The War Zone has reported:

President Donald Trump announced Wednesday night that the Department of War plans to establish a “super range” in Montana to test advanced weapons and technologies, including potential autonomous weapons, space and electronic warfare technology, and supersonic and hypersonic systems. He made the announcement at a campaign rally in Kalispell, but gave no details about where the complex would be built, when it would open, which systems would be tested or how much it would cost.

“I’m pleased to inform ​you and announce that right here in Montana, the Department of War is ⁠going ⁠to establish a new ⁠’super range’ ​for testing advanced weapons and technologies, technologies including potential autonomous weapons, space, and electronic ​warfare technology, supersonics and ⁠hypersonics,” Trump said. “Montana will help ensure the American military always reigns supreme.”

The proposal comes as the United States seeks more places to test a growing array of weapons, including autonomous systems, hypersonic munitions, lasers and other directed-energy weapons, and improved electronic warfare equipment. The military already has many testing installations, but the scale and changing requirements of weapons development and realistic training are putting pressure on available capacity.

Future military operations are expected to rely on “kill webs” extending thousands of miles, rather than hundreds. Testing systems for those operations requires large, remote areas where weapons can be evaluated without conflicting with civilian air traffic or communications and without violating statutes and regulations. Suitable locations are limited, and the need for larger test grounds has been raised for years.

The announcement also comes amid heightened weapons development, much of it directed at China, and new Pentagon and service-level efforts to create commands focused on autonomous weapons. On Tuesday, at the annual Association of the U.S. Army conference in Washington, D.C., the acting Army secretary announced one such command. The conference was attended by The War Zone.

U.S. Sen. Tim Sheehy’s office said Thursday morning that the Montana Republican has advocated for an advanced training range in the state. His office said he secured $10 million for a feasibility study in the fiscal year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act, which passed the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this year.

“The 21st-century battlefield is being redefined by new weapons and evolving technical frontiers that require a novel approach to how America will resource its warfighting capabilities,” Sheehy said in a statement. “Contested spectrum, electronic warfare, hypersonics, space capabilities and enhanced targeting require a new class of testing and evaluation facilities for our military. The U.S. faces a clear choice: adapt and expand our development infrastructure to the realities of modern warfare, or risk falling behind adversaries who iterate faster.”

Sheehy pointed to Montana’s extensive undeveloped land as an asset for the project. “By combining our state’s vast landscapes, innovative spirit, and proud tradition of military service, we are the Last Best Place to ensure America’s fighting men and women have the technological edge they need to dominate the battlefield and win the wars of tomorrow,” he said.

Sheehy, like Trump, did not identify a proposed site, opening date or budget. The War Zone said it sought further information from the White House, Sheehy and the Pentagon. The Pentagon directed the outlet to the White House, which sent it back to the Pentagon. The outlet also contacted the office of U.S. Sen. Steve Daines and Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte.

Several Montana facilities already conduct testing that overlaps with the capabilities Trump listed. The Montana Spaceport & Test Range and its affiliated Limestone Hills Innovation & Test Campus are among the potential sites that closely match the proposed purpose. The public-private aerospace and defence initiative tests next-generation space vehicles, hypersonic, supersonic and ballistic weapons, drones and counter-drone systems, and electronic warfare equipment.

Another possible option is an expansion of the Big Sky Autonomous Systems Range near Bozeman. The Lobo Institute describes BSASR as its main training and testing facility for U.S. and allied military, federal and partner organizations. It is operated through the institute’s Lobo Tactical division.

The institute describes the range as a 6,000-acre, fully fenced site designed for advanced unmanned aerial systems operations, full-spectrum live fire, mounted and dismounted mobility, and full-mission-profile exercises informed by tactics, techniques and procedures from active conflict zones. It says the range combines realistic terrain with the regulatory support, infrastructure and instructor expertise needed for training against current and future battlefield conditions, in a remote, controlled environment where units can operate while keeping risk at acceptable levels. The War Zone said it contacted both the Spaceport and BSASR for more information.

The new complex could also connect existing range areas on the ground and in the air. The large Hays Military Operations Area, or MOA, could potentially be expanded as part of the effort. MOAs are designated blocks of airspace used for military training. Malmstrom Air Force Base and its intercontinental ballistic missile fields could also be used.

One possibility is to link existing range areas digitally and through airspace corridors to create a larger complex. The Pentagon has identified a need for more testing areas and better integration of current ranges to assess combat systems under conditions resembling potential conflicts.

In a report last year, the Pentagon’s Director of Operational Test & Evaluation said open-air range space should be increased and integrated to support assessments of combined air, land and sea combat systems. The report listed long-range fires, hypersonic missiles, electromagnetic spectrum warfare, unmanned systems, nuclear effects and directed-energy weapons among the capabilities requiring support. It said the Department of War should invest in expanding and connecting airspace available to open-air ranges for testing and training advanced systems.

The report also said existing airspace is insufficient for both threat systems and U.S. capabilities. It called for range operators to receive support coordinating additional airspace and corridors with the Federal Aviation Administration and industry. Expanding and connecting that airspace, it said, is necessary to test and train for long-range capabilities and replicate threats warfighters may face.

For longer-range missile testing, the report recommended investment in overland flight-test corridors, land-based impact areas and mobile instrumentation designed for hypersonic tests. Those assets would help collect data for simulation validation and assess the lethality of missiles against representative targets in their terminal phase.

The Defense Department has largely tested hypersonic weapons, which can travel at Mach 5 or faster, at sea because evaluations require long distances. Those tests have also been constrained: the Pentagon limited their number and locations because the ageing ships used as primary data-collection platforms to track weapons in flight were in short supply.

Retired Block 20 and Block 30 RQ-4 Global Hawk aircraft from the U.S. Air Force have been reconfigured as RangeHawks for the SkyRange hypersonic testing program. They are intended to help address some of the restrictions on collecting flight data.

If testing shifts over land, the need for expanded air corridors could become more significant. Last year, the Pentagon’s Test Resource Management Center identified three candidate locations for such tests: an area over Alaska, White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico and a site in Australia, according to Defense News.

Hypersonic testing is already underway in Australia. Earlier this month, The War Zone reported that the U.S. Air Force’s scramjet-powered Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile had entered the flight-test phase. The source text provides no further details about those tests.