YPG's operations usually can’t be heard from Yuma

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, AZ, UNITED STATES

07.30.2021

Story by Mark Schauer 

U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground

YUMA PROVING GROUND, Ariz.-- Given that the Yuma area is home to U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground (YPG), Marine Corps Air Station Yuma and the Barry M. Goldwater Bombing Range (BMGR), the potential for military-related noise in the region is high.

Usually, though, when such noise is heard in populated areas, YPG is not the source of the sound.

The immense size of YPG’s range space, larger in area than the state of Rhode Island, makes the proving ground an ideal place for testing long-range artillery shells. YPG is the epicenter of testing related to the Army’s top modernization priority: long range precision fires. These artillery tests can take place at all hours of the day and night depending on the needs of the item under test: the high-speed cameras testers use to capture crisp images of projectiles in flight have forward looking infrared capability, which allows images to be captured at night without artificial light.

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 Yuma are concerned. Rarely, an atmospheric condition called an inversion, associated with upper level ridges, can create a ‘density barrier’ that reflects sound waves back to the ground and disperses them over wide areas. As such, people in locations far from the source of the sound might hear the muted crump of artillery fire during an inversion event.

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. All of these factors make the post highly coveted for aviation testing, and YPG’s specialty is helping to prove the airworthiness of a given airframe once weapons systems and sensors are integrated into it. YPG’s aviation personnel are testing some of the most cutting-edge platforms around, but none of the proving ground's aviation testing ever causes a sonic boom.

“We don’t allow aircraft to break the sound barrier in our air space,” said Hugh Lottinger, range operations manager. “We aren’t conducting that type of testing, so we have no reason for that to occur.”

Testing is YPG’s bread and butter, but the proving ground also hosts training activities for Soldiers, Marines, and even various civilian law enforcement agencies. However, these operations usually aren’t responsible for noise heard by the general public, either.

“If we support demolitions or artillery training, the sound generated would be equivalent to what is produced by test operations,” said Luis Arroyo, chief of the Training Exercise Management Office. “The size and scope of training operations here is miniscule compared to the test operations. It is extremely unlikely that anyone in the City of Yuma or the Yuma Foothills will hear anything related to training operations at YPG.”

These and all other test and training activities at YPG are conducted in extremely remote locations that are far from any populated areas. Tests and training missions are all done in accordance with Army regulations that require surface danger zones to ensure that all possible hazards are contained within that zone.

Putting military equipment through punishing testing at YPG ensures it is safe and effective prior to the time when a Soldier or Marine’s life may depend on it. So far as the general public is concerned, this fact is orders of magnitude louder than the noise of our operations.

• Date Taken: 07.30.2021
• Date Posted: 07.30.2021 14:21
• Story ID: 401762
• Location: YUMA PROVING GROUND, AZ, US