The Army is swinging open its test ranges to private defense companies, promising a faster, less bureaucratic path for firms trying to prove new weapons and battlefield tech. The pitch is simple: cut the red tape, speed up testing, and make it easier for promising ideas to move from the drawing board to the range.
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said companies will now be able to request testing windows through a new online portal and, in many cases, get onto a range within 30 days. That is a sharp break from the old pace, which could leave businesses waiting around for about 18 months just to get a shot at proving their equipment works.
Driscoll framed the change as a needed reset inside the Army. “We just had to get out of our own way,” he said. “And so the 30-day clock starts today. So if somebody goes to testrange.army.mil, submits it in the next hour, we will have you on a range within 30 days.”
The move fits into a much larger push to modernize fast, especially as battlefield lessons from recent conflicts keep shaking up military thinking. Drones, counter-drone systems, long-range fires and low-cost interceptors are all part of the scramble, and the Army wants industry to move at a pace that feels a lot closer to the commercial world.
Driscoll pointed to the pressure created by war and innovation abroad, saying the Army is trying to clear away barriers built up over decades. The message is that the old system was too slow for the kind of threats now showing up on modern battlefields, where speed and adaptability matter as much as raw firepower.
Four U.S. sites are being opened to private companies under the new effort: Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, West Cibola Range at Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona, Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center in Mississippi and Camp Grayling Joint Maneuver Training Center in Michigan. Those locations give industry access to realistic terrain and conditions that can help expose weak spots before equipment ever reaches troops.
The Army is also expanding the idea beyond the continental U.S., working with U.S. Africa Command and partners to provide industry access to the Multidomain Training Area in Morocco. That widens the map for testing and gives companies a chance to try systems in different environments, not just in one familiar setting.
The new portal is supposed to be open to companies that do not already have a federal contract or an existing relationship with the government. Each applicant will also get a dedicated concierge to help manage scheduling, which is meant to make the process feel less like a maze and more like an actual service.
Driscoll said the goal is to help good ideas prove themselves without forcing companies to build a legal army before they can get to the real one. “A company with a good idea shouldn’t need a team of lawyers and a program of record just to prove their equipment works,” he said.
Even with the new setup, the Army is not promising everyone their dream slot on demand. Capacity still matters, and a request does not guarantee a preferred site or date, but the service says the concierge team will work to find an available window and the best fit for the test.
The bet here is that faster access means faster learning, and faster learning means better gear in the field. For defense firms, that could mean less waiting and more actual proving, which is where the real pressure, and the real payoff, lives.
