White Sands Missile Range
The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) provides cross-cutting solutions to enable the Department of War (DOW), the U.S. Government, and international partners to deter strategic attack against the United States and its allies; prevent, reduce and counter weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and emerging threats; and prevail against WMD-armed adversaries in crisis and conflict. As both a Defense Agency and Combat Support Agency, DTRA provides unsurpassed counter WMD (CWMD) support to DOW, interagency, and international partners, continuously adapting to technical, operation and geo-strategic demands that determine current and future requirements.
DTRA has key roles in each of the principal tenets of the National Defense Strategy: 1) Defend the U.S. Homeland, 2) Deter China in the Indo-Pacific Through Strength, Not Confrontation, 3) Increase Burden-Sharing with U.S. Allies and Partners, and 4) Supercharge the U.S. Defense Industrial Base. Specifically, As a global leader in delivering Counter WMD technology solutions, DTRA’s Research and Development Directorate (RD) generates customer-focused, threat-informed, trusted technical solutions to deter and counter critical WMD problems for today and tomorrow.
RD leverages White Sands Missile Range’s test facilities to provides science, technology and capability development investments that maintain the U.S. military’s technological superiority in CWMD and asymmetric threats, mitigating the risks of technical surprise and responding to the warfighter’s urgent technical requirements. RD’s Test and Assessment Department (RD-TS) provides innovative science and technology to enable the development, evaluation, and validation of capabilities for DTRA, DOW, and federal partners that maintain U.S. superiority in CWMD and emerging threats, mitigate the risks of technological surprise, and respond to the warfighter's urgent requirements. These capabilities include credible test beds, responsive test design, robust processes exercised over decades, test beds/structures to support full-spectrum CWMD testing and technology evaluation, nationally recognized subject matter experts, essential data capture and data analysis of results. RD-TS is located at DTRA-West on Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, and maintains a variety of test beds and structures on the White Sands Missile Range.