” said Arroyo. “It’s happening and people don’t realize it is happening.”

Counterintuitively, YPG’s status as primarily a test range provides it with flexibilities that training installations likely don’t have.

“Being a test range gives us the flexibility to set and reset training and testing areas in any way we need to have them as long as doctrine supports it, the command approves it, it is within the unit’s capability, and we have the appropriate environmental documentation,” said Arroyo.

• Date Taken: 03.29.2022
• Date Posted: 03.29.2022 11:20
• Story ID: 416559
• Location: YUMA PROVING GROUND, ARIZONA, US