Army Opens Its Test Ranges to Small Weapons Makers

CAMP GRAYLING, Mich. — The U.S. Army said Friday it is opening its test ranges to private companies developing missiles, drones and other weapons, part of an effort to buy new systems faster and get them to the battlefield sooner.

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll told reporters at a military testing range in Michigan that the program will cut months, and sometimes years, off a process that he said routinely stifles military contractors. He pledged that companies would be granted access to ranges in the United States or to allied ranges abroad within 30 days of making a request through an online marketplace that went live Friday.

"It can take 12 to 18 months for a company that wants to go test the thing that can make a soldier's life better, that can increase their lethality and that can keep them safer," Driscoll said. "That is not sufficient."

The program allows drone and missile companies to use five Army ranges to test rockets, drones and counter-drone weapons even if the company does not hold a military contract. Driscoll said the Army aims to "break down every single barrier that we have put up over the last 20 or 30 years."

"We are inviting industry to get in the mud with our soldiers, to innovate, to invest behind them," he said. "And then our commitment as an Army is we will purchase the things that will make our soldiers more lethal, more safe, and keep our country safer."

The first company to use the program tested a new cruise missile at the Army's missile test range in Morocco. Abby Denburg, an executive with Covenant Industries, said the company "demonstrated not only the performance of the Anthem missile but also a repeatable pathway now available to every company."

The announcement comes as the Pentagon confronts the costs of the war with Iran. A recent analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies found the conflict consumed more of the military's already diminished stockpiles of advanced interceptors such as Patriot and THAAD missiles, and warned the shortfall could force the United States and its Middle Eastern allies to accept more risk to conserve air defenses.

President Donald Trump has pushed back on coverage of the issue, telling reporters Thursday that "we need more all the time," and saying some munitions are in "virtually unlimited supply" while others are "a little bit tighter." He offered no specifics.

Driscoll deflected questions about stockpiles, saying, "we have a larger arsenal than any nation in the history of the world, and we will have an even larger arsenal with new and different and layered defenses."