The Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site, commonly referred to as the Reagan Test Site (formerly Kwajalein Missile Range), is a missile test range in

Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands, is an island country west of the International Date Line and north of the equator in the Micronesia region of the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. The territory consists of 29 c ...

(

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

). It covers about and includes rocket launch sites at the

Kwajalein Atoll Kwajalein Atoll (; Marshallese language, Marshallese: ) is part of the Marshall Islands, Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). The southernmost and largest island in the atoll is named Kwajalein Island, which its majority English-speaking re ...

(on multiple islands),

Wake Island Wake Island (), also known as Wake Atoll, is a coral atoll in the Micronesia subregion of the Pacific Ocean. The atoll is composed of three islets – Wake, Wilkes, and Peale Islands – surrounding a lagoon encircled by a coral reef. The neare ...

, and Aur Atoll. It primarily functions as a test facility for U.S. missile defense and space research programs. The Reagan Test Site is under the command of the US Army Kwajalein Atoll, or USAKA (pronounced ).

Purpose and facilities

The facility is part of the Defense Major Range and Test Facility Base. They provide range instrumentation, missile launch facilities, mission control center, range safety, meteorological support, and support space operations. , the facility's budget was US$182 million. The site hosts a suite of unique instrumentation, located on eight islands throughout the Kwajalein Atoll. This instrumentation includes a comprehensive suite of precision metric and signature radars, optical sensors, telemetry receiving stations, and impact scoring assets. RTS provides both mobile and fixed ground and flight safety instrumentation. The Pentagon lease for the islands of the Kwajalein Atoll extends through 2066. Equipment installed at the test site includes various tracking

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

s, stationary and mobile

telemetry Telemetry is the in situ collection of measurements or other data at remote points and their automatic transmission to receiving equipment (telecommunication) for monitoring. The word is derived from the Greek roots ''tele'', 'far off', an ...

, optical recording equipment and a secure

fiberoptic An optical fiber, or optical fibre, is a flexible glass or plastic fiber that can transmit light from one end to the other. Such fibers find wide usage in fiber-optic communications, where they permit transmission over longer distances and at ...

data network via the HANTRU-1

undersea cable Submarine cable is any electrical cable that is laid on the seabed, although the term is often extended to encompass cables laid on the bottom of large freshwater bodies of water. Examples include: *Submarine communications cable A submarine ...

. The Reagan Test Site also serves as a tracking station for crewed space flight and

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

research projects. Launch activities at the test site included

ballistic missile A ballistic missile is a type of missile that uses projectile motion to deliver warheads on a target. These weapons are powered only during relatively brief periods—most of the flight is unpowered. Short-range ballistic missiles (SRBM) typic ...

tests (Gagan Island, ; Gellinam Island, ), ABM interception tests ( Meck Island, ), and

meteorological Meteorology is the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere and short-term atmospheric phenomena (i.e. weather), with a focus on weather forecasting. It has applications in the military, aviation, energy production, transport, agriculture ...

sounding rockets A sounding rocket or rocketsonde, sometimes called a research rocket or a suborbital rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital spaceflight, sub-orbital flight ...

. The Kwajalein Atoll used to host a commercial

spaceport A spaceport or cosmodrome is a site for launching or receiving spacecraft, by analogy to a seaport for ships or an airport for aircraft. The word ''spaceport''—and even more so ''cosmodrome''—has traditionally referred to sites capable of ...

for

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp., commonly referred to as SpaceX, is an America, American space technology company headquartered at the SpaceX Starbase, Starbase development site in Starbase, Texas. Since its founding in 2002, the compa ...

Omelek Island Omelek Island (; Marshallese language, Marshallese: , pronounced ) is part of the Kwajalein, Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, Republic of the Marshall Islands. It is controlled by the United States military under a long-term lease (along ...

at which it launched its Falcon 1 rocket. (). On September 28th, 2008, The Falcon 1 the first privately funded and developed liquid-propellant rocket to reach earth orbit. During the 1980s

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

small boat teams (Naval Spetsnaz: Dolfin) operated in the area. Ex-CIA officer and a former senior NCO of Military Assistance Command-Vietnam Studies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG) Billy Waugh was formally named Deputy Chief of Police. His duties included tracking the small boat teams to prevent them for stealing U.S. missile technology that fell in the Kwajalein Missile Range.

Population

There are about 2,500 permanent residents of Kwajalein, including 1,200 employees of Bechtel and Lockheed Martin's Kwajalein Range Services and more than 800 dependents. The Bechtel employees are located on 11 sites spread across and seven time zones. The civilian jobs on the facility are managed under contract by

Bechtel Bechtel Corporation () is an American engineering, procurement, construction, and project management company founded in San Francisco, California in 1898, and headquartered in Reston, Virginia in the Washington metropolitan area. , the '' E ...

. Depending on the job, some positions are unaccompanied. Vehicles are not permitted. Workers on the facility may qualify for tax-exempt status in the United States. The Americans are supported by about 900 Marshallese workers who take a ferry from Ebeye Island to the base. Bechtel provides a wide variety of support services to the Department of Defense and military personnel and their families. These include dining operations, public utilities, medical and dental care, transportation, firefighting, recreational activities, youth and education services, retail, religious services, and newspaper, radio, and TV access. A Catholic and a Presbyterian chaplain are employed by Bechtel. There are also religious services available for members of the

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian restorationist Christian denomination and the largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement. Founded durin ...

Location

The mission control center, along with most of the personnel and infrastructure, is located at the Kwajalein Atoll in the

. Eleven of the atoll's islands are operated by the U.S. military under a long term lease (through 2066) with the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

Climate threat

According to a report commissioned by the Department of Defense, the site is expected to be entirely submerged by seawater at least once annually by 2035. On January 20, 2024, the base sustained significant damage and flooding caused by rogue waves.

History

Previous names for the installation include: * Naval Station Kwajalein (Post World War II–1959) * Pacific Missile Range Facility, Kwajalein (1959–1964) * Kwajalein Test Site (1964–1968) * Kwajalein Missile Range (1968–1986) * United States Army Kwajalein Atoll (1986–1991) * Kwajalein Missile Range (1991–1999) * Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site (1999–present)

Notes

''This article incorporates content from United States government web sites that is in the public domain.''

References

Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site (RTS) Official Site

External links

The Roi Namur Dolphins Scuba Club website
{{authority control Kwajalein Atoll Spaceports in the United States Wake Island