A Diamond in the Pacific

Written by MC2 Jay C. Pugh, U.S. Navy

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Pacific Missile Range Facility has an impressive
array of capabilities to support the warfighter,
advanced researcher and the tester.

Located in the state of Hawaii on the western shores of Kauai, the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) at Barking Sands is the world’s largest instrumented, multidimensional testing and training missile range, from space to the ocean floor. U.S. military, allied forces and other government agencies, such as NASA, favor its relative isolation, ideal year-round tropical climate and relatively encroachment-free environment.

From the outside looking in, PMRF looks sedate—a small, remote military airfield placed in a postcard setting; however, this image belies PMRF’s tremendous capabilities. From live-fire training and missile exercises, to research and development, and test and evaluation in a threat-representative, real-world environment— PMRF has an impressive array of capabilities to support the warfighter, advanced researcher and the tester. PMRF is the only range in the world where submarines, surface ships, aircraft and space vehicles can operate and be tracked simultaneously. There are more than 1,100 square miles of instrumented underwater range, and over 42,000 square miles of controlled airspace. The base itself covers roughly 2,385 acres.

The mission of PMRF is to facilitate training and tactics development for the fleet, and test and evaluation for air, surface, and sub-surface weapons systems and advanced technology systems. PMRF provides the full spectrum of instrument range support, including radar, underwater instrumentation, telemetry, electronic warfare, target remote command and control, communications, target launching facilities, data display, data processing and target/weapon launching, and recovery facilities.

New technology development at PMRF is the result of the favorable natural environment found on Kauai’s western shores and the robust and very capable facilities that enable an experienced work force to support a multitude of fleet training exercises and advanced, leading-edge technology testing events year-round. PMRF averages 361 “visual flight rules” (VFR) flying days per year. PMRF has access to an impressive array of natural and manmade assets. To the north and west, it has virtually unimpeded access to an operating area of about 2.1 million square miles.

GROWING LIST OF TEST PROJECTS

The list of current projects and systems presently tested at Barking Sands is long—and getting longer. From Missile Defense Agency programs such as AEGIS Sea-Based BMD and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), to several programs exploring ways to reduce the range’s reliance on fossil fuels, advanced technology testing is a reality at PMRF. The Department of Defense is currently using PMRF to test hit-to-kill technology using direct collision of an anti-ballistic missile with its target. This destroys the target by using only kinetic energy from the force of the collision. The Navy’s Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System and the Army’s THAAD program currently utilize the range for kinetic intercept testing. The THAAD program relocated its testing operations from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico and conducted its first demonstration at PMRF January 26, 2007. THAAD is currently five for five in successful intercepts at PMRF.

On April 27, 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 and a short-range ballistic missile during a test off of Kauai. The test marked eight out of 10 times the Missile Defense Agency 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. Altogether, the Aegis program has been successful 18 out of 21 attempts on the range.

PMRF supports other agencies, as coordinated through the PMRF range operations officer in coordination with commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet:

The Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) maintains a facility at PMRF and a detachment at Waianae, Oahu, to provide underwater target services, exercise reconstruction, and range pinger installation services.

Sandia National Laboratories operates the Kauai Test Facility (KTF) for the Department of Energy and, through inter-service support agreements (ISSAs), provides PMRF with rocket launch services for target systems and upperatmosphere measurements.

The U.S. Air Force Maui Optical Station (AMOS), the Maui Optical Tracking and Identification Facility (MOTIF), and the Ground-Based Electro-optical Deep Space Surveillance System (GEODSS) are located at the Maui Space Surveillance Site (MSSS) atop Mount Haleakala and provide a unique vantage point for observing sub-orbital vehicles. PMRF supports these facilities on occasion through telemetry and communications links.

One of the most impressive assets of PMRF is its utilization of the waters it borders. PMRF possesses the world’s largest underwater range—fully instrumented—that represents the 1,100 square miles of underwater training space, and reaches to depths of 16,000 feet. The base also created a virtual island on the water that permits live-fire training events with scores provided to the user with real-time and near real-time feedback capability.

MULTIPLE USERS, MULTIPLE SITES

PMRF’s special assets not only benefit every service and joint user within, but also the many nations whose navies test their systems or participate in training exercises at the facility each year. PMRF is actually a constellation of remote sites—each of which is connected to the operations center or hub at PMRF proper. The Defense Research Engineering Network is the high-speed fiber-optic backbone that connects PMRF to sites in Hawaii and nationwide.

This link, developed to support research, development, test and evaluation programs, serves as a conduit for rapid feedback to the warfighter, higher headquarters or remote participants as PMRF evolves the Navy Continuous Training Environment and connects the range to the Joint National Training Capability.

The range has support facilities on Kauai at Port Allen, Makaha Ridge and Koke’e State Park. The base also uses a portion of the nearby island of Niihau for a remotely operated APS-134 surveillance radar, the perch electronic warfare site, multiple electronic warfare portable simulator sites, and a helicopter terrain flight training course. PMRF’s proximity to major DoD installations and organizations, and to University of Hawaii ocean research facilities on Oahu, presents major cost and operational benefits to the range user. Transportation of project personnel, equipment and materials is easily accommodated via commercial or military systems.

PMRF is also supported by linked technology on other islands, from Niihau, to Oahu, 90 miles away, on to Maui with the U.S. Air Force facilities in Kihei and atop Mt. Haleakala, and to Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island. Through the very robust Defense Research and Engineering Network—AEGIS DEP—and satellite connectivity, the range routinely connects to CONUS, passing critical data and video to distant sites. PMRF also supports Western Pacific training operations using a Portable Underwater Tracking Range, or “PUTR,” providing forward-deployed U.S. Navy assets an opportunity to train closer to their homeports.

PMRF cherishes the incredible asset that is the range itself and works hard to preserve it. PMRF ensures it is a responsible steward of the environment: habitat for protected green turtles, Hawaiian monk seals, native plants and birds, and other natural and cultural resources. PMRF takes its role as a steward of a valuable ecosystem and cultural resources seriously, and is an example of environmental and cultural responsibility.

In fact, the Navy has an agreement that will retain the lands immediately adjacent to the facility in agriculture until the year 2029— allowing the range to remain free from land development and operational encroachment for years to come.

Nearly 900 people work at PMRF; the range is the largest hi-tech employer on the island. About 60 active duty Navy personnel and about 135 DoD civilians work on the range. The rest of the working population is composed of contractors, the majority of whom were born and raised on Kauai. PMRF hosts several research companies and their employees, and serves as the engine that drives new hi-tech industry growth in Hawaii. The largest contractor on PMRF is Manu Kai with approximately 561 employees. Manu Kai is responsible for Base and Range Operations Support; from cutting grass to launching missiles, Manu Kai employees provide a full range of services to ensure the viability of the facility.

PMRF’s vision and goal is to be the U.S. Navy’s and world’s best training and test and evaluation range and base. What PMRF does is of tremendous importance to the United States and its allies. PMRF ultimately strengthens the nation’s defense and makes America and the world safer. ♦
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Editor’s Note: Petty Officer Pugh is deputy public affairs officer, PMRF. He may be contacted at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .