The Pacific Missile Range Facility, Barking Sands is a U.S. naval facility and

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

located five

nautical mile A nautical mile is a unit of length used in air, marine, and space navigation, and for the definition of territorial waters. Historically, it was defined as the meridian arc length corresponding to one minute ( of a degree) of latitude. Tod ...

s (9 km) northwest of the

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

Kekaha Kekaha (literally, "the place" in Hawaiian) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kauai County, Hawaii, United States. The population was 3,715 at the 2020 census, up from 3,175 at the 2000 census. History For most of the 20th century, the K ...

, in

Kauai County, Hawaii Kauai County ( haw, Kalana o Kauaʻi) (officially known as the County of Kauai) is a county in the U.S. state of Hawaii. It consists of the islands of Kauai, Niihau, Lehua, and Kaula. As of the 2020 Census the population was 73,298. The county ...

, United States. PMRF is the world's largest instrumented, multi-dimensional testing and training missile range. The

US military The United States Armed Forces are the Military, military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six Military branch, service branches: the United States Army, Army, United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps, United States N ...

and its

contractors A general contractor, main contractor or prime contractor is responsible for the day-to-day oversight of a construction site, management of vendors and trades, and the communication of information to all involved parties throughout the course of ...

favor its relative isolation, ideal year-round

tropical climate Tropical climate is the first of the five major climate groups in the Köppen climate classification identified with the letter A. Tropical climates are defined by a monthly average temperature of 18 °C (64.4 °F) or higher in the cool ...

and encroachment-free environment (see "PMRF Agriculture Preservation Initiative" below). It is the only range in the world where

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

s, surface ships,

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or by using the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in ...

and

space vehicle A space vehicle is the combination of a spacecraft and its launch vehicle which carries it into space. The earliest space vehicles were expendable launch systems, using a single or multistage rocket to carry a relatively small spacecraft in pr ...

s can operate and be tracked simultaneously. There are over of instrumented underwater range and over of

controlled airspace Controlled airspace is airspace of defined dimensions within which air traffic control (ATC) services are provided. The level of control varies with different classes of airspace. Controlled airspace usually imposes higher weather minimums tha ...

. The base itself covers roughly . The base includes a runway with operations and maintenance facilities. It has roughly 70 housing units and various recreational facilities for those who can access the base. The base has support facilities at Port Allen, Makaha Ridge, and Koke'e State Park. The base also uses a portion of the nearby island of

Niihau Niihau ( Hawaiian: ), anglicized as Niihau ( ), is the westernmost main and seventh largest inhabited island in Hawaii. It is southwest of Kauaʻi across the Kaulakahi Channel. Its area is . Several intermittent playa lakes provide wetland ha ...

for a remotely operated APS-134 surveillance

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, Marine radar, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor v ...

, an Test Vehicle Recovery Site, the Perch Electronic Warfare site, multiple EW Portable Simulator sites, and a Helicopter Terrain Flight training course.

History

In 1921, the land area known as the Barking Sands was acquired by the Kekaha Sugar Company and became a runway for private planes. In 1928

Charles Kingsford Smith Sir Charles Edward Kingsford Smith (9 February 18978 November 1935), nicknamed Smithy, was an Australian aviation pioneer. He piloted the first transpacific flight and the first flight between Australia and New Zealand. Kingsford Smith was b ...

, a record-setting Australian aviator, took off with his four-man crew from a sandy runway here to fly non-stop to Fiji. They had arrived in Hawaii at

Wheeler Army Airfield Wheeler Army Airfield , also known as Wheeler Field and formerly as Wheeler Air Force Base, is a United States Army post located in the City & County of Honolulu and in the Wahiawa District of the Island of O'ahu, Hawaii. It is a National Hi ...

, but left from Barking Sands as Wheeler was not long enough to take off with their heavy load. The U.S. Army acquired the land in 1940, named it Mana Airport, and paved the runway. Additional land acquired in 1941 expanded the facility to . Private airlines frequently utilized the airport, and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

incurred a great deal of military flight operations. The base was officially designated Bonham Air Force Base in 1954. U.S. Navy operations at Bonham began in 1956, with testing of the Regulus I missile. In 1958, the Pacific Missile Range Facility was established to support the growing demand of the Navy at Bonham. In 1964, the Pacific Missile Range Facility and Bonham was transferred to the Navy, becoming Pacific Missile Range Facility, Barking Sands.

Missile tests

In 1962, the U.S. military conducted the Frigate Bird Test of the

Operation Dominic Operation Dominic was a series of 31 nuclear test explosions with a total yield conducted in 1962 by the United States in the Pacific. This test series was scheduled quickly, in order to respond in kind to the Soviet resumption of testing af ...

program near PMRF. The military launched an operational

ballistic missile A ballistic missile is a type of missile that uses projectile motion to deliver warheads on a target. These weapons are guided only during relatively brief periods—most of the flight is unpowered. Short-range ballistic missiles stay within t ...

with a live warhead from the , which was situated near PMRF. The

nuclear warhead A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bom ...

flew toward

Christmas Island Christmas Island, officially the Territory of Christmas Island, is an Australian external territory comprising the island of the same name. It is located in the Indian Ocean, around south of Java and Sumatra and around north-west of the ...

and detonated in an

air burst An air burst or airburst is the detonation of an explosive device such as an anti-personnel artillery shell or a nuclear weapon in the air instead of on contact with the ground or target. The principal military advantage of an air burst over ...

at . The Navy is currently using PMRF to test "hit to kill" technology using direct collision of the

anti-ballistic missile An anti-ballistic missile (ABM) is a surface-to-air missile designed to counter ballistic missiles (missile defense). Ballistic missiles are used to deliver nuclear, chemical, biological, or conventional warheads in a ballistic flight trajec ...

with its target. This destroys the target by using only

kinetic energy In physics, the kinetic energy of an object is the energy that it possesses due to its motion. It is defined as the work needed to accelerate a body of a given mass from rest to its stated velocity. Having gained this energy during its acce ...

from the force of the collision. The two

Missile Defense Agency The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is the section of the United States government's Department of Defense responsible for developing a layered defense against ballistic missiles. It had its origins in the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) which w ...

programs that currently utilize the range at PMRF are the Navy's

Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System The Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System (Aegis BMD or ABMD), also known as ''Sea-Based Midcourse'', is a United States Department of Defense Missile Defense Agency program developed to provide missile defense against short to intermediat ...

and the Army's

Terminal High Altitude Area Defense Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), formerly Theater High Altitude Area Defense, is an American anti-ballistic missile defense system designed to shoot down short-, medium-, and intermediate-range ballistic missiles in their termina ...

System, or THAAD. The THAAD program relocated their testing operations from the

White Sands Missile Range White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) is a United States Army military testing area and firing range located in the US state of New Mexico. The range was originally established as the White Sands Proving Ground on 9July 1945. White Sands National P ...

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe, New Mexico, Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque, New Mexico, Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Albuquerque metropolitan area, Tiguex , Offi ...

and conducted its first demonstration at PMRF on 26 January 2007. On 27 April 2007, the U.S. military's sea-based missile defense system, the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System, showed it could intercept two targets simultaneously when it destroyed a

cruise missile A cruise missile is a guided missile used against terrestrial or naval targets that remains in the atmosphere and flies the major portion of its flight path at approximately constant speed. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warh ...

and a

short-range ballistic missile A short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) is a ballistic missile with a range of about or less. In past and potential regional conflicts, these missiles have been and would be used because of the short distances between some countries and their rela ...

during a test off the

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

an island of Kauai. The test marked eight out of ten times the

and U.S. Navy's Aegis missile defense system successfully intercepted its target, but was the first time the system knocked out two targets at the same time.

PMRF Agriculture Preservation Initiative

The Navy is currently working with the

State of Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

and Kauai County to ensure the long-term viability of PMRF. For many decades, the land adjacent to PMRF was used for

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, perennial grass (in the genus '' Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalk ...

fields, which was wholly compatible with operations at PMRF. Since Kekaha Sugar's closure, the Navy has become wary of "encroachment", incompatible developments, that might occur on the land next to the base. In order to ensure that PMRF can continue to safely conduct important research and training operations in the future, the Navy and some citizens of Kauai are seeking to permanently preserve the land adjacent to PMRF for

agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peopl ...

purposes. Under the PMRF Agriculture Preservation Initiative the Navy would have the roughly of land adjacent to PMRF preserved solely for agricultural use. Although the Navy has stated that it would like to lease about of land, it has also stated that its main goal is not to purchase more land but to merely ensure the land continues to be used for agricultural purposes.

Operational deployment of THAAD

When North Korea threatened to launch Taepodong-2 ICBMs toward Hawaii in 2009, the US temporarily deployed a THAAD missile unit to the facility.

Range Programs

The range hosted the following programs: ''Missiles and Rockets''
November 21, 1960, p. 14. * Able III & IV * ADTS *

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geogra ...

* Bullpup (A) & (B) * Caleb Satellite *

Centaur A centaur ( ; grc, κένταυρος, kéntauros; ), or occasionally hippocentaur, is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse. Centaurs are thought of in many Greek myths as bein ...

* Composite Radiation Satellite * Corvus I * Courier * Discoverer * Dyna-Soar *

Eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, j ...

Falcon Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Falcons are widely distributed on all continents of the world except Antarctica, though closely related raptors did occur there in the Eocene. Adult falcons ...

Hawk Hawks are birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are widely distributed and are found on all continents except Antarctica. * The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks and others. This subfa ...

* Hummingbird * Hydra * Hyperjet * Jaguar (Probe) * Mach 2 Expendable Target * Mach 2 Recoverable Target * Mercury * Midas * Minuteman * MORT (Fleet Training) * NERV * Nike-Zeus * NORT (Fleet Training) * Ozarc * Pershing * Phoenix * Regulus I * Rella * Samos-Atlas * Scout *

Sergeant Sergeant ( abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other ...

* Sidewinder * Sparrow III * Sunflare *

Talos In Greek mythology, Talos — also spelled Talus (; el, Τάλως, ''Tálōs'') or Talon (; el, Τάλων, ''Tálōn'') — was a giant automaton made of bronze to protect Europa in Crete from pirates and invaders. He circled the island's sh ...

Tartar Tartar may refer to: Places * Tartar (river), a river in Azerbaijan * Tartar, Switzerland, a village in the Grisons * Tərtər, capital of Tartar District, Azerbaijan * Tartar District, Azerbaijan * Tartar Island, South Shetland Islands, A ...

* Tepee * Terrier I *

Thor Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred groves and trees, strength, the protection of humankind, hallowing, ...

* Tiros *

Titan Titan most often refers to: * Titan (moon), the largest moon of Saturn * Titans, a race of deities in Greek mythology Titan or Titans may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities Fictional locations * Titan in fiction, fictiona ...

* Tophat * Transit * Tumbleweed *

Typhon Typhon (; grc, Τυφῶν, Typhôn, ), also Typhoeus (; grc, Τυφωεύς, Typhōeús, label=none), Typhaon ( grc, Τυφάων, Typháōn, label=none) or Typhos ( grc, Τυφώς, Typhṓs, label=none), was a monstrous serpentine giant an ...

Notes

References

* *

External links

Pacific Missile Range Facility Barking Sands
official website

NMB Barking Sands Installation Overview
at NavyUSA.org

at GlobalSecurity.org * {{authority control Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Hawaii Airports in Hawaii Buildings and structures in Kauai County, Hawaii Guided missiles Kauai Missile defense Rocket launch sites in the United States Installations of the United States Navy in Hawaii Military airbases established in 1940 1940 establishments in Hawaii