Yuma Proving Ground Yuma Proving Ground is a United States Army facility and one of the largest military installation s in the world . Situated in southwestern La Paz County and western Yuma County in southwestern Arizona , U . S . , approximately north - east of the city of Yuma , the proving ground is used for testing military equipment and encompasses 1 , 307 . 8 square miles ( 3 , 387 . 2 km² ) in the northwestern Sonoran Desert . Overview . The proving ground conducts tests on nearly every weapon system in the ground combat arsenal . Munition s and artillery systems are tested here in an area almost completely removed from urban encroachment and noise concerns . Restricted airspace controlled by the test center amounts to over . Over 3000 people , mostly civilian , work at the proving ground . It is a major economic player in Yuma County , with an economic impact of over $ 430 million annually . Yuma Proving Ground is the largest single employer of civilians in the county . In a typical year , over 500 , 000 artillery , mortar and missile rounds are fired , 36 , 000 parachute drops take place , are driven on military vehicles , and over 4000 air sorties are flown from the proving ground ’ s Laguna Army Airfield . Though about 90 percent of the proving ground ' s workload is devoted to the test and evaluation of weapon systems and munitions , training activities are important . Dozens of units visit the proving ground each year for realistic desert training , especially before deploying overseas . Yuma Proving Ground features the longest overland artillery range ( ) in the nation , the most highly instrumented helicopter armament test range in the Department of Defense , over of improved road courses for testing tracked and wheeled military vehicles , over of fiber - optic cable linking test locations , and the most modern mine and demolitions test facility in the western hemisphere . Realistic villages and road networks representing urban areas in Southwest Asia have been constructed and are used for testing counter - measures to the threat of roadside bombs . The General Motors Desert Proving Ground - Yuma was officially opened at the proving ground in late July 2009 . Costing over $ 100 million , General Motors built the facility after closing its desert automotive test facility in Mesa , Arizona , that had been in operation since 1953 . The new facility is a partnership between General Motors and the Army that allows Army automotive testers at the proving ground to test Army wheeled vehicles at the General Motors facility on a year - round basis . It is estimated that the track can be used to test about 80 percent of the Army ' s wheeled vehicle fleet . Yuma Proving Ground ' s sparkling clean air , low humidity , skimpy rainfall — only about per year — and annual average of 350 sunny days , add up to almost perfect testing and training conditions . Urban encroachment and noise concerns are non - existent problems , unlike at many other military installations . An excellent two - way relationship has developed between the proving ground and local community elected officials and community leaders . Of the four extreme natural environments recognized as critical in the testing of military equipment , three fall under the management authority of Yuma Proving Ground . Realistic natural environment testing ensures that American military equipment performs as advertised , wherever deployed around the world . The proving ground manages military equipment and munitions testing at three locations : The Cold Regions Test Center at Fort Greely , Alaska ; the Tropic Regions Test Center operating in Panama , Honduras , Suriname , and Hawaii ; and at the Yuma Test Center located at Yuma Proving Ground . The common link between these test centers is " environmental testing , " which makes the proving ground the Army ' s environmental test expert . Yuma Proving Ground is fast becoming the Department of Defense ’ s premiere test and evaluation site for improvised explosive devices , commonly known as IEDs , the number one killer of American service men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan . Hundreds of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle s fly at the proving ground each year from the six airfields located at the proving ground , as do helicopters and fixed wing aircraft conducting personnel and cargo parachute drops . Nearly all the long range artillery testing for U . S . ground forces takes place at Yuma Proving Ground . Many friendly foreign nations also visit the proving ground to conduct test programs , including Germany , Japan , Canada , Singapore , Saudi Arabia , Sweden , the United Kingdom , France , and others . U . S . Army Yuma Proving Ground is a subordinate command of the Army Test and Evaluation Command . History of U . S . Army Yuma Proving Ground . The presence of the U . S . Army in Yuma goes back to 1850 , when Fort Yuma was constructed on a hill overlooking the important Yuma crossing of the Colorado River . Soldiers at Fort Yuma maintained peace and protected the important Yuma crossing , which was used by thousands of travelers each year . The Army constructed a second facility in 1865 , the Yuma Quartermaster Depot , to act as a supply base for Army posts throughout Arizona and parts of New Mexico . Supplies were delivered by riverboats and transported from the depot to military outposts by wagon . After Fort Yuma and the Yuma Quartermaster Depot closed in the 1880s , the Army did not to return to Yuma on a permanent basis until World War II . Yuma Proving Ground traces its history to Camp Laguna and the Army Corp ’ s of Engineers Yuma Test Branch , both activated in 1943 . Located on the Colorado River , the Yuma Test Branch conducted testing on combat bridges , amphibious vehicles , and boats . Tens of thousands of mechanized and infantry soldiers were trained at Camp Laguna for duty at combat fronts throughout the world , from North Africa to the South Pacific . Abandoned campsites and tank trails can still be found on the modern day proving ground . Camp Laguna lasted only until the end of World War II . The Yuma Test Branch was closed in 1949 and reactivated two years later as the Yuma Test Station , under the operational control of the Sixth U . S . Army . In 1962 , the station was named Yuma Proving Ground and reassigned to the U . S . Army Materiel Command as an important component of the Test and Evaluation Command . On July 26 , 1973 , it officially received its full name — U . S . Army Yuma Proving Ground . The following year it was designated as a Department of Defense Major Range and Test Facility Base . Since its early days , Yuma Proving Ground has been a desert environmental test center for all types of military equipment and materiel . However , developmental and a variety of other types of testing of artillery systems and ammunition , aircraft armament and targeting systems , mobility equipment , and air delivery systems , not necessarily desert environmental - related , now comprise the bulk of the workload . A heavy investment in technology and a highly skilled soldier - civilian work force makes the proving ground a significant social and economic component of the local community Capabilities . Capabilities include : Current and recent tests . Current and recent tests include :