The Hawaii-California Training and Testing Study Area plays a vital role in accomplishing the Naval Services' mission. It has unique attributes, including location, proximity, environment, infrastructure, and size, that make it an ideal venue for training military personnel and testing equipment and systems.
California is home to the largest concentration of U.S. naval and U.S. Coast Guard forces in the world. The Southern California Range Complex, Northern California Range Complex, and Point Mugu Sea Range are the Naval Services’ most capable and heavily used training and testing areas in the eastern Pacific region.
Naval Services forces based in Hawaii and those transiting across the Pacific Ocean use and rely on the Hawaii Range Complex because of its capabilities and strategic location in the mid-Pacific region. Within the Hawaii Range Complex is a one-of-a-kind strategic national asset, the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, a designated Major Range and Test Facility Base. It is the world’s largest instrumented multi-environment test and training range, capable of supporting ocean surface, subsurface, air, and space operations simultaneously.
The transit areas adjoining these two critical range complexes provide ample area for ships and aircraft to conduct valuable en route training and testing.