Commercial technology can be quickly adapted to military uses in order to decrease costs. The most cost-effective way to test and train commercial technology is to have the lab that is adapting it in the vicinity of the field where it is being tested. On the human side of the operation, in order for operations to run smoothly, military personnel need to train as they expect to fight. Soldiers should practice and train maneuvers using technologies in a real-world environment. In this way, both the technology and the people that use it will be as prepared as possible for future threats to national security while utilizing military resources to their maximum.
Physical space is vital to the type of testing and training just described.
A single open-air test range requires nearly two million acres of open land. The Southwest is the only region of the country that offers land of this size, as well as air and sea space needed for other kinds of testing. The Southwest offers over 335 million acres of federally owned land. Over 490 thousand square miles of air space is available in the Southwest, and 484 thousand square miles of sea are open for training activities. Climate and weather considerations are also critical to testing and training under the most efficient conditions.