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The U.S.
Army's Dugway Proving Ground serves as the nation's
chemical and biological defense proving ground. It is
a large, remote, high-desert closed post that employs
about 1,200 military, government civilians and support
contractors. The mission of Dugway Proving Ground is
to test U.S. and allied biological and chemical defense
systems; perform nuclear-biological-chemical survivable
testing of defense material; provide support to chemical
and biological weapons conventions; and operate and
maintain an installation to support test missions.
Dugway is supporting Genesis by providing facilities,
logistical, weather and range expertise as well as security
and support personnel. The majority of the events surrounding
the Genesis capture and return will occur at the facility's
Ditto Test Area which approximately 19 kilometers (12
miles) from the installations main gate. Located in
Ditto is the Michael Army Air Field, where the Genesis
recovery helicopters will be based. Dugway is located
approximately 130 kilometers (about 80 miles) west-southwest
of Salt Lake City, in the Great Salt Lake Desert in
Tooele County, Utah. The Dugway Proving Ground covers
3,233 square kilometers (1,248 square miles) —
larger than the state of Rhode Island. Surrounded on
three sides by mountain ranges, the proving ground's
terrain includes mountains, valleys and a large, flat,
sparsely vegetated area that extends westward into the
southern reaches of expansive salt flats of the Great
Salt Lake Desert. |
