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GAO-09-128R 1 (2008-12-15)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaanli0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 00& .,! = Accountability * Integrity Reliability United States Government Accountability Office Washington, DC 20548 December 15, 2008 Congressional Committees Subject: Improvement Continues in DOD's Reporting on Sustainable Ranges, but Opportunities Exist to Improve Its Range Assessments and Comprehensive Plan Recent operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other locations around the world have highlighted the need for U.S. forces to train as they intend to fight. Department of Defense (DOD) training ranges and operating areas are required to be managed and operated to support their long-term viability and utility to meet the national defense mission. The use of military training ranges enhances training by providing realistic, hands-on experience. Sustainable training range management focuses on the practices that allow the military to manage its ranges in a way that ensures their usefulness well into the future. Because the military faces obstacles in acquiring new training lands, the preservation and sustainable management of its current lands must be priorities. New advances in technology, coupled with a shift in force posture, mean that DOD needs to continually update and maintain its training ranges. Military training ranges vary in size from a few acres-for small arms training-to over a million acres for large maneuver exercises and weapons testing, and include broad open ocean areas for offshore training and testing. These ranges face ever increasing limitations and restrictions on land, water, and airspace as residential, commercial, and industrial development continues to expand around and encroach upon once remote military training and testing installations. Section 366 of the Bob Stump National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2003,1 dated December 2, 2002, required that the Secretary of Defense report on several items related to its training ranges. First, it required the Secretary to develop a comprehensive plan for using existing authorities available to the Secretary and the military services to address training constraints caused by limitations on the use of military lands, marine areas, and airspace-both in the United States and overseas. Section 366 of the act required the Secretary of Defense, in preparing the plan, to conduct an assessment of current and future training range requirements and an evaluation of the adequacy of current DOD resources-including virtual and constructive assets as well as military lands, marine areas, and airspace available in the United States and overseas-to meet current and future training range requirements. The plan was to include (1) proposals to enhance training range capabilities and address any shortfalls in DOD resources identified pursuant to the GAO-09-128R Military Training 1 Pub. L. No. 107-314 (2002). Page I

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