# (A new) Home on the range: NTTR

/ Published Jan. 30, 2024
BATTLE CREEK, Mich., 
The Nevada Test and Training Range, headquartered at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas, spans thousands of square miles – an area larger than Yellowstone and Yosemite National Parks combined. Nearly every day of the year, visiting pilots streak between jagged peaks and high above bone dry lakebeds to pound vehicles and fabricated structures with precision munitions in their preparation for battle. 

                DLA Disposition Services Disposal Support Representative Steve Rodriguez-Sanchez, Air Force Maj. Chadwick McClure, and NTTR Deputy Chief of Operations Support John Holland discuss range needs at a NTTR used property holding yard in 2023. Holland estimates that the NTTR has about 11 years’ worth of targetry vehicles and equipment on hand, primarily acquired through the Defense Logistics Agency. “When DLA has it, we get it, because we might not be able to get it years down the road,” he said.                            230830-D-GV919-1092                            DLA Disposition Services Disposal Support Representative Steve Rodriguez-Sanchez, Air Force Maj. Chadwick McClure, and NTTR Deputy Chief of Operations Support John Holland discuss range needs at a NTTR used property holding yard in 2023. Holland estimates that the NTTR has about 11 years’ worth of targetry vehicles and equipment on hand, primarily acquired through the Defense Logistics Agency. “When DLA has it, we get it, because we might not be able to get it years down the road,” he said.            SHARE IMAGE:Download ImageImage DetailsPhoto By: Jake JoyVIRIN: 230830-D-GV919-1092“Nowhere else can you get some of the things you get out here,” said Air Force Maj. Chadwick “Oslo” McClure, NTTR’s chief of operations support. “You can’t replicate NTTR’s infrastructure. This is the crown jewel of the Air Force; I’d bet in all of DOD. It really is unique.”

From bomb drops at 20,000 feet to low elevation strafing runs to rehearsals for clandestine special operations missions, the NTTR can host nearly any conceivable training scenario. A critical piece of its ability to create realistic environments for warfighters comes from the steady sourcing of used and surplus equipment and material from Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services. 

John Holland has been with NTTR more than two decades. As the operations support deputy, he provides contract oversight for the roughly 70-person Target Operations team that screens, transports, places, and removes elements in a “cradle-to-grave” process. He said that offering the variety of targets that NTTR can would be prohibitively expensive without DLA’s help. 

                Using surplus vehicles and raw materials acquired through the Defense Logistics Agency, Nevada Test and Training Range targetry specialists can fabricate “Frankenstein” vehicles that mimic the aerial profiles of known adversarial assets like SCUD missile launchers or Iranian fast boats.                            230830-D-GV919-1051                            Using surplus vehicles and raw materials acquired through the Defense Logistics Agency, Nevada Test and Training Range targetry specialists can fabricate “Frankenstein” vehicles that mimic the aerial profiles of known adversarial assets like SCUD missile launchers or Iranian fast boats.            SHARE IMAGE:Download ImageImage DetailsPhoto By: Jake JoyVIRIN: 230830-D-GV919-1051“Units could be just simulating, conducting very artificial training,” Holland said, noting that DLA surplus equipment can last from 30 days to 30 years on the range, depending on its usage. “But when we can offer them these vehicles out on the range, it allows them to build tactical formations and the enemy world in a way we wouldn’t be able to do otherwise. When there’s bombable targets, they like to bomb them. It adds a realism to training that’s otherwise unachievable.”

The NTTR maintains more than 100 targets, like a mock airfield consisting of an aircraft squadron, refueling trucks, maintenance shelters and aircraft tugs. Each of those unique items represents one target element, and Holland said the range offers more than 3,000 of them. He estimates that they have 11 years’ worth of potential target elements in their inventory, but they’ll gladly take more.

“When DLA has it, we get it, because we might not be able to get it years down the road,” Holland said.

The command brands targets with colorful names like “Helldorado,” “Damnation Alley,” and “New Jack City.” By pulling from among the thousands of DLA-provided shipping containers and vehicles in its storage yards, NTTR can build up intel-representative locales for classified missions that require high precision. It can host weapons demonstrations using surplus material as hard targets. It can accommodate training for high-speed target missions with “what are essentially full-size RC cars.”

                Nevada Test and Training Range Chief of Operations Support Maj. Chadwick “Oslo” McClure examines the remains of an armed personnel carrier sourced from DLA Disposition Services during a visit to NTTR’s Range 64 in 2023. McClure said that NTTR hoped other ranges would take advantage of DLA’s surplus property because “we want the warfighter to be able to see the same kinds of target sets elsewhere in the U.S.”                            230830-D-GV919-1124                            Nevada Test and Training Range Chief of Operations Support Maj. Chadwick “Oslo” McClure examines the remains of an armed personnel carrier sourced from DLA Disposition Services during a visit to NTTR’s Range 64 in 2023. McClure said that NTTR hoped other ranges would take advantage of DLA’s surplus property because “we want the warfighter to be able to see the same kinds of target sets elsewhere in the U.S.”            SHARE IMAGE:Download ImageImage DetailsPhoto By: Jake JoyVIRIN: 230830-D-GV919-1124“We go through a lot of target elements,” McClure said. “I have the workforce to set up convoys of 20-plus vehicles. Everything from school busses to MRAPs, you name it and its probably out here. The breadth of [DLA’s] catalog is what has helped sustain those operations.”

At the DLA Disposition Services headquarters in Battle Creek, Michigan, the major sub-command’s property Reuse, Transfer and Donation team provides year-round support for both land and maritime ranges all around the world. It could mean coordinating the reutilization of surplus barges for Marines to shoot at in the waters off Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in North Carolina, the transport of used vehicles for air assault practice at Fort Campbell in Kentucky, or the delivery of targetry for the largest National Guard base in the country at Camp Grayling in Michigan. 

Disposal Services Representative Steve Rodriguez-Sanchez works out of the DLA Disposition Services site in Barstow, California. He spends about one week per month providing in-person consultation for the disposition needs of Las Vegas-area commands, including NTTR. He’s just one of a global network of field reps who work directly with military and other qualified customers to extend the useful life of DOD equipment. He said he likes knowing that his efforts are ultimately making the nation’s warfighters more prepared for combat. 

“Just knowing that those men and women are out there fighting for me, I want to come in and do my part and help get them the right tools,” Rodriguez-Sanchez said. “This is where I want to be. We’re saving taxpayer money. And at Nellis, I’m talking with captains, majors, staff sergeants, it’s exciting to hear their stories and see that we’re making an impact. I make sure they know, ‘anything you need, any questions you have, don’t hesitate to call me.’”

04:18VIDEO  | 04:18 |Disposition Services and Training Ranges Supporting the WarfighterLike other ranges, McClure said NTTC has reached a “watershed” moment as personnel there begin reordering and repopulating target areas to better represent the Indo-Pacific area of operations and the maritime domain in general.

“We’re wiping the slate clean with a complete refocus, unlike the piecemeal one-off additions of the past,” McClure said, adding that they’ll continue scanning the DLA used property database for items like boats, amphibious vehicles that can be chopped in half to appear partially submerged, and raw materials for mocking up harbor scenarios. 

“We can make a ‘Frankenstein’ vehicle very easily,” he said, referring to target elements fabricated from surplus material to create the right aerial profile for pilots. “If I’m flying at 20,000 feet, I’m four miles away from the target, so if the aircraft doesn’t need to see it, then we don’t need to make that a part of it. But having the correct silhouette is absolutely clutch. We need to be able to replicate things that look a lot like the threat.”                In the foreground, some of the estimated 10 million pounds of scrap the Nevada Test and Training Range can produce each year from range residue. In the background, some of the thousands of shipping containers the NTTR requisitioned from Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services to fabricate realistic structures and enhance training.                            230830-D-GV919-1173                            In the foreground, some of the estimated 10 million pounds of scrap the Nevada Test and Training Range can produce each year from range residue. In the background, some of the thousands of shipping containers the NTTR requisitioned from Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services to fabricate realistic structures and enhance training.            SHARE IMAGE:Download ImageImage DetailsPhoto By: Jake JoyVIRIN: 230830-D-GV919-1173