Nevada Test Range

The Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR) is 1 of 2 military training areas used by the United States Air Force Warfare Center at Nellis AFB (cf. Eglin AFB) and has the "largest contiguous air and ground space available for peacetime military operations in the free world"[4] (cf. Utah TTR) The NTTR land area includes a "simulated Integrated Air Defense System", several individual ranges with 1200 targets, and 4 remote communication sites.[4] The current NTTR area and the range's former areas have been used for aerial gunnery and bombing, for nuclear tests, as a proving ground and flight test area, for aircraft control and warning, and for Blue Flag, Green Flag, and Red Flag exercises.

Geography

The Nevada Test and Training Range land area is mostly Central Basin and Range ecoregion (cf. southernmost portion in the Mojave Desert),[13]:3-1 and smaller ecoregions (e.g., Tonopah Basin, Tonopah Playa, & Bald Mountain biomes) are within the area of numerous basin and range landforms of the NTTR.

Landforms

The NTTR is at the serpentine section of the Great Basin Divide in southern Nevada and uses numerous landforms for military operations, e.g., Groom Lake near the northeast NTTR border is the airstrip for the 1955 Site II west of the lake's WWII field. Tolicha Peak and Point Bravo are eponyms for electronic combat ranges, and the Mercury Valley is the eponym for a Cold War camp that became Mercury, Nevada. The Tonopah Test Range "within the boundaries of the NTTR" (e.g., "Nellis Range 75"[14]) includes Antelope Lake, Radar Hill, and the "Cactus, Antelope, and Silverbow Springs".

Northern Range

The Northern Range includes the Tolicha Peak Electronic Combat Range (TPECR, e.g., Range 76 targets 76-03, -05, -11, & -14) and Tonopah Electronic Combat Range (the Wildhorse Management Area encircled by the Northern Range is not part of the NTTR.)

Eastman Airfield

The Eastman Airfield Target (Target 76-14,[15] Korean Airfield, 37°22′N 116°50′W[citation needed]) is a Range 76 target 4.3 mi (6.9 km) northwest of the TPECR. The target has a northeastern taxiway loop which is characteristical for the former Soviet Air Force base at Jüterbog Airfield in East 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 accompanying SAM sites, one 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) northwest of the airfield, and one 3.5 miles (5.6 km) northwest just like the original.

Southern Range

The Southern Range includes the Point Bravo Electronic Combat Range.[citation needed] A ~1,276 sq mi (3,300 km2) area of the Southern Range that was withdrawn from the Desert National Wildlife Range is co-managed by the USAF and the USFWS

Nearby facilities

In addition to Nellis AFB, areas outside of the current NTTR land area are used for related activities, e.g., ~1,107 sq mi (2,870 km2) of the former military range land (relinquished 1942, e.g. ranges 46-56,[9] and c. 1953) is under the Nellis "Area A" airspace that is a Military Operations Area (MOA).[6] The Formerly Used Defense Site north and northeast of the NTTR with "Stone Cabin, Hot Creek, Railroad, Tikaboo, and Sand 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).[12] Most areas adjacent to the NTTR are managed by the Bureau of Land Management for limited non-residential use such as grazing.[12]:3-1 Temporary sites, e.g., for Patriot Communications Exercises (~"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, and Dry Lake Valley" ("general area" of the Key Pittman WMA) and "under MOA airspace".