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| Military installations in Nevada | |
|---|---|
| Name | Military installations in Nevada |
| Caption | Aerial view of Nellis Air Force Base ranges |
| Location | Nevada, United States |
| Type | Military bases, testing ranges, training centers |
| Controlledby | United States Department of Defense |
Military installations in Nevada
Nevada hosts a concentration of United States Department of Defense installations, test ranges, and training areas that support United States Air Force, United States Army, United States Navy, United States Marine Corps, United States Space Force and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency activities. Facilities such as Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada Test and Training Range, Naval Air Station Fallon and the Tonopah Test Range underpin operations, testing, and exercises tied to programs like Red Flag, Green Flag, Air Combat Command missions, and classified research linked to Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory collaborations.
Nevada installations form a network including Nellis Air Force Base, Creech Air Force Base, Naval Air Station Fallon, Edwards Air Force Base-linked ranges, and Area 51-adjacent sites supporting United States Strategic Command training, Air Force Materiel Command testing, Defense Intelligence Agency operations, and contractor work by Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, Raytheon Technologies, and General Atomics. Historical programs such as the Manhattan Project-era testing continuum, Operation Plumbbob, Operation Teapot, and Project Pluto intersect with contemporary initiatives including Joint Strike Fighter flight trials and F-35 Lightning II sustainment. The state's geography—proximity to Las Vegas, the Great Basin, and the Sierra Nevada—enables live-fire exercises, electronic warfare trials, and spaceflight integration with NASA and SpaceX payload work.
Major active installations include Nellis Air Force Base (home to Air Warfare Center, USAF Warfare Center and Thunderbirds), Creech Air Force Base (remotely piloted aircraft operations supporting MQ-9 Reaper missions), Naval Air Station Fallon (site of TOPGUN-adjacent Pacific Fleet training and Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center activities), and the Nevada National Security Site (security, counterterrorism, and plutonium stewardship linked to the National Nuclear Security Administration). Other active sites: Tonopah Test Range Airport (airborne test support for United States Air Force Test Pilot School and classified programs), Indian Springs Air Force Auxiliary Field (range support), and Hawthorne Army Depot (munitions storage serving U.S. Army Forces Command ordnance readiness). Airspace and range control centers coordinate with Federal Aviation Administration and Nellis Range Complex scheduling, while contractor testbeds operated by Sierra Nevada Corporation, BAE Systems, and Leidos support prototype evaluation.
Decommissioned and historic locations include Area 51-adjacent Cold War flight test sites, legacy Atomic Energy Commission-era blast areas within the Nevada Test Site used for Operation Crossroads-related research, the former Tonopah Bombing Range installations, and closed World War II-era airfields that fed into Army Air Forces training circuits. The Groom Lake facility, linked to projects like Have Blue and F-117 Nighthawk, transitioned from secrecy to partial acknowledgment. Other historical properties: abandoned runways at Indian Springs satellite fields, deactivated Walker Lake test sites, and munitions disposal areas tied to Operation Plumbbob and Project 57 cleanup efforts.
Nevada encompasses expansive testing areas: the Nevada Test and Training Range adjacent to Nellis Air Force Base, the Tonopah Test Range, and the Desert National Wildlife Refuge buffer used for range operations. Exercises like Red Flag and Green Flag leverage integrated air, surface, and electronic warfare scenarios, often coordinated with United States Northern Command or United States Pacific Command taskings. The state's telemetry, radar, and optical tracking arrays support Ballistic Missile Defense tests involving Pacific Missile Range Facility collaborations and telemetry downlinks used by North American Aerospace Defense Command and Space Force units. Civil-military coordination involves Clark County Department of Aviation for overflight management near McCarran International Airport (now Harry Reid International Airport).
Installations such as Nellis AFB, Creech AFB, NAS Fallon, and Hawthorne Army Depot provide employment that influences Clark County, Washoe County, and rural counties including Nye County and Mineral County. Defense contracting with firms like Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, General Dynamics, and Honeywell injects federal dollars into the Las Vegas and Reno metropolitan economies, affecting housing markets, school districts administered by Clark County School District and Washoe County School District, and local services in towns like Indian Springs, Tonopah, Fallon, and Hawthorne. Veteran communities connect to U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs facilities and organizations such as American Legion posts and Veterans of Foreign Wars chapters.
Testing and storage activities have prompted remediation and oversight by agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy, and National Nuclear Security Administration. Legacy contamination from atmospheric testing and ordnance ranges involves cleanup under programs related to Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act and coordination with Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for species and habitat protection in areas overlapping the Desert National Wildlife Refuge and Spring Mountains National Recreation Area. Water rights and Colorado River basin impacts, endangered species considerations involving the Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep and pahrump poolfish-adjacent habitats, and cultural resource management with Nevada State Historic Preservation Office influence range modernization and public land use.
Planned projects include range modernization initiatives funded through Department of Defense budgets and Congressional appropriations, infrastructure upgrades to support F-35 Lightning II sortie generation and Next Generation Air Dominance prototyping, expanded unmanned systems operations with MQ-9 Reaper and future Skyborg-family integration, and continued spaceflight support for SpaceX, Blue Origin, and United Launch Alliance telemetry partnerships. Collaboration with national laboratories—Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory—and research grants from Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and Office of Naval Research will shape testing priorities, while state-level coordination with the Nevada Governor's Office and Nevada State Legislature will govern economic and land-use outcomes.
Category:Military installations in the United States Category:Buildings and structures in Nevada Category:United States military in Nevada