Army opens test ranges to small companies to try to get weapons quicker
to the battlefield
[August 08, 2026] By
KONSTANTIN TOROPIN
CAMP GRAYLING, Mich. (AP) — The U.S. Army said Friday that it is opening
up test ranges to private companies developing missiles, drones and
other weapons in hopes of buying them more quickly for use on the
battlefield.
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll told reporters at a military testing range
in Michigan that the effort will cut months and sometimes years of the
red tape that typically stifles military contractors. He pledged to
grant companies access to ranges in the U.S. or those belonging to
allies abroad within 30 days of them making a request through an online
marketplace that went live Friday.
“It can take 12 to 18 months for a company that wants to go test the
thing that can make a soldier’s life better, that can increase their
lethality and that can keep them safer," Driscoll said. "That is not
sufficient.”
The announcement comes as warfare rapidly changes around the globe, from
the swarms of Shahed drones that Iran launched against American forces
in the Middle East to Ukraine's innovations in drone technology while
defending against Russia's invasion. But the Army is also opening its
ranges as the Pentagon grapples with the costs of the Iran war, which
has diminished the nation's stockpiles of advanced weapons that
sometimes cost millions of dollars for a single missile or interceptor.
Driscoll told The Associated Press that policy changes such as making
test ranges more accessible were driven in part by his observations of
the war in Ukraine and how quickly that country has moved to produce new
weapon systems. The Army secretary had been a key interlocutor during
talks between Russia and Ukraine last year before those negotiations
stalled.
Pentagon leaders have been trying to increase the tempo of production by
incentivizing smaller companies to enter the market to build cheap and
effective weapons. Driscoll told reporters that the Army aims to “break
down every single barrier that we have put up over the last 20 or 30
years.”
“We are inviting industry to get in the mud with our soldiers, to
innovate, to invest behind them,” Driscoll said in a roundtable call.
“And then our commitment as an Army is we will purchase the things that
will make our soldiers more lethal, more safe, and keep our country
safer.”
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In this image provided by the U.S. Army, Covenant Industries' Anthem
missile is tested Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026, at the Multidomain
Training Area range complex, a component of the Africa Multidomain
Training and Experimentation Center, in Morocco. (U.S. Army via AP)
 The first company to take advantage
of the new program has tested a new cruise missile at the Army’s
missile test range in Morocco.
Abby Denburg, an executive with Covenant Industries, said the
company “demonstrated not only the performance of the Anthem missile
but also a repeatable pathway now available to every company.”
The program allows drone and missile companies to use five Army
ranges to test new rockets, drones and anti-drone weapons even if
that company does not have a military contract.
The effort to get weapons faster to the battlefield comes as a
recent think tank analysis found that the conflict with Iran has
used up more of the U.S. military’s already diminished stockpiles of
advanced interceptors such as Patriot and THAAD missiles that are
used to defend against air threats such as missiles and drones.
The analysis, conducted by the Center for Strategic and
International Studies, also noted that this shortfall could force
the U.S. and its Middle Eastern allies to take more risks to
conserve those air defenses.
President Donald Trump has pushed back on media coverage about the
issue, telling reporters Thursday that “we need more all the time.”
He claimed that certain kinds of munitions are in “virtually
unlimited supply” and others are “a little bit tighter.” He didn’t
offer more specifics.
Driscoll deflected questions about the nation's munitions
stockpiles. He said that “we have a larger arsenal than any nation
in the history of the world, and we will have an even larger arsenal
with new and different and layered defenses.”
___
Associated Press writer Ben Finley in Washington contributed to this
report.
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