Tropic Regions Test Center
Abstract
A key element of U.S. military strategy is the ability to rapidly deploy, employ, sustain, and redeploy capabilities in geographically separate and environmentally diverse regions around the world. To support that strategy, U.S. military systems must be able to operate effectively and safely in the full range of natural environments found around the globe. The ability to operate in a tropic environment is especially critical as approximately three-fourths of all regional conflicts have taken place in tropical areas. While some aspects of the natural environment can be recreated in test chambers, it is only through testing in the natural environment that the synergistic effects of all of the challenges posed by nature can be fully understood and evaluated. The detailed, realistic testing ensures U.S. military personnel from all services that their systems will function as intended in these environments. The U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Ground (YPG), the Department of Defense (DoD) lead for natural environment testing, operates and maintains sites for testing the full range of military systems in cold, desert, and tropic environments. The Tropic Regions Test Center (TRTC) is a subordinate command of YPG (a subordinate command of the Developmental Test Command and the Army Test and Evaluation Command) and has the mission for planning and conducting testing of military systems in a tropic environment. This article provides information on TRTC's capabilities as well as a review of the history of tropic testing and a listing of the key environmental challenges systems may encounter in a tropic environment.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2008
- Accession Number
- ADA514049
Entities
People
- Lance Vanderzyl