Michigan’s NADWC Positions Camp Grayling for Directed Energy Weapons Testing and Experimentation
Directed energy weapons are moving rapidly from concept to capability. At the Air, Space & Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, defense companies showcased high-energy lasers, high-power microwave systems, counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), advanced sensors, power solutions, thermal-management equipment and battle-management networks.
For any defense industry planner or research and development leader, the associated question is nearly universal: where can these systems be tested against the conditions they may face in actual operations?
A system can perform well during a controlled demonstration and still struggle when exposed to the elements and the operational environment. Inevitably within the fog of war—weather changes, communications are disrupted, positioning data is degraded, the electromagnetic spectrum is crowded, or operators must make decisions with incomplete information. System performance can depend on a wide variety of variables. Treating capability holistically, the emitter, sensing hardware, target tracking, power generation, cooling mechanisms, command and control, safety, spectrum access and trained operators all contribute to weapon effectiveness, and cannot be discounted as novel. Given these requirements for function, dedicated range space to test directed energy weapons through a wide variety of variables is paramount to their development.
Michigan’s National All-Domain Warfighting Center, anchored by Camp Grayling Joint Maneuver Training Center, is positioned to help industry answer those questions.
The Michigan Department of Military and Veterans Affairs is inviting companies developing directed energy weapons and enabling technologies to bring forward their test requirements. Through the National All-Domain Warfighting Center and its Joint Experimentation Warfighting Laboratory, or JEWL, Michigan can help companies define their operational problems, identify feasible range conditions, coordinate military and technical partners, and develop a responsible test plan.
Testing Directed Energy Weapons Against Operational Problems
Directed energy weapons do not arrive with identical test requirements.
A laser-based counter-UAS system may need space to assess detection, tracking, engagement geometry and safety controls. A high-power microwave system may require a realistic electromagnetic environment. Other companies may need to examine the issues that determine whether a directed energy weapon can operate as part of a larger defensive architecture, including resilient power, thermal management, autonomy, sensor-fusion software, data integration, target identification, degraded communications, positioning and command-and-control system interoperability.
Camp Grayling and Alpena provide options across those requirements.
The National All-Domain Warfighting Center includes nearly 148,000 acres of maneuver space at Camp Grayling and more than 17,000 square miles of special-use military airspace at the Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center (CRTC). The combined environment supports training, experimentation and testing across land, air, maritime, space and cyber domains.
That scale gives companies room to test directed energy weapons under conditions that better reflect battlefield friction. It also allows the National All-Domain Warfighting Center to connect a technology demonstration to a military problem set rather than treating the range as a showroom.
The Michigan National Guard has developed Exercise Northern Strike into a joint, multinational readiness exercise that includes contested logistics, integrated counter-UAS protection measures, maritime targeting, cyber and electromagnetic activities, and an operational environment consistent with large-scale combat operations (LSCO). Those conditions can provide useful context for defense industry companies seeking to move a promising directed energy weapon prototype forward from concept to operational capability.
Demonstrated DDIL Testing at Camp Grayling
Camp Grayling recently demonstrated its ability to support system testing in a Denied, Disrupted, Intermittent and Limited, or DDIL, environment.
From Sept. 13–18, the Michigan Department of Military and Veterans Affairs coordinated with Army Test and Evaluation Command (ATEC) and the Threat System Management Office to host a DDIL testing environment for the defense industry at Camp Grayling. The event was aligned with the Army’s Permissive Range Initiative, which expands opportunities for industry and service members to mutually test and evaluate emerging technologies in realistic operational environments.
Participating organizations on the DDIL testing environment included Eagle NXT, Noah Labs, Archangel Response Corps and Superfocus AI. Unmanned aerial systems used autonomous reasoning software to identify targets in an urban environment across three increasingly difficult scenarios. Systems were also evaluated in positioning, navigation and timing, or PNT, and radio-frequency DDIL conditions.
PNT DDIL conditions create a high-threat environment in which traditional positioning, navigation and timing sources are compromised. Radio-frequency DDIL conditions challenge systems to continue operating when communications are degraded, disrupted or intermittent.
These conditions are directly relevant to directed energy weapons and counter-UAS developers. A directed energy weapon must detect, identify, track and respond to a threat while operating within a larger defensive network. Its sensors, battle-management tools and operators may need to continue supporting decisions when data links, radio-frequency conditions or positioning sources are compromised.
“The combination of expansive training areas, diverse terrain, electromagnetic spectrum access and multi-domain capabilities allows innovators and military organizations to test systems under realistic conditions, identify gaps and rapidly improve them,” said Col. Lucas Lanczy, commander of Camp Grayling Joint Maneuver Training Center.
The DDIL event exhibited how Camp Grayling can support tailored testing for companies working through complicated technical and operational requirements. For directed energy weapons developers, that may include evaluating counter-UAS systems in degraded communications conditions, assessing sensor performance in a contested electromagnetic environment, or examining how a directed energy weapon contributes to an integrated air and missile defense architecture.
A Direct Path for Industry
In August, the U.S. Army identified Camp Grayling, through the National All-Domain Warfighting Center, as one of four premier stateside military test ranges available to private industry for internal research, development and rapid experimentation. The Army’s Permissive Range Initiative created a digital entry point for companies seeking access to military test infrastructure, including industry start-ups and companies that may not already hold a federal contract.
That designation gives industry a starting point. JEWL provides the coordination needed to turn an inquiry into a feasible test event.
“Our mission is simple: We want to bridge the gap between a great concept and a fielded capability, and we use the unique agility of the National Guard to get disruptive tech to the Joint Warfighter, faster,” said Capt. Nicholas S. Schweikart, deputy director of JEWL at the National All-Domain Warfighting Center. “We put Army and Air Force scientists, engineers and operators in the same room to innovate at the edge of what is possible. That gives industry direct feedback from the people who will use their systems.”
At the NADWC, industry does not need to arrive with a finished military test plan. A company should bring a clear requirement, an understanding of the capability it wants to evaluate and a willingness to test against real operational variables.
Per Schweikart, JEWL can help determine:
- The operational problem the technology is intended to address
- The range, airspace, spectrum and environmental conditions required
- The military and technical partners required to support the test
- Appropriate safety, classification and operational security controls
- Whether the effort should occur at Camp Grayling, Alpena CRTC or multiple locations through a phased approach
- How the test can produce useful feedback for the next design iteration
“Industry should not have to solve government coordination problems alone,” Schweikart said. “You bring us the requirement, and we will help them determine what a responsible, highly useful test event looks like. We take the burden of coordinating range conditions, expertise and partners off the company so that they can focus on building the technology that our warfighters need.”
Directed Energy Weapons Require Integrated Testing
Directed energy weapons have potential applications in counter-UAS operations, installation defense, air and missile defense, and force protection. They may provide commanders with additional options against low-cost aerial threats that can impose significant costs on conventional interceptor inventories. That potential still must be demonstrated under demanding conditions. Those conditions are available in Michigan.
A directed energy weapon must be powered, cooled, aimed, networked, operated safely and sustained. It may also function alongside sensors, command-and-control tools, other defensive systems and human operators. Testing at the National All-Domain Warfighting Center can address those connected requirements. Companies may evaluate a high-energy laser’s ability to detect and track unmanned aircraft, assess a high-power microwave system in a realistic electromagnetic environment, or examine how power, thermal management, autonomy and data fusion affect mission performance.
The test environment can also be adapted to the maturity of the technology. Some efforts may begin with a focused technical evaluation. Others may require a campaign that progresses from individual component testing to integrated counter-UAS or multi-domain experimentation.
Every request requires deliberate review. Range capacity, safety planning, airspace coordination, environmental requirements, classification, electromagnetic spectrum considerations and operational security all affect test design. Some efforts may fit at Camp Grayling. Others may require Alpena CRTC, support from Army Test and Evaluation Command, a different configuration of National All-Domain Warfighting Center locations or a phased approach before a larger event.
Michigan’s National All-Domain Warfighting Center Is Open for Directed Energy Weapons Testing
The National All-Domain Warfighting Center gives directed energy weapons and counter-UAS companies a place to test, learn, adjust and return to the range on an expedient timeline.
Camp Grayling and Alpena CRTC offer large-scale maneuver space, special-use airspace, electromagnetic spectrum availability, multi-domain training conditions and connections to military organizations working through current operational problems. JEWL provides a coordination point for companies that need help translating a technology requirement into a responsible and useful test event.
The JEWL’s commitment in this effort is to provide industry with the best available venue and conditions to test their directed energy weapons, and advance system development to benefit the warfighter at the leading edge of the battlefield.
Companies interested in testing directed energy weapons, counter-UAS systems and enabling technologies at Camp Grayling and the National All-Domain Warfighting Center can begin their inquiry through the Army Test Range Reservation portal.
Defense industry companies can advance their research with a range reservation inquiry without defining their perfect test plan. Rather, bring the requirements and vision for your project and the National All-Domain Warfighting Center will work to support the shared effort with world-class resources.
Army Test Range Reservation Portal: https://testrange.army.mil/ArmyRangeReservation/s/?tabset-5dba2=3
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