Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range
The Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range or Barry M. Goldwater Range (BMGR), formerly known as Luke Air Force Range,<ref name="AZDEQ BMGR/Luke AFR history"></ref> is a bombing range in the U.S. state of Arizona, between the Mexico–United States border and Interstate 8 straddling the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge and the Tohono Oʼodham Nation. History and operations. Established in 1941, the BMGR is primarily used for air-to-ground bombing practice by United States Air Force pilots flying A-10s from Davis–Monthan Air Force Base, F-16s and F-35 Lightning IIs from  Luke Air Force Base and Tucson Air National Guard Base, and United States Marine Corps pilots and naval flight officers in F/A-18 Hornets, AV-8B Harriers and F-35Bs flying from Marine Corps Air Station Yuma. It is also used by other U.S. and NATO/Allied/Coalition flight crews while deployed to any of the aforementioned bases for training. According to a U.S. Air Force spokesman, "The Barry M. Goldwater range is between Phoenix, Tucson and Yuma... As you take that geography and look at the military in those three cities you have roughly 20 squadrons that use the range day  in, day out as their backyard range. When you piece all of the airspace together, it’s actually bigger than the state of Connecticut which makes it a real training treasure.” The entire range is approved for day and night operations with four controlled, manned, and electronically scored surface attack ranges that are available for training. There are three tactical ranges available spanning several hundred square miles each, and containing two full-size airfield mockups. The area includes the Gila Bend Air Force Auxiliary Field which serves as an emergency landing location for pilots and flight crews training on the  ranges. The U.S. Air Force operates the eastern portion of the BMGR while the U.S. Marine Corps operates the western portion. The range was named after five-term U.S. Senator, Barry M. Goldwater from Arizona. Goldwater received a reserve commission in the U.S. Army Air Forces when America entered World War II. Following World War II, Goldwater was a leading proponent of creating the U.S. Air Force Academy. As a colonel, he also founded the Arizona Air National Guard and eventually retired as a command pilot with the rank of major general. By the end of his career, he had  flown 165 different types of aircraft. Geography. The BMGR includes part of the Yuma Desert and Gila Mountains, almost all of the Tinajas Altas Mountains and the Lechuguilla Desert, all of the Copper Mountains, much of the Mohawk Valley, part of the Mohawk Mountains, San Cristobal Valley and Granite Mountains, most of the Childs Valley, and part of the Growler Valley. El Camino del Diablo, which historically connected Yuma, Arizona and Sonoita, Mexico, runs through the BMGR. Undocumented immigrants crossing the BMGR. Despite warning signs along its southern perimeter in English and Spanish stating that the BMGR is U.S. Government  property, that it is an active military bombing range and that unauthorized entry is prohibited, the BMGR remains among the treacherous access areas southwest of Tucson for Mexican, Salvadoran, and other Central and South American migrants crossing into the United States without documentation, where many have perished. Aid workers trying to save people from dying have signed up for annual passes to access the BMGR, including a waiver of liability for live bombing, but some workers have been banned and threatened with trespassing charges, citing property policy that requires everything packed in to also be brought out. In August 2018 , The Marshall Project reported in an interview on the progressive news program Democracy Now! about deaths on this dangerous and off-limits bombing area, where humanitarian aid - like food or even water - is impossible to deliver. Freelance Mexican-American investigative reporter John Carlos Frey said that a team from the volunteer search-and-rescue group, Aguilas del Desierto - “Eagles of the Desert,” discovered a dozen bodies in a small area they were allowed to search for two weekends, but fear at least hundreds more have died there, referencing the mass graves discovered in a Texas cemetery along a migrant travel  corridor in 2014, In 2020, crews were installing three-ton (2,700 kg), barrier panels along the BMGR's U.S.-Mexico border near Yuma, Arizona. Executed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the barrier construction is in response to the Presidential National Emergency Declaration of 2019 requiring the use of the U.S. armed forces to help secure the U.S. southern border. Popular culture. The range is the setting for §4, Part 4, in Don DeLillo's "Underworld" (1997).