Photo By Mark Schauer | Every individual and group heading out to test on Yuma Test Center’s ranges must get...... read more read more
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Most divisions at U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground (YPG) are fast-paced, but few rival the Range Operations and Training Division (ROTD) in terms of the sheer scope of responsibility and volume of work.
Responsible for planning and coordinating the safe operations of numerous inherently dangerous test test activities, the division interacts with virtually all mission-related personnel at YPG.
YPG routinely fires upwards of one million rounds and test drives military vehicles for hundreds of thousands of miles across unimproved road courses and other rugged terrain without a single serious injury. Every individual and group heading out to test on Yuma Test Center’s ranges, a land space geographically larger than the state of Rhode Island, must get clearance from ROTD range controllers before they can proceed to their destination. On a busy day, this can mean upwards of 250 phone calls for range clearances, with an equal number of calls to cancel them at the conclusion of the day.
ROTD was created in 2017 with the merger of the Planning and Range Operations Divisions and the Training and Exercise Management Office (TEMO), and the streamlined operations helped immensely during the rapid planning and execution of Project Convergence, last summer’s campaign of learning that represented the Army’s largest capabilities demonstration of the year.
“The range control branch and range planning branch merger has been a huge help for the test center as a whole,” said Omar Silva, ROTD chief. “The communication is now seamless.”
The work is complex, but the basic mission is simple, says ROTD Chief Omar Silva.
“We’re here to support the testers. It’s important for us to keep that focus: how can we make the testers’ lives easier while they’re on the range and we’re in this air conditioned room?”
One example is coordinating things like temporary road closures of Highway 95, the arterial highway that bisects YPG, with the Arizona Department of Transportation when necessary to safely accommodate testing. Prior to the creation of the division, this task fell to the test officers themselves, which Silva saw as a needless distraction to the main test mission.
“Let’s let the smart people worry about complex engineering problems, and let operational guys like us handle things like road closures,” said Silva.
A temporary closure of Highway 95 for a test affects more than motorists, too. Roads within the Kofa Wildlife Refuge must also be closed as well, which requires coordination with the Bureau of Land Management. Other entities along the road and on YPG property, from the Border Patrol station to General Motors Desert Test Track and the Department of Homeland Security’s tethered aerostat must also be notified. The division must also ensure the test is able to proceed in the allotted time.
“Execution is down to the second because we have specific windows with ADOT,” he explained. “When we open up the clearance, the highway is closed and the gun can fire. As soon as the round makes impact, we can open it back up immediately to minimize the inconvenience for the public.”
As for test planning, the three-week planning cycle remains, albeit with the ability to fast-track priority tests or adjust the schedule to insert other projects if a test is temporarily delayed.
“If tests are postponed due to equipment or some other reason, we can immediately fill the gap with other projects to keep those personnel occupied,” said Silva. “It’s a constant massaging of the schedule to ensure we are efficient with all of the folks we have.”
Another ROTD innovation has been the creation of a curriculum where test officers observe range controllers for two hours, culminating with the opening of a firing clearance.
“I wanted to let them experience the complexities of range control so that whenever they’re out there, they’ve been on the scene and know what it takes,” said Silva. “It helps them, and it helps us.”
The complexities of range control are multifold: issuing range clearances over the phone to every person who enters the ranges, confirming that technical safety data supplied by test officers is accurate, and calmly orchestrating one of the busiest test ranges in the world. In the range control room, the controllers are astonishingly cool as the synapses of the installation’s nerve center crackle about them. The unpunctuated beep of the phone system that signifies a call waiting on the other line is a constant sound in the dim room where controllers record data by the light of green-shaded banker’s lamps next to computers on a long control desk. On the wall are large screens displaying live radar data and maps showing surface danger zones of tests in progress.
The most important tool at range control’s disposal is a detailed map of the installation that shows which tests are in progress and the danger zones for each. In the event of a serious injury, range controllers would pass on these coordinates to an emergency airlift pilot as they rapidly cleared YPG’s airspace for the helicopter’s safe entry. Likewise, in the event of an emergency evacuation of the range due to flooding during a monsoon, the range controllers are responsible for ensuring everyone gets out safely.
ROTD even has impact on some of the infrastructure on the range, including a helicopter landing zone and access roads constructed by troop labor. The troops in these units can also utilize TEMO facilities for things like weapons qualification during their time here.
“We really formalized the program of troop labor across YPG,” said Silva. “That checks off their training and gets them a project completed as well.”
| Date Taken: | 02.11.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 02.17.2021 18:41 |
| Story ID: | 388896 |
| Location: | YUMA PROVING GROUND, AZ, US |
| Web Views: | 21 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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