The incident was described simply as a mislabeling problem. The lockdown was lifted on January 27 following recovery of the material. It was later announced that the lockdown was in response to the temporary loss of a vial containing VX nerve agent. There were about 1,200 to 1,400 people at Dugway when the lockdown occurred. Vogel said there were no injuries, no damage and no threats reported at the proving ground. Employees were not allowed to leave, and those coming to work were not allowed in. Al Vogel, a public affairs specialist for the installation, would only say that the lockdown began at 5:24 p.m. On January 26, 2011, Dugway Proving Ground was placed on lockdown. The Genesis spacecraft's accelerometer had been installed backwards, which caused the spacecraft to malfunction upon re-entry to Earth's atmosphere preventing the originally planned air retrieval. On September 8, 2004, the Genesis, a NASA spacecraft, was directed to impact into the desert floor of the Dugway Proving Ground because the topsoil there is like talcum powder, or moondust, and would likely cushion the troubled spacecraft's impact. The program was later moved back to its original site at Fort Bliss, Texas, in 1991, where it was deactivated in 1995. It was first known as the Desert Ranger Division (DRD) until redesignated the Ranger Training Brigade's 7th Ranger Training Battalion in 1987, and taught students basic desert survival skills and small unit tactics. įrom 1985 to 1991, Dugway Proving Ground was home to the Ranger School's short-lived Desert Training Phase. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Project Bellwether-a study of weaponized, mosquito-spread infections-was based at DPG. Army Chemical, Biological, and Radiological Weapons School to Dugway Proving Ground. In October 1958, the United States Army Chemical Center, Maryland, moved the U.S. The base was reactivated during the Korean War, under Commanding Officer Lieutenant Colonel Speers Ponder, and in 1954 was confirmed as a permanent Department of the Army installation. DPG was slowly phased out after World War II, becoming inactive in August 1946. In October 1943, DPG established biological warfare facilities at UTTR's range telemetry and tracking radar installation, which is an isolated area within DPG known as the Granite Peak Installation. During 1943 the " German Village" and " Japanese Village" set-piece domestic "hamlets" were built at Dugway, for practice in the fire-bombing of homes of the types in urbanized areas of Nazi Germany and the Japanese Empire's Home Islands. During World War II, DPG tested toxic agents, flamethrowers, chemical spray systems, biological warfare weapons, fire bombing tactics, antidotes for chemical agents, and protective clothing. Since its founding, much of Dugway Proving Ground activity has been a closely guarded secret. for a new location to conduct its tests, and in the spring of 1942, construction of Dugway Proving Ground began, including the establishment of Michael Army Airfield. In 1941, the US Army Chemical Warfare Service (CWS) determined it needed a testing facility more remote than the US Army's Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland. The area has also been used by Army special forces for training in preparation for deployments to the War in Afghanistan. DPG is controlled by the United States Army Test and Evaluation Command (ATEC). DPG also serves as a facility for US Army Reserve and US National Guard maneuver training, and US Air Force flight tests, mostly from nearby Hill Air Force Base in Clearfield. Mission ĭugway's mission is to test United States and Allied biological and chemical weapon defense systems in a secure and isolated environment. The name Dugway comes from a technique of digging a trench into a hillside to create a flat surface along which a wagon can travel. At least one old wooden bridge over a creek still stands. The transcontinental Lincoln Highway passed through the present site of the Dugway Proving Ground, and is the only section of the old highway closed to the public. It is 13 mi (21 km) south of the 2,624 sq mi (6,796 km 2) Utah Test and Training Range and together they form the largest block of overland contiguous special use airspace measured from surface or near surface within the continental U.S.(207 by 122 mi (333 by 196 km)). It had a resident population of 795 as of the 2010 United States Census, all of whom lived in the community of Dugway, Utah, at its extreme eastern end. It encompasses 801,505 acres (1,252.352 sq mi 3,243.58 km 2) of the Great Salt Lake Desert, an area the size of the state of Rhode Island, and is surrounded on three sides by mountain ranges. Dugway Proving Ground as seen from Simpson Springs Campgroundĭugway Proving Ground is located about 85 mi (137 km) southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah, in southern Tooele County and just north of Juab County.
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