The Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site, commonly referred to as the Reagan Test Site (formerly Kwajalein Missile Range), is a missile test range in

Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands ( mh, Ṃajeḷ), officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands ( mh, Aolepān Aorōkin Ṃajeḷ),'' () is an independent island country and microstate near the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the Intern ...

(

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

). It covers about and includes rocket launch sites at the Kwajalein Atoll (on multiple islands),

Wake Island Wake Island ( mh, Ānen Kio, translation=island of the kio flower; also known as Wake Atoll) is a coral atoll in the western Pacific Ocean in the northeastern area of the Micronesia subregion, east of Guam, west of Honolulu, southeast of T ...

, and

Aur Atoll Aur Atoll ( Marshallese: , ) is a coral atoll of 42 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands. Its total land area is only , but it encloses a lagoon with an area of . It is located ...

. It primarily functions as a test facility for U.S. missile defense and space research programs. The Reagan Test Site is under the command of the US Army Kwajalein Atoll, or USAKA (pronounced ).

Purpose and facilities

The facility is part of the Defense Major Range and Test Facility Base. They provide range instrumentation, missile launch facilities, mission control center, range safety, meteorological support, and support space operations. , the facility's budget was US$182 million. The site hosts a suite of unique instrumentation, located on eight islands throughout the Kwajalein Atoll. This instrumentation includes a comprehensive suite of precision metric and signature radars, optical sensors, telemetry receiving stations, and impact scoring assets. RTS provides both mobile and fixed ground and flight safety instrumentation. The Pentagon lease for the islands of the Kwajalein Atoll extends through 2066. Equipment installed at the test site includes various tracking

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, we ...

s, stationary and mobile

telemetry Telemetry is the in situ collection of measurements or other data at remote points and their automatic transmission to receiving equipment (telecommunication) for monitoring. The word is derived from the Greek roots ''tele'', "remote", an ...

, optical recording equipment and a secure

fiberoptic An optical fiber, or optical fibre in Commonwealth English, is a flexible, transparent fiber made by drawing glass (silica) or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a human hair. Optical fibers are used most often as a means t ...

data network via the HANTRU-1

undersea cable Submarine cable is any electrical cable that is laid on the seabed The seabed (also known as the seafloor, sea floor, ocean floor, and ocean bottom) is the bottom of the ocean. All floors of the ocean are known as 'seabeds'. The structure of the ...

. The Reagan Test Site also serves as a tracking station for crewed space flight and

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

research projects. Launch activities at the test site include

ballistic missile A ballistic missile is a type of missile that uses projectile motion to deliver warheads on a target. These weapons are guided only during relatively brief periods—most of the flight is unpowered. Short-range ballistic missiles stay within the ...

tests, ABM interception tests, and meteorological

sounding rockets A sounding rocket or rocketsonde, sometimes called a research rocket or a suborbital rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The rockets are used to ...

. The Kwajalein Atoll used to host a commercial

spaceport A spaceport or cosmodrome is a site for launching or receiving spacecraft, by analogy to a seaport for ships or an airport for aircraft. The word ''spaceport'', and even more so ''cosmodrome'', has traditionally been used for sites capable ...

for SpaceX at

Omelek Island Omelek Island (; Marshallese: , pronounced ) is part of the Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. It is controlled by the United States military under a long-term lease (along with ten other islands in the atoll) and is part ...

Population

There are about 2,500 permanent residents of Kwajalein, including 1,200 employees of Bechtel and Lockheed Martin's Kwajalein Range Services and more than 800 dependents. The Bechtel employees are located on 11 sites spread across and seven time zones. The civilian jobs on the facility are managed under contract by Bechtel. Depending on the job, some positions are unaccompanied. Vehicles are not permitted. Workers on the facility may qualify for tax-exempt status in the United States. The Americans are supported by about 900 Marshallese workers who take a ferry from

Ebeye Island Ebeye ( ; Marshallese: , or in older orthography, ; locally, , , after the English pronunciation) is the most populous island of Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, as well as the center for Marshallese culture in the Ralik Chain of the a ...

to the base. Bechtel provides a wide variety of support services to the Department of Defense and military personnel and their families. These include dining operations, public utilities, medical and dental care, transportation, firefighting, recreational activities, youth and education services, retail, religious services, and newspaper, radio, and TV access. A Catholic and a Presbyterian chaplain are employed by Bechtel. There are also religious services available for members of the

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The c ...

Location

The mission control center, along with most of the personnel and infrastructure, is located at the Kwajalein Atoll in the

. Eleven of the atoll's islands are operated by the U.S. military under a long term lease (through 2066) with the

Republic of the Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands ( mh, Ṃajeḷ), officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands ( mh, Aolepān Aorōkin Ṃajeḷ),'' () is an independent island country and microstate near the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the Intern ...

Climate threat

According to a report commissioned by the Department of Defense, the site is expected to be entirely submerged by seawater at least once annually by 2035.

History

Previous names for the installation include: * Naval Station Kwajalein (Post World War II–1959) * Pacific Missile Range Facility, Kwajalein (1959–1964) * Kwajalein Test Site (1964–1968) * Kwajalein Missile Range (1968–1986) * United States Army Kwajalein Atoll (1986–1991) * Kwajalein Missile Range (1991–1999) * Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site (1999–present)

Notes

''This article incorporates content from United States government web sites that is in the public domain.''

References

Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site (RTS) Official Site

External links

The Roi Namur Dolphins Scuba Club website
{{authority control Kwajalein Atoll Spaceports in the United States Wake Island